This beautiful book – co-edited by Kate Davies and Nicole Pohl – brings together a celebration of the group of eighteenth-century learned women known as the Bluestockings, with a wide-ranging exploration of sock and stocking knitting. We are so delighted that Kate chose our Exmoor Sock 4ply and Alpaca Supreme Heavy Lace for the patterns in this glorious publication!
Bluestockings features 7 toe up sock designs, 1 shawl and a myriad of informative articles. The book’s first section features different perspectives on the history of socks and stockings, from expert contributors like Susan North (curator of eighteenth-century fashion at the V&A) and Sonja Bargielowska (one of our very own Mill Folks!). In the book’s second section, essays about creative eighteenth-century women such as Mary Delany and Phillis Wheatley Peters are accompanied by contemporary toe-up patterns for socks and stockings. Among our Bluestocking-inspired designs you’ll find openwork and texture, stripes, chevrons, stranded colourwork, and a go-to sock and stocking recipe named for talented eighteenth-century classicist (and knitter) Elizabeth Carter. Setting top tips about knitting toe-up socks alongside an exploration of historic dyestuffs, and bringing groundbreaking women writers together with accessible, wearable design, this lavishly illustrated volume offers an exciting in-the-round combination of material history, contemporary making, and early feminism.
Contributors: Sonja Bargielowska, Kate Davies, Kristina Decker, Elizabeth Eger, Susan North, Nicole Pohl, Isabella Whitworth.
photo credit @ Kate Davies Designs
