5 Questions for Mone Dräger & Contest

If you were to describe your socks as an animal, what would it be?

Mone: An animal? Well, that one got me thinking, but I’d say that a chameleon fits best. My Chains Socks were designed for the ‘one sock, two ways’ category and they indeed work with all kinds of colourways, though the style changes depending on what yarn you choose. They can look classy and elegant in a solid, neutral colour, they add just a pop of colour to your wardrobe in a semi-solid in a bright and saturated colour, but they can also look crazy and fun in a wildly variegated yarn. So a chameleon fits.

You speak English as well as German.  Do you find that influences the way you approach designing or writing patterns?

Mone: German is my native language, so I learned to knit from German patterns and if I like a certain

German pattern I still knit from it nowadays. I admit that I prefer English knitting patterns, simply because I like that there is an English ‘knitting language’. There are lots of abbreviations like ‘ssk’ or ‘k tbl’ – very short and commonly used and they mean the same for all knitters. In German many things have to be described with lots of words – don’t even ask me for a short form of ssk – and in addition there are no common abbreviations. Different publications use different ways to express the same thing.

When I work on a new pattern my notes are usually in ‘denglish’, a mix of German and English where I use German to explain certain design features but use English terms for all the instructions. I write all my patterns in English first, and then translate them back to German. Even though it should be easy for a native speaker I often run into trouble because I’m much more familiar with English terms.

All the designers were working on our socks during the Summer of 2014.  What else were you working on or thinking of as you created your pattern?

Mone: Well, I worked on my socks during our summer holidays, so the Chains pattern will always remind me of the terrific time we had. DH [dear husband] and I travelled along the Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to Seattle and from there we took a trip to Canada. Not only did we enjoy the scenery, but along the way we met with some of my ‘virtual’ friends I met through the Ravelry forum. It was so fun to finally meet in person and put faces to people who have felt like friends forever. Best holiday trip ever and I hope to go on another ‘turn virtual friends into real friends’ trip soon. 

Did you run into any problems or challenges when you were working on designing the socks or writing the pattern?  What did you do to overcome it or problem solve it?

Mone: In previous Sockupied issues I’ve always loved the ‘one sock, two ways’ category, so when I was pondering on a design to submit I always wondered about a pattern that would work in both, semi-solid and variegated yarns. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of knitting with variegated yarns because often the stitch pattern kind of ‘gets lost’ in the colours of the yarn, so that was a real challenge. And I admit that I had my share of ripping back to do before I came up with Chains; in the end it was all the bridges and the intriguing constructions that inspired me.

What are 3-5 things you are loving lately?

Mone: Things that make me happy? Ah, there are so many and I could have come up with so many different things that it’s hard to make a choice. Here are some in no particular order:

Snowdrops. Funnily enough, even though I knit a lot of warm and winterish things, I’m a summer loving person and I’m always a happy camper when the often grey and wet German winter is over, so to see the snowdrops coming out for sure puts a smile on my face. Tells me that spring is not too far away and warmer weather should be here soon.

Ponderosa Wolle: I went to a crafts fair two weeks ago and had the chance to see all her beautiful yarns in person. And ahem, I might have bought some. A lot. And most of them variegated yarns. Nothing better than colours as a cure for grey and dull days.

Hannover 96: My local soccer team and we’ve got season’s tickets and go to the stadium to watch them play every second weekend. It’s always a blast with all those people in the stadium, singing, clapping and cheering them on and well, if they even win it’s perfect entertainment.

Ravelry and my friends there: I often say that my knitting friends know me better than my family and although that’s an exaggeration, it’s wonderful getting to know and chat with people who share the same hobby. Isn’t it terrific how small the world became thanks to the internet?

Holidays abroad. We are just planning our summer holidays and it’s very likely we’ll go to England and Ireland again. We’ve done that before and usually we go by car and just stay wherever we like it. This time we plan to go end of June, so maybe I’ll even go to Woolfest?  Not to forget that I’ve got Ravelry friends in the UK too, who I hope to meet.  

Mone Dräger’s Socks are titled Chains Socks, so titled because of the distinctive slip-stitch pattern.  Mone was inspired by the bridges of the West Coast on her summer holiday in the US – can you see the lines of the bridges in the socks?

© Sockupied/Harper Point

The green version of Mone’s socks are worked in Huckleberry Knits Willow in the colorway titled
North Fork, the variegated socks are in Mercado.  I love how the two yarns create such distinctive effects – both completely different but just as stunning.  Huckleberry Knits has generously offered up a skein of Willow to the winners of one of the prizes!