10 inspiring machine knitters to follow on Instagram
Here are 10 of our favourite machine knitters’ Instagram accounts, many of whom also teach our Machine Knit Community Masterclasses.
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Image by Sophie Ochera
As a machine knitter of many years, I’m sometimes in need of some fresh new inspiration before starting a new craft project, which can be found in many places - books, exhibitions, and sometimes places like Instagram and Pinterest.
Social media is a tricky thing, as it can often take those precious minutes (or sometimes hours!) away from the time we have available to be creative.
However, if you follow machine knitters and other talented creatives, your Instagram feed can become a wonderful source of inspiration and learning, and new ideas are easily sparked from seeing other machine knitters’ beautiful work.
It can be tricky to know where to start when finding accounts to follow on Instagram, as there are so many accounts, but if you start by following these talented and wonderful people below, the algorithm will do its job and start suggesting even more creative accounts you might like.
Here are 10 of our favourite machine knitters’ Instagram accounts, many of whom also teach our Machine Knit Community Masterclasses.
1. @amberhards for soft, textural machine knitting
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Amber Hards | Knitwear designer, machine knit workshops & author (@amberhards)
Amber is a published author, creative knitwear designer and machine knitting tutor, previously based in Bristol, but now living down the road in Newport, Wales.
She has 17 years experience with machine knitting, and has been teaching since 2016, including classes in the Machine Knit Community (MKC), such as a MKC Masterclass for her gorgeous Joan Jumper.
Follow her on Instagram for great creative textured machine knitting in gorgeous soft colours, with a few machine knitting tips mixed in. Her book, Machine Knitting Techniques: Texture & 3D Effects is full of inspiration too.
2. @elenaberenghean for intricate lace knits
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Elena is a very talented Romanian knitwear designer and tutor, now based in Portugal. She creates really beautiful machine knit pieces, specialising in hand manipulation, particularly cables and lace.
As well as her lovely Instagram grid showing close-ups of the detail in her works in progress and finished pieces, Elena creates loads of free tutorials on her YouTube channel Knitology 1x1, where she gives tips on everything from machine knitting basics to more advanced knits.
Elena also has a Patreon, where you can pay £4.50 a month to learn even more from her with exclusive videos, charts and updates.
If that’s not enough to convince you of her mastery, she’s also written a brilliant book - Machine Knitting Techniques: Lace and Open Fabrics - which is easy to follow and really inspiring. You can read my full review of Elena’s book here.
3. @kateboxstudio for naturally dyed, painterly machine knits
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Kate is a wonderful knitwear designer from South Downs National Park, who is currently studying natural dyeing, and her Instagram profile shows her journey of experimenting with different natural dyes - it’s very fun to see.
Aside from learning about dyes, she has her own label knitting and selling beautiful colour-block blankets and artwork, in which you can see that colour is the driving force behind everything she creates.
4. @jobeeknitwear for high-fashion and machine knit lace
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Jo is an amazingly creative and talented freelance knitwear designer for high-end design houses, trade shows and exhibitions. She previously worked for fashion designer Julian Macdonald as head of knitwear, working on one-off pieces for catwalk, celebrities and private clients.
She now specialises in very intricate and time-consuming hand-manipulated knitted masterpieces, and is an associate lecturer, visiting various universities to teach her craft.
Jo Bee’s Instagram grid is full of really impressive and unusual machine knit garments, with a particular focus on bold lace pieces and high-fashion - if that’s your kind of machine knitting inspiration, she’s well worth a follow.
5. @fairislewithmarie for authentic Fair Isle knits
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Marie is a French knitwear designer and tutor based on the tiny island of Fair Isle. She fell in love with the artistry of Fair Isle knitting in 2015, and moved there permanently in 2017, so that she could be fully immersed in that world, handling sheep and using local, sustainable wool. Alongside that, she is also a firefighter for the local airport!
As well as selling her beautiful bespoke knitwear, Marie also facilitates amazing week-long immersive knitting holidays where you can learn about Fair Isle knitting on Fair Isle - the UK’s most remote inhabited island.
On Marie’s Instagram profile you’ll find lots of beautiful Fair Isle, of course, as well as updates about her products and workshops, and moody photos of the Scottish island she calls home.
6. @sophieocheraknitwear for modern Fair Isle knitwear
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Sophie Ochera Knitwear (@sophieocheraknitwear)
Sophie is based in Normandy, France, where she designs and sells beautiful hybrid jumpers and cardigans for adults and children, which combine hand-knitted yokes with machine-knitted bodies and sleeves.
She describes her work as Modern Fair Isle knitwear design, and her vibrant and timeless knitwear is inspired by folk costumes worldwide - there are lots of unconventional colours and geometric patterns to be found on her Instagram grid.
Sophie’s work began with dressing her own children, and evolved into a small business, ‘born out of a dissatisfaction with mass-produced knitwear.’
She also sells knitting patterns and knit kits so that you can hand-knit your own, and has run Masterclasses in the MKC teaching you how to knit her garments from start to finish.
7. @anna_husemann for colourful, contemporary machine knitting
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Anna is a German hand and machine knitting designer who sells vibrant, eco-friendly knit accessories and knitting patterns, and has just published her first book, Intarsia Knits.
She invests a lot of time in carefully considering colour combinations and material choices, and it really shows. Anna is a master of shape and colour in design, with her bold machine knitted garments and accessories creating a very inspirational and aesthetically-pleasing Instagram grid.
8. @knit_and_destroy for bold & thought-provoking machine knitting
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Kandy is a published author and University tutor in machine knitting based in Sheffield, and she describes her work as on a whole different planet to “traditional” knitting.
It’s not the kind of thing you see everyday in machine knitting - Kandy creates amazingly bold and thought-provoking machine-knitted garments and art. In her unusual work she plays with texture, colour, and slogans addressing issues from queer rights and visibility to war.
Her company, Knit and Destroy, “aims to smash stereotypes while spreading the joy of novelty knitting around the world” - and she’s certainly doing that.
She’s yet another popular MKC tutor, and her second book for beginners, Discovering Machine Knitting, came out last year. It’s absolutely brilliant, and you can read my review in this blog post.
Follow @knit_and_destroy on Instagram for colour, texture, and a whole lot of fun machine knitting.
9. @anotherknittedthing for outrageous 3D machine knitting
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Victoria is a super creative machine knitter, designer and university tutor who works across domestic and industrial machines to create very textured and interesting knitted fabrics.
Based in Manchester, Victoria runs her full-time knit studio working with her world leading APEX programming and Shima Seiki knitting machine, and, in her own words, focuses on ridiculous garments and 3D knits.
Victoria also takes private lessons on hand run knitting machines, and develops knit techniques and patterns for both industrial machines and hand machines. She’s a regular teacher of our online MKC classes, and has taught in person at our annual retreats too.
Unsurprisingly, Victoria’s Instagram account @anotherknittedthing is packed with colour, texture, and exciting machine knitted creations.
10. @ojolly for 40 years of machine knitting expertise
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Last but by no means least, knitwear designer and educator Olgalyn is based in New York, and has been machine knitting since the mid-80s. She has a focus on knitting fabric samples and yardage, sells knit kits, and shares lots of helpful machine knitting advice on her blog too.
Alongside that, Olgalyn has lectured and taught at many prestigious places, and has online classes on her website too.
She says it best: “Attracted to and inspired by luxurious fibres, I love looping yarns and manipulating them into interesting shapes, getting the visual rhythm going, repeating a motif.”
On her Instagram, you’ll find her works in progress and lots of machine knitting tips. She’s a lovely, warm person to follow, and she really knows her stuff.
I hope following these Instagram accounts will get your mind buzzing with lots of machine knitting ideas, but if you need a little extra inspiration, check out my recent blog post Finding inspiration for machine knitting, where I talk about a trip to the Summer Talk and Mill Tour at County Brook Mill.
As always, you can find lots more helpful and inspirational articles in the Machine Knitting Blog, and if you’re interested in finding out more about joining the Machine Knit Community, take a look at our Membership page.
