Sunday 7 May 2017

The Knit Night Collection: The people behind the designs

Just before Easter I launched my Knit Night Collection: three pairs of socks named after some of my favourite knitty people. And thankfully it has been really well-received, so thank you to everyone who has purchased the patterns and is currently knitting a pair of Lyndas, Amys or Sara Elins!

Today I thought I'd tell you a bit about the people I named the socks after.

Lynda

Lynda socks

First up, Lynda. I met my friend Lynda at a newly-launched local knit night a few years ago. I'd been looking for more local people to knit with as, strangely, the people I worked with weren't all that interested in my knitting. Every week Lynda would come along, chat and knit socks. I had always vowed not to knit socks (I have huge feet and was concerned that they would take forever; that I wouldn't like wearing them when they were done; and that I would never be able to knit tightly enough to make a viable sock), but there was clearly something enticing about watching someone knit socks. So one day I found myself in a local yarn shop holding a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in the Blue Tit colourway and some tiny knitting needles; I immediately sent Lynda a text to ask if she would help me knit my first socks.

The following Monday night at our regular knit night, Lynda arrived and handed me two books on sock knitting: Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd and Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oates. Over the course of the following week I read the whole of the Ann Budd book, knitted a swatch for my first socks and cast on. Within a couple of weeks, with a lot of encouragement from Lynda, I had my first pair of socks. And with that I was hooked! I now always have a pair of socks on the needles (and the accompanying sock yarn stash accumulation issue...), and I have Lynda to thank for that.

Amy

Amy socks

I met Amy early on in my PhD; I had just moved back to Durham having been away for a few years, and in the interim all my old friends had moved away. Whatever the course was on wasn't terribly interesting, so it rapdily became an opportunity to get to know a few more people at the university. Amy was heavily involved in GirlGuiding, and invited me to come and help at a local Brownie unit, something I had done when I lived in Cambridge, but hadn't thought to continue doing when I moved. Over the course of the following few months we got to know each other and realised we had a mutual love of crafts.

A few years ago, Amy moved away (she finished her PhD a lot faster than I did!), but our friendship continued and we sent photos of our crafts back and forth, both really appreciating having someone to 'talk' to about whatever it was we were working on. At some point we both learnt to knit socks and shared our frustrations with whatever yarn/needle/pattern we were working on. I knew as soon as I started writing my collection of sock patterns that I would want to name one of the patterns after Amy and was delighted when she said yes! Thank you Amy for coming on my knitty adventures!

Sara Elin


Sara Elin is one of those knitting friends that I haven't actually met, and instead know solely through the internet. When I first started writing a blog, Sara Elin was a frequent commenter, referred to the blog via my brother who knew that Sara Elin liked knitting, and is now my most frequent commenter, and we routinely send emails back and forth too! There are lot of knitters that I have never met, but count as friends, mostly through Instagram. While these socks are named Sara Elin, they are for all the knitters I know but have not met; the people who I most frequently chat to about whatever I'm working on, the people who understand what it is to be a knitter. Thank you all.

I have a KAL for the collection* going on in my Ravelry group, which finishes at the end of May, so you have plenty of time to join in if you'd like to. And you'll be eligible for prizes if you finish just one sock!

*Ravelry link, you'll need to be logged in for this link to work.

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I'm writing a blog post every day in May. If you'd like to read them all, follow this link.


2 comments:

  1. Ah we must meet in real life, one of these days!

    ReplyDelete
  2. How lovely, I bet they were all delighted too!

    ReplyDelete