We’re delighted to introduce the Charlevoix Vest and Petoskey Socks, designed by Jody Campbell of GrannyKnits4U in collaboration with Plucky Knitter, as the first offerings of our 2021 Fall/Winter Collection. We knew when we decided to include a vest and sock patterns, our good friend Jody was a natural “go to” for bringing the concepts to life.
Working together on these pattern designs has been such great fun! Jody is a prolific knitter with incredible knowledge and expertise that she happily shared throughout the creative process.
For those of you who haven’t the pleasure of meeting or knowing Jody, we invite you to read on.
What design elements are you especially excited about in the vest and the socks?
The vest is all about mixing bases to create a fabric that is feather light and floats over the body. By mixing Lustre Fingering with Aura Lace in the body of the vest, I was amazed to find it would knit to a DK gauge! And, Lustre DK was the perfect fit for all the ribbing.
The socks were super fun to design, as the goal was to kick a knitter’s skill set up a notch. I wanted to take a basic sock and turn it into something special. Hopefully, knitters will discover new techniques that will expand their repertoire!
Do you have any special tips you can share when knitting these items?
In preparing the yarn for the body of the vest, I carefully wound the two bases together to create one cake. This helped tremendously in avoiding those irksome spots where one of the strands gets knit but the second strand doesn’t.
When knitting the socks, I paired an eastern purl with a western knit. This is fully explained in the pattern and something that can tidy up those transitions from knits to purls.
Among all of the kits, what are your personal favorites?
Totally unfair question!!!! Every one of these kits speaks to me. As I scroll through the choices, I change my top picks every twelve seconds. I have several that will make their way to my shopping cart, but the wise momma never lets on that she may or may not have a favorite child!
How will you be pairing the vest?
I am a vest lover from way back! During colder months at home, I wear vests over a tee shirt almost every day. When I’m out and about, I usually pair a vest over a shirt that is longer than the bottom of the vest. Leggings, jeans , crops, or slacks, you can’t go wrong by adding a vest!