free sock pattern + hand dyed yarn by Yarn Love

Winner Update!

And we have a winner! Nan who wrote “LOVE the new colors, especially “New” Allure!” gets the prize package! Congratulations – I’ll be in touch shortly.

If you didn’t win this time, don’t be too disappointed, I’m planning on doing drawings about once a month on the blog. I love all the comments! In the meantime, perhaps you all could bribe the random number generator I used for the drawing……

If you didn’t win, but would still like the pattern, stop by Never Not Knitting. There’s a 25% off coupon for all my patterns and overstock yarns there.

After a brief interlude for delicious baking (oreos = yum!) we now return to our regularly scheduled knitting! I’ve just released a new sock pattern: Grecian Goddess socks! They’re a lovely combination of diamonds and eyelets adorning the instep and cuff, plus a lilting cable twirling along the gusset. I seem to have a “thing” for cabled gussets….they’re just so pretty! Grecian Goddess is shown here in Celestial Rose (on Juliet hand dyed by Yarn Love).

This pattern is suitable for intermediate knitters (or an adventurous beginner). All the stitch patterns are given in chart form, because that really is the easiest way to covey the large stitch design. Though you will need to work from multiple charts at once, the good news is that the instep and cuff charts are nearly identical so working them up is actually easier than you might think at first glance. Plus – cabled gussets! You need these daintily cabled gussets!

14 New Semi Solid colors from Yarn Love
Yep – I just finished uploading 14 brilliant new shades to the Yarn Love website. That means they’re officially released. Check them out here – they’re beautiful. I’ll be telling you more about how they’re dyed and why you want them in a future post….but for now ogling them is sure to brighten your day!

You can win free yarn!
I’m celebrating my recent productivity by giving away two skeins of Elizabeth Bennet yarn plus a PDF copy of my Grecian Goddess socks! Awesome – free hand dyed yarn! Free sock pattern! Please leave a comment below telling me which if the 14 new colors is your favorite. (Hint, the new colors are the ones labeled *new* right here.)

If you link to this post via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or your blog, comment with the url to your post and we’ll enter you a second time. I’ll choose the winner Friday, February 4th – so please enter before noon 2/4/2011. Good luck!

Yarn Love shawlette just off my needles!

I’m so excited! I just cast off a beautiful shawlette last night. It’s my first shawl ever, and even though it’s small, I love it. I wasn’t aiming for a full sized shawl – more of a shoulder and neck wrap for the cold drafts of fall & winter. (Which is really ironic considering we have heat alerts in our area today for heat index above 105 degrees.)

The main color is Solstice – and the contrasting colors, in order from left to right are Art Deco, Pizzaz, Stallion, and Martini.

I still need to finish weaving in the ends, and then get to go on my first ever lace blocking expedition. I hope it’s as fun as most lace knitters claim.

Specs: triangle shaped shawl with a simple 8 stitch central lace pattern ending in a modified feather and fan garter st border.

Yarn: 90 grams of MC used, plus about 20 grams of each CC color. Shown on Juliet. Easy to incorporate sock leftovers in a beautiful new garment.

Miss Margaret Socks – newly released!

Introducing:

little Miss Margaret!

Miss Margaret is my latest pattern. She was released yesterday for Three Irish Girls’ Sock Yarnista club. She’ll be available for purchase for non-club members shortly at Three Irish Girls.

She is a cuff down sock with an easy to remember spiral stitch pattern. I’ve added beads for a little “bling” but she’s just as pretty without. The spiral pattern melts into a cabled heel flap and is framed by prettily cabled gussets for a great fit.

The pink sample is shown in Scarlett O’Hara by Yarn Love, colorway: Petal.

Intermediate difficulty: pattern assumes familiarity with cables and charts. Bead work is done using a small crochet hook, so you don’t have to pre-string the beads.

Materials:
• 4 oz/410 yards fingering weight yarn. Shown in Yarn Love’s Scarlett O’ Hara. Color – Petal.
• US size1 or 2.25 mm needles (2 circulars, 5 DPNS or 1 long circular for magic loop.)
• Taspestry needle
• Stitch markers (optional)

Extra notions:
• Small gauge steel crochet hook – size 14
• Seed beads size 6 or 8 (You will need 60-80 per sock depending upon how long you knit the cuff.)
• 2 small cable needles (You may cable without cable needles if you prefer.)

Techniques:
• Beading (explained in the pattern)
• Cables
• Short rows

Notes:
• The heel flap, gusset, and instep st patterns are given as charts only for clarity.
• You may pre-string the beads if you prefer.

Where are they now?

KnitCroBlo Day 6: Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted.

Fiddlehead Mittens

I actually don’t know exactly what these mittens are up to now. They were for a swap partner, and I hope she is getting lots of use out of them!

I knit them from the Fiddlehead Mitten pattern. The yarn is Andee dk from Henry’s Attic, that I hand dyed for this project.

They were so much fun to make, and are super dense. I had to go down to a 000/1.25mm needle to get gauge, so I opted not to line this pair. I need to make some for myself but like most things, I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Bowl Full of Cherries Socks

I designed these socks for the Sock Knitter’s Anonymous July 2009 challenge. Right now the original pattern (released in 4 parts for the challenge) is available for free.

I loved designing these socks, but they were a challenge. I had a total of 3 weeks to design and publish the pattern. (The designer they had lined up had to decline unexpectedly.) They were my first colorwork design. There are two versions – a 2 strand and a 3 strand – and they’re available in two sizes.

By the time I got done knitting both socks, I was pretty much (happily!) exhausted. It was a whirlwind tour and I had a million ends to weave in. My mom fell in love with the socks and offered a trade. She would weave in all the ends if she could have the socks. Done! I love seeing the fraternal twin socks on her feet. It’s as satisfying as completing the pattern and finishing the knitting.

Facebook = Time sucker!

I have succumbed to peer pressure.

I sold out to the man.

I am having a blast on Facebook.

Yep, a week ago I didn’t care about Facebook. Yes, I knew what it was but had no desire to ever join or spend time looking for people I didn’t know I cared about until I met them on Facebook. You know the song and dance. Busy at home, busy with yarn, etc., etc., etc. Then my very good friend mentioned (On her way out the door to her Valentine’s day dinner. You know you’re good friends when you both are in great relationships and you have to get together before your respective romantic evenings for a quick chat.) that she and my brother in law were talking ABOUT ME on Facebook. About me!?!?! I mean who does that? If I wanted to see what they were saying, I could just join. So I told her goodbye, shut the door and joined.

It’s a time sucker. You sit down to check on your mystery growing plant, see if the egg your friend sent you has hatched into something cute, realize that you have several new and funny stickers to read, notice that 10 of your closest friends have been writing on your wall since you were last there, then remember that there were 3 new beers that needed to be added to your beer rating application and pretty soon you’re late for making dinner because the past 60 minutes were sucked into the black hole of Facebook. But did I mention that if you simply add the Beer! application you can see my rating and remarks on every beer I’ve ever drunk?

Stating that Facebook has sucked up my time this week and that I’ve not gotten anything else done is a complete lie. I have nearly finished up my calculations for the business’ tax numbers. (You know those ones you have to spend hours working on before handing them over to a professional.) The deal will be sealed as soon as I go through my account, debit, and credit card statements to categorize and total every expense for the entire, freaking year. Yes, that’s after I had to go through and verify that everything was an actual business expense and wasn’t the result of pulling the wrong one of 3 identical bank cards from my wallet at the time of purchase. I hate taxes. Freaking taxes. And don’t get me started on politics.

Crap. I got derailed. I was supposed to be talking about the 12 pounds of yarn I hand-painted Monday and Tuesday of this week in addition to all the tax number crunching, but the tax angst took over. So yes, I have dyed half of a smaller order headed for The Loopy Ewe in the past two days. My skeining gal is coming over this afternoon and on Friday to get it into shape for shipping. Hopefully the new swift will be here by Friday so she can work from home and get lots more yarn done up faster! We’ll see. I inadvertently ordered it from a place who are open all weekend but closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Well, crap! If I’d known that I wouldn’t have waited all weekend to place my order!!!!!! Ahem. Anyway. It won’t be here by Friday, but I really want it to be. It’s a Strauch. Expensive, but I’ve heard they’re amazing. I’ve simply worn out my other one from two years of constant use, so this will be a nice upgrade (That I’ll never see or use!).

The Sweet Sheri socks are finished, except for weaving in the ends. I’m going to try to get that done today so they can go into the mail and be to St. Louis by the 28th. That’s Sheri’s actual birthday. Yay for birthday socks! I still think there’s way too much light green/celedon in this colorway, but I have request upon request for this. If you like it, it’s going to be available exclusively at The Loopy Ewe and there are three pounds of this colorway in the next order.

The socks are a mutton of patterns. The instep is the Jaywalker chevron, slightly modified to fit my stitch count. The sole is 2 X 2 ribbing for a nice fit. The heel is a garter stitch short row, and the cuff is Estonian Button stitch topped off with a decent cap of ribbing. I was attempting to do plain stockinette stitch instep and sole, and I couldn’t do it. I got 5 rounds past the short row of the first toe before deciding that this just wasn’t working out. I hope they fit. Most always, I work my socks toe up and knit until they fit and then turn the heel and do the cuff. The second sock is either knit at the same time or I count rows to copy…… It’s so nerve wracking to knit for someone else! I have relatively skinny, long feet and Sheri’s socks are just so much bigger than mine…..I hope I haven’t inadvertently knit GINORMOUS socks that are even too big for her. I swatched. I swatched! Swatched for socks people, and then double checked the stitch calculations based on measurements provided and then made them a hair smaller for the perfect fit. And they still look big.

I always do this. I’m completely convinced that the gift I’ve just knitted is wrong in every way and then have giving anxiety until I know otherwise. Sigh. Only with handmade gifts…..which I generally spend a lot of time planning out so that they’re sheer perfection for the giftee. Oi. I’ve got to go weave in ends before I talk myself out of sending them. (No, it’s not because I’m keeping them for myself because they’re an inch too long for my feet!)

They're done, and I've moved on.

I finished the Thrummed Mushroom colorwork mittens for my swap partner. I carefully washed and blocked them, lovingly wrapped them, and mailed them on their way to Canada…..and then realized I never took a finished picture of them! Oi! What an oversight! Anyway, they’re beautiful and I hope Jane likes them. Jane, if you’re reading this, then you know what to expect, but you’ll have to wait to see them in person before you know what they really look like, because of my aforementioned omission.

Click the picture of the Mushroom Mitten Chart to be taken to the actual chart. Use as you like, but please don’t reproduce the pattern or mitten for sale. Thanks!

 Sometimes I forget that I know how to do other things beside knit and dye yarn. There was a time when I spent the majority of my free time sewing and quilting. In fact, before the girlies were born, I even had my own long arm quilting business. Imagine a huge sewing machine set on a 10′ table used for quiliting full sized quilts. The pregnancy quickly put an end to that business, as there was no way for me to be able to run the machine with a huge belly. But I do have a beautiful, hand pieced Mariner’s Compass tree skirt, quilted by myself to show for that business venture. Just prior to that I worked in a small, specialty sewing shop for several years.

I was acutally nicely impressed with my ability to remember how to sew after about four years of very little sewing. It’s so hard to sew when you have little kids, and no dedicated space. I sewed these cute flannel and fleece rag quilts for the girlies for Christmas. Their original fleece and flannel blankets (Given to them just after they were born…) were wearing out. I got these done, start to finish in two days. Not bad, given that I’ve also been knitting a hat, knitting a scarf, sewing mittens and quilting. True, the project is simple, but it did involve cutting 80 squares, sewing a x down the middle, piecing together the quilts and cutting 1″ slits along every seam, and the entire outside of the blanket. The girlies like them, and I hope the blanket transition will be a smooth one. The fabrics were chosen to hide wear and show minimal dirt, and are cute to boot!

Merry Christmas to you all, if I don’t check in before then. I was just working out my shopping list, and let’s just say it’s a good one. I have at least three steady days of Christmas celebrations and chaos looming before me, and a lot to get done before then. I wish you a very blessed and crafty New Year for you and yours, too!