Oct 08 2009
Unsung Sock Heroes
Many of us are familiar with the beautiful creations by the sock knitting “big names” like Anna Zilboorg, Nancy Bush*, Cat Bordhi, Lucy Neatby, Cookie A*, and the handful of other prolific and talented designers who have shared their amazing innovations and interpretations with the knitting community…
And for every amazing knitter whose work makes it on to countless needles, there are so many other amazing knitters and designers out there who inspire, offer great tutorials, teach classes, and design their own patterns.
Over my years of sock knitting, I have admired many people for their sock knitting skills – I have mentioned many times how Terhi’s work amazes me – and each year I meet new people who continue to inspire… here are four friends I would love to introduce you to!
~~
If you follow Flickr, you may be familiar with Osloann – she is also on Ravelry as Pinneguri - and designs and knits *amazing* socks in Norway. Do yourself a favor, and check her work out!
Not only does she knit beautiful socks with the greatest of skill – she also designs adorable (free!) patterns like the Bumblebee socks:
~
Although Chawne is very much on a quilting, embroidery and blanket-knitting kick of late (equally amazing!) it was her amazing sock knitting skills that first turned me on to this crafting virtuoso of a woman. She has SO many beautiful sock creations to her name – and she is just so darn clever!
Chawne’s free pattern for the Socks of Kindness (Ravelry link)
Whatever C does – and the sheer devotion that she puts in to it! – inspire me each and every day.
~
Dan and Virginia have created a beautiful little space on the web over at ScratchCraft. If you have not seen their work, you are really missing out. They are both in to fiber arts, and as their blog name implies – creating things from scratch (that includes food, furniture, home improvement, and lots of other goodies!) Dan’s fiber work runs the gamut from weaving, spinning, knitting, and most recently needle felting. Virginia is really in to knitting, socks in particular (but also beautiful mittens, blankets, and sweaters). She has participated in the 52 Socks a year challenge and has succeeded (more than once, I believe!) Her sock posts are like an overload – she knits so many pairs in a short amount of time that each post contains about 5 finished pairs!
Can you think of anything cuter than a husband-wife knitting team? Dan’s amazing Beau sweater in his own handspun yarn was the inspiration for the Beau that I made for Kris in 2008.
You can see all of their galleries over on Flickr - knitting, weaving, cooking, spinning, photography… everything these amazing people do!
~~
Who are your “unsung sock heroes and heroines”?
Is it a person in your knitting group who is just so clever? who knits like lightning? Someone whose work you admire and want to emulate? Someone whom you have never met, but see their work on the internet?
Please share!
*In Socktoberfest 2006, I did interviews with BOTH Nancy Bush and Cookie A – you can see all the Socktoberfest archives here 
