Peregrinate (plus giveaway)
You know when your knitting hits that perfect, meditative place? The spot where your fingers know just what to do and your stitches flow perfectly and all you have to do is sit back and admire your work? Well Peregrinate totally hit that spot for me, and I’m so glad to have them back out!
The pattern on the leg is very mellow. Just knits, purls, and teeny tiny cables. You’ll have it memorized in no time, and the result is something really lovely.
Things get a little more interesting when you get to the foot. The main pattern slowly meanders off toward the side, leaving a swath of purl stitches in its wake. And of course I included instructions for just continuing the pattern all the way down the foot (in case you’re madly in love with it and can’t bear to stop), but I think the purl stitches are rather fetching.
Whenever you have a big stretch of purl stitches like that, your yarn choice becomes extra important. Any color variations in your yarn looks more pronounced on the purl side. That can be fun if you’re in the mood for something energetic, but for these I wanted something a bit more mellow. One of the marvelous semi-solids from the folks at Vice was the perfect choice. (These use Carnal, now sadly discontinued, though Paradigm is a great substitute.)
I know Vice can be a bit hard to track down (you can only get it in stores, not online, so if you want it you have to ask your LYS to carry it). So I’m going to help someone out there fall as much in love with it as I am. I’ve got a skein of Carnal to give away to one of you. Just leave a comment telling me what gets you to that meditative state in your knitting. Is it row after row of garter stitch? Or do you like stockinette better? Does ribbing do it (I’ve met some people who swear 1 by 1 ribbing is their therapy)? Or would you rather have a bit more pattern? There aren’t any right answers (and if you’re new enough to knitting that it still puts up too much of a fight to feel that way, that’s ok too!), I just want to know what does it for you.
And while I can’t quite manage to yarn to everyone, I can give everyone a discount. You can use the code MEANDER to get a dollar the price between now and Friday. Just put Peregrinate in your ravelry cart, click on the ‘use a coupon code’ button, and type in the code MEANDER. You’ll see the change in price reflected right away.
Comments left between now and the end of the day (eastern time) Friday, April 22, 2016 will be entered to win. I’ll pick a winner, contact them to get their addresses, and arrange to send yarn their way. Be sure to use a real email address so I can contact you if you’ve won (I won’t do anything with those email addresses besides notify the winner). If I do email you, I need to hear back from you within 72 hours or I will pick a new winner and contact them. Sorry, but I can only ship physical prizes to US addresses.
These are beautiful! I love how that yarn looks in the purl stitches, almost like ripples.
Love to zone with stockinette but I rarely get that chance with the patterns I choose!! Must go back to shawls or sweater backs!
My go to meditative knitting is a k2p2 ribbed hat. If I’m having a rough day, cast on and let rip. By the end of the night, I’m calm and I have a hat for charity!
I love patterns that I can memorize, that’s my knitting Zen. Usually it’s some type of rib/cable combo, interesting enough to keep me going yet easy enough to memorize and do anywhere. This pattern is very intriguing and the finished socks are beautiful, definitely going to add these to my knitting Zen list!
I would just love to win that yarn! And Saturday is my birthday–how fitting!
If I’m really having one of *those* days, where knitting truly is therapy and I desperately need to zone out, a plain vanilla sock is the answer.
But, most days aren’t like that, and I like a touch of variety in the pattern for my therapeutic knitting. This pattern looks perfect for that!
I have a couple of “go to” patterns for times when I want to work on something that requires little to no thinking. They free my mind to wander or sort out some other challenge.
BTW, Peregrinate is lovely. I am drawn to your patterns and appreciate your thinking “out of the box” designs.
I really love patterns that I can “read,” ones that I memorize after a couple of repeats and can knit happily without looking at the pattern. (One of my favorites is Diagonal Ribs by Ann Budd.) I also really love self-striping yarn and happily knit those in stockinette, throwing in a sl1, k1 round whenever the color changes.
I like the pattern and beautiful yarn. It get to my medatitive state, I like a slight pattern worked over a relatively short amount of stitches with a purl WS row format.
A cat on my lap and a piece of knitting in my hands.
What lovely socks! A simple cable never fails to entertain me – one with just enough crossings to provide a distraction, without being overly complex. Plus, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to see the twisty cable growing.
I love a repetitive pattern, like ribbing or garter or stockinette. I can completely zone out and “one more row” later it’s midnight and I have to get up early the next day. Full disclosure, this happened to me last night.
It’s funny though, how jarring it can be to switch away from those kinds of patterns. I went from stockinette to a 1×1 rib on another project and every time I stopped watching I would start doing stockinette again.
My mindless knitting is preemie baby hats. I can rib and stockinette in a circle for a long time and then boom! come the decreases and it’s done! A lot of gratification and a nice gift.
Memorizable patterns take me to that place. Not too boring, not crazy difficult.
I need a little pattern to get me there, but not a crazy one. Garter and stockinette get too boring after a while and just mind numbing. These look like the perfect amount of pattern.
My happy place is just finding time to knit … any stitch at all. How did life become so busy? Between work outside and inside of the home, there’s barely time to relax at all. Any knitting I can squeeze in makes me happy.
My meditative knitting is a simple, easy-to-remember lace patten.
Those are beautiful socks! I like a pattern somewhat challenging, in the round, like a four or five row repeat.
Thanks for the chance to win!
Sometimes I like the more complicated stiches to “zone out” to, it makes me focus on the pattern and leave the hectic day behind.
My zen is stranded work. I love the rhythm of it
I think straight knitting gets me in the zone (which is stockinette if I’m knitting in the round, or garter if I’m knitting flat). I don’t want to be in the zone *too* long though, or I’ll get bored – I need a little lace or cabling to keep it intereting 🙂
Short pattern repeats that I can do while reading to my boys. And even better on circulars. Then I feel like I’m accomplishing two very good things at the same time!
My “trance” patterns are ones that have a pattern, but a simple one that’s easy to memorize – a lot like these socks!
These are beautiful!
Love all your patterns but this one is especially nice.