Indie Design GAL: Spotlight on Karen Whooley (knit and crochet)

I focused on a crochet designer yesterday, and I'm doing the same today. Karen Whooley is primarily a crochet designer, although she does have a couple of knitting patterns as well. She is also a teacher and has a couple of crochet classes on Craftsy, including a new one for crocheting bags.

Although crochet is a craft of its own, I enjoy seeing places where crochet and knitting meet, such as in Karen's Fair Isle Fingerless Mitts since I usually think of Fair Isle as a knit-specific technique (note: this particular pattern is available in a book, not as a Ravelry download).

But, for me, Karen excels with two types of patterns: shawls and socks. And yes, crochet socks!

Shawls
Karen has patterns for shawls that are knit, such as the pretty Dahlia Shawl:

© 2015 KRW Knitwear Studio

And at the same time, she designs lovely crochet shawls, such as the Tanglement Shawl.

© 2015 Karen Whooley / KRW Knitwear Studio

Socks
Like I said before, I don't crochet, so I'm not sure how popular crochet sock designs are, but Karen has made some great entries into the crochet sock world. From basic crochet socks--Toe-Up Socks--to patterns socks--Cassandra Socks--Karen has your feet covered. (She's actually giving the sock patterns facelifts right now, so they may not be available at the moment, but keep them in the mind for the future!)

© 2011 KRW Knitwear Studio

Maybe someday these crochet designers will inspire me to try crocheting again. It's nice to see what other things are possible with yarn!