I’m so pleased to be able to share with you my new pattern release, The Clarissa socks, today the last day of June for a number of reasons.

New pattern releases are always exciting, but this one is even more so given it is named for Virginia Woolf’s fictional character, Clarissa Dalloway, who hosts perhaps the most famous party in modern literature in June.

In the UK, Dallowday is celebrated on 16th June, while here in Italy it’s the last Sunday of the month and below i discuss further the novel and the character of Clarissa, but first the socks she inspired.

The Clarissa socks are a top down all over lace sock with a central lace panel front and back and smaller lace panels to the side.

They have a heel flap and gusset construction and careful attention has been paid to the flow of the pattern from the leg to instep and finally to the toe. Given the flow of the sock and the organic lace pattern I really wanted this to continue through the toe rather than simply stopping abruptly. I hope you’ll like this detail.

The sock is available in 4 sizes from a 54 – 84 st cast on with written and charted instructions. Full details can be found on the pattern page along with all the information on where you can purchase the pattern: Ravelry, Payhip and LoveCrafts as well as from Susan Crawford Vintage where you can also purchase the yarn I chose for my sample. If you’ve never read Mrs Dalloway, Susan also has a kit that includes the beautiful hardback edition of the book shown above.

I chose the beautifully delicate shade of pink, Chemise, for my sample, in Susan’s Lock Sock yarn hand-dyed at Assa Marra Wool Studio by Charlie, who also took these wonderful pictures of Susan wearing the Clarissa socks.

Spun from the fibre of local Lonk sheep, which are now identified as a rare breed and blended with nylon to create a hardwearing yet fine yarn, perfect for socks, Lock is quickly becoming my favourite sock yarn (shush don’t tell Bluem sock I said that. What I love about the Lock sock yarn is that it is both absolutely amazing for textured stitch patterns, but also works wonderfully with this lace pattern. Its halo doesn’t detract or blur the stitch definition but simply softens it a little. It’s also wonderful in the hand when working with it.

Introductory Discount

It wouldn’t be a new pattern launch without an introductory discount for you! You can get 15% off the pattern when you buy it from my Ravelry or Payhip stores, or from Susan’s website. Just enter the code ‘CLARISSA15%OFF’ at checkout for your discount. The discount will run for 2 weeks from launch so you don’t have to rush, but I hope you’ll want to.

Clarissa Dalloway

If you’re not familiar with the book Mrs Dalloway, and I confess I wasn’t until a few years ago, now you’ve met the socks named in her honour let me introduce you to the character of Clarissa Dalloway.

We first meet Clarissa going to buy the flowers for the party she is hosting that evening. As the novel proceeds we are increasingly immersed in Clarissa’s world, her memories and the decisions that have taken her from her country garden childhood at Bourton to wife of conservative MP and the heart of the British establishment in London. 

Despite the apparently frivolous context of Clarissa’s Party, the novel is remarkable also for its social, political and economic commentary which it wears lightly, layered through the characterisation and events. The novel itself takes place on a single day, but through the interior lives and thoughts of the characters, a whole world emerges. While this may seem a standard literary technique, this exploration of the interiority of characters was revolutionary 100 years ago and not universally appreciated.

The novel explores the impact of the Great War, the emerging understanding of what was to become known as shell shock and wider mental health issues, the roles of women and men in changing society, male and female sexuality, the British class structure and its relationship to empire. 

These and many other things we see through the points of view of the various characters as we inhabit their consciousnesses the narrative shifts between them.  In this way we learn about their, present, their pasts, their sense of memory and place and indeed their purpose. Clarissa muses on what the future may hold, how some things have changed and how others refuse to.

Purpose and change are themes that Clarissa repeatedly returns to and questions. What is the purpose of a woman of her class in this changing world? The mother of a single daughter and weakened by the post war flu pandemic, Clarissa dwells on her relationship with her daughter who is growing into such a different world to that of her own youth.

On a personal level, Clarissa thinks back to the parties and summers of that youth with her friend Sally Seton perhaps her first love, and of Peter Walsh who wished to marry her before he went off to India. A time when life seemed to have so much potential, but the paths open to women of Clarissa’s class were actually quite narrow. Throughout the novel, Clarissa is a character portrayed with a certain delicate feminine beauty. She is seen, and remembered, as most alive in the gardens of her childhood home now lost to her through the tradition of inheritance through the male line.

Woolf’s prose is beautiful and immersive, in the pages of Mrs Dalloway you’ll be swept into Clarissa’s world; a snapshot of London finding itself once again in the aftermath of war.

A developing theme?

If you’ve seen my Lucrezia socks which I also blogged about you may be beginning to wonder if there’s something more going on here?

Yes, there is.

In collaboration with my dear friend Susan Crawford of Susan Crawford Vintage I will be releasing a series of patterns inspired by the novel Mrs Dalloway, one of the pioneering works of modernist fiction and a favourite of both Susan and myself. The third instalment is with Susan, the 4th is on my needles and designs 5, 6 and 7 are in the advanced stages…

I’ve been enjoying working on these designs so much, I can’t wait to keep sharing them with you.

If you know the book, who do you think will have inspired these next few patterns?

Until next time, take care and happy knitting,

Tess xxx