Let’s get into my journey into knitwear design and how I got here, because it certainly hasn’t been an easy or direct journey. First off, if you’re new here: hi! My name is Emma aka Midsummer Knits and I’m a knitwear designer. My most viral design is the Heartless Top which was worn on Jeopardy last year (thank you Michelle!!), but I’d like to think that I have range with some of my other designs too.

If you’ve been following along with me for a while, you might already know my story of getting into knitting (and relatedly, designing) so I hope you’ll appease me in listening to my journey once more. To begin, I've been knitting since childhood when my mom taught me to knit at the tender age of six. From the ages of eight to 15, I knitted obsessively. I even started sharing my knitting journey and designs online on Ravelry groups and a Squarespace blog which I called “Winging It: knitting things that soar.” My childhood designs are still available on my Ravelry if you want to check them out, although most of them are a bit less fashionable by today’s standards.

When I got midway through high school, things started to change. I had always been a hard worker, but AP classes and preparation for college apps started to take over significantly more of my time as I entered tenth grade. Something changed within me, too; I started to feel embarrassed of my knitting hobby and coveted interests that would help me connect with my classmates more. I’m certainly not proud of this attitude change — I would love nothing more than to say that I’ve loved knitting my entire life — but I think I was going through something that many teenagers go through, which is sort of a rejection of your true self in exchange for things that will make you “cool” and “fun to be around.” Those things are defined according to other teenagers, of course.

Throughout high school and college, I continued to knit occasionally but not nearly at the same volume as earlier in my life. I probably averaged one FO every couple of years, often knitting a pair of socks or a hat over winter break. I graduated in 2020 right in the midst of the pandemic, which gave me a lot of time to rediscover my old hobbies as a full-fledged adult. Although I was working remotely as a software engineer, I filled my hours outside of work with various artistic hobbies I hadn’t picked up since high school (if ever): art, painting my nails, doing my makeup, and finally, knitting.

In 2022, Midsummer Knits was born and the rest was history as I quickly began to gain a following and experiment with designing again. I actually didn’t even release my first design (an an adult), the Heartless Top, until midway through 2024 — which means I’ve officially been a knitwear designer for less than two years at this point, although I laid a lot of groundwork for my designing career before that. A mixture of luck, effort, and consistency have fueled my career as a knitwear designer forward, with my designs going viral several times but also through multiple small acts of commitment to my business over the years. I can’t count the number of weeknights and weekends I spent knitting, writing patterns, or prepping Instagram posts instead of relaxing or going out with my friends.1

I could tell you this story, but I could also tell you a parallel story of my journey into computer science and software engineering. I could tell you about how Calc AB and BC in high school made me realize how much I loved math; or the aha moment when I got my first A on a computer science course in college; or how much my software engineering job allowed me to travel, make friends, and fuel a wonderful lifestyle for the past several years.

What I don’t want to do is sit here and say that I hated working in tech and that it was all for nothing. I still have a lot of love for software engineering, and it taught me so many skills that will help me be successful for the rest of my life. I genuinely don’t think I would have been able to successfully run my own knitting business at 22 or 24 — I really did need the time and experience from working in a corporate job and putting in the work to get promoted to be able to run my own business. I also think that it was necessary in some ways for me to stray from my love of knitting and art — for me to try something else and come back reinvigorated and with a greater sense of purpose.

There’s some more context that I’ve failed to mention here, which is that I’ve long been a risk-averse person. My Enneagram type (6) is described as “committed” and “security-oriented,” which is something I’ve proven to myself to be accurate time and time again. For years, I’ve always chosen the safer, more secure option, even if I know it’s not really right for me — whether it applies to jobs, relationships, or other aspects of my life. In college, I wrote “Practice choosing discomfort” on my whiteboard, a reminder to myself to continue to push myself in order to grow. Over the years, I think I became so obsessed with having a sense of security in my life that I forgot this mantra.

When I started thinking about leaving my job in tech, part of me was so resistant to the idea that it took months for me to really consider it as an actual possibility — much less start planning for it. 2025 was a big push for me to really try doing Midsummer Knits full time since it was my best year of designing financially; I was able to make a decent five-figure salary considering I was working on Midsummer Knits part-time and with only two patterns published for most of the year. It took multiple conversations with friends and family, not to mention seeing several of my friends chasing their own dreams, but I finally came around to the decision to leave my job in tech earlier this year in February of 2026.

Of course, I don’t know yet if things are going to work out. That’s what makes this decision scary… but, I think, also brave.

Watch the full YouTube video now 👇

I know many of you follow me for my designs, so I hope you’ll continue to follow along and support me as I work on Midsummer Knits full-time. I plan to continue to share about my journey of growing my business both here on Substack and on my socials (Instagram and YouTube), so let me know if there’s anything in particular you’re curious about or want to see from me.

Lastly, I’m so thankful to all of you who have helped make this dream come true. I couldn’t have done it without every one of you who have bought my patterns or supported me in any way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and we’ll chat again soon.

xo Emma

Quick side note: considering my Substack is generally focused on fiber arts, I’m going to focus on the experience of decluttering my yarn stash. However, many of the lessons and takeaways I’m going to write about here apply to life and decluttering in a general sense. If you, like me, have a problem with an overrun living space and/or mind, I hope you’ll read on!

As I was going through my yarn stash, I realized so much of the struggle I faced with decluttering wasn’t practical. It wasn’t about the time needed to go through my stash or the logistics of selling or giving away yarn. It was, in fact, emotional. It was about looking back at that skein of yarn that my friend had picked up for me on a trip years ago, and facing the dreaded moment of deciding I really am never going to use it. It was about that leftover couple of skeins from a project that I always held on to using, but never had specific plans for. It could even be about the sweater quantity of yarn that I had picked out myself in my early 20s but realized was no longer something that would fit in my wardrobe now that I’m 28. In all of these cases, I had been avoiding the emotional truth of the matter: no matter how much I resisted it, this yarn wasn’t something I was excited to use and could go to a better home.

Of course, I think feeling a little bit of guilt over unused yarn is good. Many fiber artists, myself included, are passionate about sustainable fashion. Using up what I have, including scraps and “unsexy” yarns, is absolutely a goal that I care about; I actually hope to release some scrap-busting patterns soon to help myself and others achieve this goal. However, I think there also comes a point where letting yarn sit completely unused for years is worse than regifting or selling it to someone who will put it to use. That was the conclusion I came to while sitting on my floor surrounded by yarn I felt a painful yet fleeting attachment to.

Although I did ultimately decide to declutter nearly half of my yarn stash, I did so with a big caveat: I’ve made a promise to myself that I’ll be more intentional about buying (or accepting) yarn in the future. Especially as I lean more into designing a majority of my knitting projects, I often have a specific picture in mind of what yarn I’d like to use for each new design, which makes knitting from stash difficult. With that in mind, I’m going to try to limit my yarn purchases going forward to be (1) design- or project-specific purchases where I am ready to cast on right away, and (2) the occasional impulse purchase of sock yarn (as an avid sock knitter I generally feel as though I’ll get around to all of my sock yarn eventually).

It’s hard and valiant work to not buy yarn at my every impulse, but hey, someone’s got to do it.

Watch the full YouTube video now 👇

Design updates

I do have one quick design update to share while you’re here, which is that my first ever sock pattern (the Chilton Socks) has a release date: Friday, Feburary 27th! Set your reminders, put it in your calendars, etc. etc. I’m also doing a little giveaway for a few people to receive a free copy of the pattern over on Instagram, so go enter if you wish!

Otherwise, January has been one of those months where I feel like I’ve put a lot of work into my designs and knitting business without much to show for it. I don’t mind this (too much) — I’ve definitely realized that designing is cyclical and there will be seasons of reaping and seasons of sowing. I’m definitely in a “sowing” season right now with a couple of new designs in the works, but I know in a couple months I’ll be able to reap the rewards. I’m excited for you all to see what I have to share once that time comes around!

What you’ve been knitting

The Heartless KAL has been coming along nicely with an end date of Valentine’s Day, and I’ve been so energized to see several KAL participants sharing FO pics in our group Slack channel and on Instagram! I was especially obsessed with these two FOs, by Jade and Lúcia respectively, because of how both of them had tattoos peeking through the heart cutout. I’ve found hosting KALs to be one of my favorite things to do as a designer since it helps bring people together in a more close-knit community, and of course seeing more people knit my design is always a nice perk as well.

Hope you all are having a happy February! I have lots planned for late Feburary so I’m sure you’ll be hearing from me soon…

xo Emma 💌

P.S. If you prefer to only receive pattern release updates and/or test knit calls from me instead of more personal essays and thoughts, I totally understand. You can update your preferences here and opt out of “Emma’s thoughts” if so!