Anyone for an eBook?

I love a good pattern collection, don’t you? So I’ve put my three $2.00 patterns all together in one place, at one low price! Come on over to Ravelry and get your $5.00 eBook now!

Introducing:

Less than a Latte: 3 sock patterns for the frugal knitter

 

This book is a really good deal – three sock patterns for less than what you might normally spend on one! They are all fun, easy patterns – maybe just the thing to knit on vacation over the summer? Grab a skein of sock yarn (don’t tell me you don’t have any you big fibber), download the eBook and you are ready for some fine beach knitting! Or hey, Sunday is Mother’s day, right? Does your mom knit? Voila, instant present! No, she won’t think you’re cheap, don’t be silly, it’s your mom, she’ll be proud that you made a smart purchasing decision and aren’t going into debt to buy her something goofy.  If you have a bit of extra cash, toss in a gift card for her favourite coffee shop and a skein of sock yarn. What knitter mom doesn’t want some quiet knitting time with a nice latte? It’ll help make up for that time in high school.  You know the one.

 

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A new safety eye idea

I like to use safety eyes on my knitted toys. I think they look good (better than my embroidery heh), they’re easy to install, and not too hard to get hold of.  Eyes are the most important part of the toy – your knitting may be perfect, your colours inspired, your making up flawless, but if you put those eyes on crooked or in the wrong place that’s all anyone will notice. When I’m ready to put a toy’s eyes on I stuff the head first, then stick the eyes through the knitting and then assess. I move them around. I fuss with them.  When I finally have it right then I finally take the stuffing back out and attach the backs to the eyes.

Now, my toys either stay here – and Punky is old enough not to try to eat them – or go to yarn shops as displays. Also not a big worry that someone will try to yank the eyes out.  But I am always concerned about people with little kids – those of the everything-in-the-mouth age.  Safety eyes are so called because when you attach them to a piece of sturdy fabric (I’m talking commercial fabric here, not hand knitting) they are pretty difficult to get off. I’ve never had one come off a knitted toy either, but I really think that a determined enough toddler could do it, given enough time.  Hand knitting stretches, and if you yanked on that eye enough and stretched out the knitting, I could see how it might maybe one day come out. However, my test knitter for Ciel, the wonderful Val has come up with a very easy solution to this problem. Take a look:

 

Brilliant!  Just a little scrap of ribbon, with a couple of holes poked into it so the eye posts can go through. The grosgrain type of ribbon that Val used is nice and sturdy, and in a light enough colour not to show through the pink she used as for the head. Turn it right side out, add some stuffing and…

 

Cute! A lady bug kind of Ciel! Thanks Val for sharing!

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Meet Ciel!

Well, spring is supposed to be on the way, but right here, right now – not so much. There is still a lot of snow outside, it has in fact, been snowing most of the day. things are still grey and beige and blah. Also cold. Time maybe for a little colour boost?
Yes, I think so! Please let me introduce Ciel, the newest monster at Joey’s House!

Knit from a super-squishy (seriously – you want one of these!) Babycakes DK kit from RainCityKnits, she is sweet, colourful and very fun!

I couldn’t help but get into some colour work with all of the pretty colours I had available. Don’t fret, it isn’t too difficult. If you’re really not into it, maybe just some stripes?

The pattern is available on Ravelry, of course. I hope she brightens your day! If not maybe this will: use the code nomoresnow to get 20% off any of my patterns from now until Friday! Whee!

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An Unexpected Journey

Far over the misty mountains cold

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold*

Come along with me on a journey from the top of the cuff to the tip of your toe.  There are many bumps, hills, valleys and paths to explore as you build your sock, knit by knit, purl by purl into a densely patterned landscape as intriguing and any found in Middle Earth.

Knit from the top down, the sock is covered in bands of textured stitches each take their own journey and direction as you knit.  The texture continues onto both the heel flap heel and the toe, which has a chevron design to point you onto your next adventure.

The pattern is now available on Ravelry.  If you happen to be in my area, come by Shall We Knit and where they will be featured in their Crazy Local Talent trunk show, along side a few other noteworthy designs!

 

*J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit George Allen and Unwin 1937

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Ho! Ha ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust! *

Hello Blog! You will (I hope) recall reading about a little MOCK I was hosting a post or two back.  It was great fun, and some really good socks have come out of it.  The mystery is over now, all of the clues have been released, so let me show you the pictures of my socks.

The pattern features a fun, pointy motif that runs right down the front, from top to toe.

And another motif on the back, so you can look great from any angle.
It has a textured heel flap heel, and a ribbed toe that repeats the symmetrical rib pattern at the cuff of the sock.

The pattern has both written instructions and charts. This is the fist time I’ve ever done both, and whoo, is it a good bit of extra work! But I’ve had a lot of requests for it, so hopefully it’s worth it.

The beautiful bright blue yarn is from RainCityKnits, it’s called Rain Drop Blue. Krista does some whopping bright colours, and also choose your own colour self striping yarn – tempting, right?

It’s a fun knit, with the motifs to keep you interested and some plain stockinette to speed things along. Of course, it’s now available on Ravelry for the wee little price of only $2.00! So you can knit someone some awesome Christmas socks without completely blowing your budget on the pattern, yay!

*In memory of my Dad, who certainly knew his Daffy Duck.

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Are you MOCKING me?

Hello knitters and readers, Happy Fall!

I know there haven’t been a lot of posts lately, but I have two projects in the works that were very hush-hush – until now!

I was asked to design the October Mystery Sock (or MOCK) for the Keep It Simple Socks group on Ravelry.  The group hosts a sock knit along (KAL) each month, and this is their first MOCK.  So I was pretty excited to get to be the designer!  The premise behind this group is they like to knit simple socks – the kind of knitting that is soothing after a long day when you’re not inclined to have to interpret a chart that looks like someone spilled a dictionary.  My socks certainly fit into that category.  There are charts, but also written instructions.  It is a basic top-down construction, with the familiar heel flap.  There’s a small surprise on the toe, but it’s not overly taxing.  If you can knit a plain sock, you can knit this one.

The official thread and rules for this KAL are here.  But basically, this is how it works: Every Monday in October (there are five this year) I will release the next clue for the sock.  So the first clue will be the cuff, then the leg, etc, etc.  No, there are no pictures of the finished pattern yet – that’s why it’s a MYSTERY sock!  The pattern will be free until October 31 –  a little Halloween treat for you!  After that the price goes up to a whopping $2.00.

You can use whatever sock yarn you like for your MOCK socks, although I might suggest something more along the lines of a semi-solid if you want to see the pattern.  Just around the time I was agreeing to do this design I received some yarn from RainCity Knits.  Perfect!  I thought, new yarn, new pattern!  So that’s what I used.

Finally, I have an image for you to use on your Ravelry project page.  Any Mystery knit along usually features something like this – you put it up as your main project picture until after the KAL is done; it acts as a spoiler preventer for those just browsing through the projects.  If they want to see your other pictures they can click your project to have a look.  Since it’s October, and I love Halloween I’ve got a little witchy for your to use:

 

So, go stash diving, find some yarn and get ready to MOCK along with us!

 

 

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A scrapalicious summer

The War on Scraps continues to be fought here at joey’s house.  I have a metric crap tonne of sock yarn scraps it seems.  Some of them don’t even really fit into the “scrap” category – there is enough left to make a whole sock or mitten – but not TWO socks or mittens.   Some are just the little walnut sized balls that seem to transport from room to room.  I’ve tried to corral them all in one spot; I don’t think it can be done.  Using them up is the only means of taming them.  I started the summer with a new pattern which encourages the use of the larger balls – or a bunch of little ones combined.  A Study in Scraps is still free, and doing especially well on Craftsy.  It’s also available on Ravelry, should you prefer.

I’ve recently finished up two more scrappy projects – first up are Socks of Summer Punkiness, made for (of course) Punky.  She has a great time playing with colours in the scrap bowl.  When I asked her what colours I should use for her socks this is what she came up with.  Bright and pretty, just like her.

These are basic 3×1 rib socks knit over 56 sts.  Regular flap heel and corresponding gusset.  The fun part is the random stripes at the cuff, heel and toe.  No planning required whatsoever, just use whatever colour you feel like next.  These socks have been my travelling companions this summer – I started them on our first camping trip to The Pinery, and have taken them everywhere since.  They’re done just in time for school.

Punky was away last week, and I decided I needed to do something fun while I had some time to myself.  So I dusted off my loom, watched a bunch of tutorials (since I didn’t really remember anything) and got out the scraps.  AGAIN.  Here’s the result this time.

I used a 12 dent reed on my Cricket loom.  I figured out how I wanted the stripes to look in the wrap (I was really just going for even amounts of each colour) and then wound random amounts of each colour onto my shuttle and wove until it gave out.  Which turns out to be pretty effective in the end.  Who knew?  I really liked doing this – I don’t think I could have stood another scrap sock right away, but I do plan on making more scarves.  As soon as I can get my loom back from Punky who insists that her teddies need another blankie.  Oy.

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Well hi!

Did you think I’d vanished?  Things have been busy.  Starting with an unplanned (obviously, who plans these things?) sinus infection of epic proportions, continuing with end of school and camping and WHOOSH, there goes June and a bit of July.  More holidays are coming too, yay!!!  So in order to make up for my absences I thought I’d bring you a wee giftie.  Something to take with you on your own summer travels perhaps.  A sock pattern that is lovely and mindless (so hot, who wants to think too much?) but will make you feel especially noble as it uses up some of those ends and leftovers you have hanging about.  You know the ones.  That fabulous yarn you knit those awesome socks with, that you still have 47g of, and you LOVE it, but what the heck do you do with 47g?  Or that single 50g skein you got… uhhhh… somewhere along the way, uuummmm, maybe in a swap?  Can’t remember, but it’s sitting there glaring balefully at you because it’s been in the stash for 3 years and you’ve never touched it.  Yeah.  THAT yarn.  Go dig through your leftover bags and find a couple that you think will work, because you’re going to want to make these beauties!

A Study in Scraps: Sock #1.  I used up 79g of hanging about sock yarn on these, woot!  The purple is Koigu KPPPM – it was that hang around skein that just appeared in the stash one day, that I never knew what to do with.  The yellow is Indigodragonfly Merino Sock – it was leftover from Phillip and Mr. Grumm.

I love to use up odds and ends, but I wanted it to look purposeful, like a properly planned item, not just a mish-mash of stripes using whatever I grabbed next – although that can be fun too.  I only used two colours for these, but you could certainly use more.  I’d love to see some really wildly coloured ones!

I’ve written up the instructions for these, not hat you couldn’t likely figure it yourself if you’re a bit clever.  They’re just 2×2 rib and 1 row alternating stripes.  I’ve included how to keep the stripes going nicely down the heel and around the gusset, with no visible jog.  Oh, and the rather dashing button cuff too, of course! Sure, you could figure it, but it’s still hot, so why bother?  You can grab the PDF for free right here: scrap sock1 PDF, or it’s also available on Ravelry if you’d rather stuff it into your library there, and on Craftsy too!

Don’t you love a good stripy heel? Check out the bottoms.

Fun, right?

As I’ve been working on these I have had many comments about the colours – mainly “I would never have thought those would go together!”. I’m going to write up a little tutorial on how I pick my colours for you. Tossing your scrap bin should be fun, not stressful!
And finally, a word on my model – Punky is finally big enough to model my socks for me (Yikes, how did that happen!?) They are a bit big on her, but she had a lot of fun doing it. She wanted you to see that her toes are just as colourful as the socks!

Happy summer knitting!

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OMGWTF Socks!

I like hearing stories about how creative people get their ideas. Many seem to have a place or time where the creative juices flow, the synapses spark and the muses whisper. The shower seems to be a popular spot. Also while driving. One designer works out details while vacuuming or doing other mindless house work. For me it’s most often at night. Pattern issues resolve themselves just as I’m drifting off. Colour choices come in dreams. And the muses like to visit at about 3:17 a.m. with a smash over the head and a big shake, shouting “Wake up, smartass, have we got an idea for you!” This was the birth of the idea for these socks. 3:17, visions of bright pink socks with textese letters running down the legs are dancing in my head. The next day I emailed Kim, one of my favourite yarn pushers with the idea. “YES! I have the perfect yarn!” came the reply. I started charting, and, after obtaining new eye protection to keep the glare of this pink out of my eyes I started knitting. And ripping. And knitting. And charting. And re-charting. The letter O is particularly tricky to knit – mine kept coming out looking either like squares or eyeballs. Finally though, there are these:

Socks to express what most of us are thinking many,many times during the day. Make them for your favourite text-happy teen. Or make them for yourself and wear them into the office on an appropriate day. I the right colour, I think there are many suitable applications.

The details:
Knit top down, with a funky ribbed cuff and matching toe. The letters are created just with knits and purls, read from simple charts. Heel is a standard flap style. As written the pattern will fit ladies M to men’s small, but it would be really easy to add in a few more sts around the chart and knit to the length you need once the chart is completed. Shown in Indigodragonfly’s Merino Nylon Sock yarn in the perfectly named OMGWTFPINK! Now available for sale on Ravlery. The regular price is $5.00, but for a limited time use the code OMGCHEAP at the checkout to get it for only $3.50.
Enjoy!

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Socks, please

I have been on a bit of a sock knitting run lately.  I’ve finished my easy, mindless, not designed by me, sock blank socks.  Well, mostly finished – you can see that last heel needs to be grafted.  These will be for my Mom for Christmas.  Yeah, I like to get things done early.  I know I’m going to knit her socks, might as well do it when the mood strikes.

Once they were well under way I pulled the poorly behaving socks out of their time out.  They are very nicely behaved little socks now.  Well, as nicely behaved as neon pink socks can be.  Heel is turned on the first one, have a fun idea for the toe, so looking forward to that. This yarn is Indigodragonfly’s merino nylon sock.  the colour is called OMGWTFPink.  Yep.

So then I started these.  One of my knitting goals for this year is to learn toe up socks.  I’ve only ever done ONE toe up sock before. It was devastating enough that I never knit the second and eventually frogged the first and gave the yarn away.  I think I may finally be over it though, I am having a BLAST knitting these.

Figuring out Judy’s Magic Cast on was fun – ok I totally didn’t figure it out, I watched Cat Bordhi’s video a bunch of times and copied what she did.  A truly awesome way to learn a new knitting skill, Cat’s videos are very clear and all come with a fun little story.  I like it enough that I am going to be following this video to try out her Sweet Tomato Heel next.  I’ll get back to you on how it works out.  I am not really following a pattern for these socks, they are my attempt at coming up with my own Vanilla Toe Up method.  My top down recipe that I carry around in my head is a mish-mash of a bunch of patterns and my own knitting experiences.  That’s what I’m going to recreate for the toe up method.  The yarn is Fortissima Colori Socka Color in the colour 9095 that I found on clearance at Len’s a couple of weeks ago.  Clearance self striping sock yarn?  Oh yeah!!    These are for Joey, he’s really liking the stripes.

Also, you know I couldn’t knit up all these socks without replenishing the stash.  (No, it didn’t really need replenishing, thanks for asking).  But look, it’s FOZZIE BEAR yarn!  From Another Crafty Girl.  Who could resist?

Just to keep the theme going I even did a bit of sewing this weekend! Check out the new project bag I made. You’ll be shocked to hear that it’s sock sized, hehe.

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