What’s better than a quick and easy, super comfy vanilla sock? One in delectable hand-dyed gradients!

Hand-dyer Scott Smith launched his CrystalYarn collection in June and I was soon the owner of the skeins to travel the furthest from their home.

I met Scott while staying with Kat in Lancaster earlier this year. Every Monday in Lancaster, a group of crafters gather at Gregson Arts and Community Centre, a kickarse building and organisation. There’s a little pub built in with brutally honest service – when I asked for the roobios chocolate mint tea, the lady behind the bar replied ‘Are you sure? How about I just give it to you.’ It tasted truly awful.

Anyway, back to Scott. Scott (and the other knitters) were lovely and welcoming. He mentioned that he was dying his own yarn and I thought it was just a bit of a hobby. I didn’t think any more of it until he launched several amazing colours.

I choose the Swords Tarot Gradient and decided the best way to show off the delicate gradient changes was a pair of plain socks. I used the Dave Socks pattern, which I have used many, many times before, but it fits my feet perfectly, so why change it? That said, I did make two modifications:

• I used the garter stitch edging from the Hermione’s Everyday Sock pattern, because it makes picking up the gusset stitches so easy.
• I also used the toe decreases from Hermione has they fit my feet really well, even if they’re a little harder to keep track of than decreasing every second row.

Super stoked with the results and highly recommend CrystalYarn!