Our Featured Sock Designer for August 2021
We’re so excited to have Carolyn Lisle from Ottawa, Ontario joining us from our Knit Socks box for August 2021.
Her Corallinus socks pattern is beautiful, and I think it will pair really well with any of this month’s colourways.
Pattern Statistics:
Yarn Required: Fingering Weight
Yardage: 273 – 328 yards (250 – 300 m)
Adaptable to different sizes? Yes.
As a part of becoming a Featured Designer with Wool Interrupted, we interview each designer about their life, design process and thoughts about the yarn industry. See Caroline’s interview below.
What the best part of living in Ottawa?
I live right where the action is — walking distance from Parliament Hill! I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else but here in the capital city, with all the culture, events, and political intrigue that brings. I even love the winters!
What dwelling type do you live in?
An apartment.
Do you have a dedicated yarn space?
I’m in a small space, so my crafting area is one corner of my bedroom with a repurposed china cabinet, with overflow under my bed and in one corner of the living room. I do know where everything is, though! I keep detailed stash and project records, and I have design releases tentatively planned out nearly to 2023, because I guess that’s what you do when your first career was teaching high school.
When did your love of yarn start?
I taught myself to knit when I was in university with the Knitting for Dummies book, believe it or not. I can never get enough of learning new things and trying out new ideas, so I’ve been doing things like adding intarsia to cable patterns and rewriting errors in free patterns since the beginning of my knitting career.
What’s your favourite yarn weight to work with and why?
I love sock yarn, of course, but sometimes I love a smooshy heavy DK more for the instant gratification of making a faster project like a hat, cowl, or heavyweight socks.
What do you design primarily?
Socks and other accessories like hats and fingerless mitts.
What are your top three selling or downloaded designs?
– Fade Out Socks (Click Here for Fade Out Socks)
– Fire Rainbow Socks (Click Here for Fire Rainbow Socks)
– Iralai Socks (Click Here for Iralai Socks)
How do you start a design? Where do you get your inspiration from?
I usually come up with a technique or concept I want to try, and often I make a chart first. Occasionally, I have a yarn I want to work with or a specific inspiration instead. Once I have the unique design elements figured out, I decide on the rest of the structure of the project, and write up the pattern itself. I only make the sample once I have a full pattern to work from, even if that means sometimes ripping it all out and doing a big rewrite later. I like to know that I had to follow the same instructions that my customers will, so I’m confident that they are clear and correct.
Do you ever need test knitters or crocheters? If so, how do you find them?
I have great testers who work with me on every pattern on Slack, and I accept new testers to that group regularly.
What’s your favourite yarn composition? Which fibres do you like to work with?
I love merino/nylon for socks, specifically plied, soft, and smooth. Merino/silk is my favourite for DK weight, and I’m partial to cotton/bamboo for lightweight projects. I am sensitive to cashmere, yak, and mohair, so I never work with those fibres.
What do you think is the best part of knitting or crochet? How does it help you?
I love the intellectual challenge of creating something unique and also functional. It makes me feel great knowing that people enjoy my designs enough to pay money for them, but I would still want to design even if it wasn’t my source of income. Pattern design is a form of teaching for me, and I’m passionate about that.
What do you think the future of knitting and crochet is? After COVID is over, do you think the craft will stay in the forefront of people’s minds?
The current resurgence of knitting being more popular started long before COVID, and I don’t think that community is going anywhere!
What’s the best yarn trend? What’s the worst?
I don’t really keep up with yarn trends; I just like to buy beautiful yarn from small businesses. Part of what I like to do with my designs is give people options to make any yarn in their stash — pooling, variegated, rainbow pop, speckled, mini-skein sets — look its best.
Who are your favourite yarn designers? Who inspires you?
I often work with pretty.string, a yarn dyer I know personally here in Ottawa. In terms of quantity, I have a lot of stash from SpaceCadet and Mothy and the Squid. My favourite Canadian yarn companies are Ancient Arts, Sea Turtle Fibre Arts, Turtlepurl Yarns, and SweetGeorgia. I love discovering really small indie dyers and I’m always excited to find something gorgeous dyed by someone who isn’t well-known in the industry yet.
To make your own Corallinus Socks in August 2021, click the link below to snag a socks box while supplies last. Each of our featured designers is paid directly per box sold.
If you’re interested in becoming one of our featured designers, please contact us at info@woolinterrupted.com