Gramercy (plus giveaway)
You know how some knitting projects just sort of seem like little magic tricks? Either they come together faster than they should, or they use less yarn than you'd expect, or they look so much fancier than they have any right to given how easy they are. Well Gramercy pretty much does all of those things! I'm delighted to bring them back out. They use a marvelous little lace motif that has a lot going for it. It's easy enough to be a perfect introduction to fancy socks, but interesting enough that you won't get bored, even if you're a [...]
Knit Wear Love (review and giveaway)
More TNNA goodies to share, this time it's the delightful Knit Wear Love: Foolproof Instructions for Knitting your Best-Fitting Sweaters Ever in the Styles you Love to Wear from Amy Herzog. You know how I always say I'll never knit a sweater? Now part of that is because of my whole short attention span / that's an awful lot of fabric issue. But part of it is also because I've been scared I'd make one and not love it when it was done. I'm absolutely a product knitter. If I'm knitting something, it's because I want the finished piece. Can [...]
Increase Decrease (review & giveaway)
So that secret suspicion you had? That feeling that maybe TNNA was an awful lot like a birthday party with lots of goody bags for everyone to take home? Yeah, there's actually some truth to that! One of the things that came home with me was a stack of lovely books to review and give away. And today we're starting with Judith Durant's marvelous Increase Decrease: 99 Step-by-Step Methods. The short version of the review is 'oh my woolly goodness, if you like to experiment with your knitting instead of just following instructions, go get this right now.' I have [...]
Xanthophyll (plus giveaway)
Remember how I'm not supposed to have favorites? Because I'm supposed to love all my patterns equally? Well that works about as well with patterns as with ice cream. They're all good, but some of them are especially good. And Xanthophyll are totally some of my favorites! I'm so glad to be bringing them back out. These were the first skinny yarn socks I knit for The Boy (before he happened to mention that he sort of liked thick socks best, thus increasing the overall number of knit socks in his future rather dramatically). The original ones still turn up [...]
Slant (plus giveaway)
Ready for an oldie? Slant were one of the very first sock patterns I ever put out (looks like my third one if I'm counting correctly). They've been on hiatus while the pattern was totally revamped (new photos, new charts, new layout, loads more sizes), and now they're ready for their comeback! I loved these when I first made them (they're still in heavy rotation in my sock basket), and I love them now. The rib ensures they'll fit beautifully. The pattern is mirrored (because when you have lines like that you just have to do it that way, there's [...]
Sybaritic (plus giveaway)
Remember Sybaritic? I know at least some of you do! You've been asking about them ever since I took my early patterns down for a revamp. Well now they're back and better than ever (new pictures, new charts, new layout, and an extra size). I realize I likely shouldn't be hopelessly smitten by leaves. They're not hard to knit and don't require too much special attention. But oh my are they awfully cute on this sock. The one on the top of the foot just about does me in every time. I suspect you'll be fond of it, too. For [...]
Rampant (plus giveaway)
I am not the type to have any sort of holiday knitting plan. I don't knit special things for Valentine's Day or Halloween or even Christmas, much less time my patterns to coincide with them. So you can imagine my surprise when I realized that I was bringing Rampant, the greenest socks I've ever knit, back out on St. Patrick's day. This is unnaturally good timing and very much not my usual move! One of the most fun things about bringing back old patterns is remembering what was happening when I knit them. I knit these in the summer of [...]
Cataphyll (plus giveaway)
Way back in 2013, I had a lovely little pattern in Interweave's Sockupied magazine (it showed up in the Sockupied book too and even made the cover...I was unreasonably pleased). Ever since then, I've had folks asking when they'll be able to get this one as a stand alone pattern. I'm delighted to say that you can get it right now! Cataphyll is now available on ravelry. I sort of adore these. Most of the leg is nice, easy ribbing (which means they'll fit beautifully), but there's also a column of lovely leaves down the outside of your ankle to [...]
Pattern Writing for Knit Designers (review and giveaway)
There seem to be a handful of jobs everyone secretly thinks they can do. Run a bed and breakfast is one, open an adorable little bookshop is another. For knitters, their daydreams are often a bit more yarn focused. Many of them seem to flirt with the idea of either having their very own yarn store or designing knitting patterns. Three out of the four of those sound amazingly hard. They require you to have some sort of physical building people can visit, and they likely require the help of lawyers and accountants and insurance professionals and quite possibly a [...]
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