Sock fans will love this new pattern collection, which is filled with wonderfully colourful and intricately textured designs
by Niina Laitinen
KNITTED SOCKS
FINNISH DESIGNER Niina Laitinen has an extensive portfolio of sock designs using exuberantly colourful and elegantly textured stitch patterns. For her latest collection, she has taken inspiration from her own travels around the world to bring us 20 head-turning designs that will be fun to knit and a delight to wear.
Stand-out textured projects include ‘Lights of Shanghai’, a cosy knee-high sock worked in an aran-weight yarn, which has a rippling pattern resembling dragon scales which is formed using increases and decreases. The ‘Taj Mahal’ ankle sock has a lace pattern inspired by mosaic tiles, and ‘Desert Sands’ is a short ‘trainer’ sock with an unusual twisted ribbing on the cuffs.
A striking lace pattern is used on the front of ‘Rio de Janeiro’, paired with a wide ribbing on the back of the leg; a more delicate lace pattern evoking Hawaiian vines and flowers appears on ‘Honolulu’.
There are some amazing cabled designs, too, such as ‘San Francisco’, whose intricate lattices mimic the steel cables on the Golden Gate Bridge. ‘Land of a Thousand Lakes’ has a modern Scandi feel, while the ‘Milan Cathedral’ knee-high design has a mesmerising pattern of lace and cables inspired by medieval architecture.
Niina enjoys
