random threads

In the past week , I have been whipping out more 6″ swatches for donation to the Baskets of Yarn retreat this coming weekend, where we will be sewing the swatches into blankets to donate to charity.  I played around with a number of dishcloth patterns, then started swatching interesting patterns in my stitch dictionaries. Today, I’ll share the three latest I’ve knit from free dishcloth patterns. For most of these I cast on anywhere from 21 to 25 stitches to get “about” a 6″ square end result.

First up, the completed Bee Stitch Cloth, downsized to a 6″ square (should have cast on a few less stitches):

Next, the Open Star Dishcloth, again downsized. I didn’t cast on quite enough stitchs for this one, so when it ended up a bit too small, I added a round of single crochet in the purple to get it closer to the 6″ square.

This is the Three and One Checked Cloth pattern, and I think it turned out quite well. I plan to knit this one again. The pattern was easily memorized and doesn’t need edge stitches to lie flat.

Here’s the last sets of photos for the Honeycomb beret pattern I designed, which I finished yesterday.  I knit this one in Rowan Colourscapes Chunky in the color called ‘Cherry’ which is really red, rust, and purple/violet.



To recap, the pattern is available for free download from my patterns page or from within Ravelry as the Honeycomb Beret.

I’ve been quiet lately, haven’t I? Well, the knitting has continued during February, and still hats. I’ve been knitting hats to donated to the students at Appalachian State University who work at the conference center. This is a charity effort organized by my LYS, Baskets of Yarn, as a way of saying thank you to the students who work so hard to make sure we have a great time at our annual retreat. Which is only ten days away now! Any leftover hats will be donated to a chemo-cap charity.

I’ll be posting some pictures over the next few days  from the various hats  I have been knitting, but I thought I’d start with the Honeycomb Beret. This is a pattern I designed using a stitch pattern from Volume 2 of the (old) Harmony Guides:   450 Knitting Stitches: Volume 2 (The Harmony Guides) called “Honeycomb Cable.” I’ve knit it in three different bulky/chunky yarns to refine the design:

Nashua Handknits Vignette, in color ‘Distant Mountains’:

Patons Shetland Tweed Chunky in a dark green:

Rowan Colourscape Chunky in a pink/purple/red called ‘Cherry’:
Photo to come soon…just finished this one yesterday.

The pattern is available for download (FREE!) from my patterns page or from within Ravelry as the Honeycomb Beret.

It being Toesday and all, and not having much of anything sock-related to report from my own needles…I instead offer up some free online sock patterns, highlighting two designers, Kathleen Taylor of Dakota Dreams and Nicole Masson of Switzerland aka stephanina .

Kathleen is an author of several mystery books and knitting books (including I [Heart] Felt: 33 Eye-Popping Projects for the Inspired Knitter and Yarns to Dye For: Creating Self Patterning Yarns for Knitting) and regularly posts free patterns on Fridays on her blog, Kathleen Taylor’s Dakota Dreams.  Two sock patterns I found interesting:

• Mitered Square Socks–these are knit flat and seamed up the side, using a heavy fingering weight yarn.
• Niblet Socks–a nice textured leg design, using worsted weight yarn. Knit from the cuff down.

You might find it interesting to hear how she bravely cut down a beautiful stranded cardigan by 15″  to get it to fit her new body size.

The second designer is Nicole Masson, who is blogless as near as I can tell, but has a Flickr id of stephanina.

• Pomme de pin Socks, knit toe up, in fingering weight yarn, with a rice stitch heel and a pretty textured design on the leg.
• Bleuet Socks, knit toe up in fingering weight, with a simple but effective knit/purl texture design.
• Sea Waves Socks, again a toe-up design, with a short row heel, and another nice knit/purl design.

I hope you enjoy the patterns from these two designers! For those of you on Ravelry, you can see their designs from these links:

Kathleen Taylor Dakota Dreams

Nicole Masson (stephanina)

Since it is Toesday, I thought I’d post some free sock patterns I’ve run across recently and added to my Ravelry queue…of course, I do that at the drop of a hat, er… sock, since I have over 300 projects queued.

Express Lane by Diane Mulholland. This is a toe up, short-row toe and heel sock with a lovely leafy simple design centered on the front. It is provided in two sizes and has calf shaping, so those of you with ’shapely’ calves will like this to make taller socks. Designed for fingering weight yarn, Diane recommends either a solid or patterned yarn as the simple pattern will show off both types of yarn well. Take a gander at the Ravelry project pages (if you have a Ravelry sign on, you do, don’t you?) for inspiration. The pattern provides both charts for the leaf design, but it is a simple chart, so if you aren’t too experienced in knitting from charts, this would be a good one to tackle.

Jules by Kate Blackburn. This is a traditional heel flap, knit cuff down, on 5 DPNs style sock. It is offered in two sizes, Woman’s 4-7 and Mens 10-12. The stitch pattern is a slip-stitch rib, but an alternative, more stretchy rib is described as well. The pattern includes charts and written instructions for the stitch pattern. People on Ravelry (project gallery here) have knit this pattern in solids, semi-solids and patterned yarns and have rated the pattern 4.5 stars out of 5.

Both of these patterns are from the new online knitting magazine, The Inside Loop, which is edited by Diane and Kate. They are publishing issues five times a year and have two issues online so far. Their focus is on UK designers and yarns, but is not intended to exclude others–they just want to make sure that “everything you fall in love with on this site is easily found in your (UK-ed.) local bricks-and-mortar or online yarn store.” An admirable goal, and the online world could use a bit of non-US focus now and again, in my opinion.

In addition to patterns, they spotlight UK businesses, and in the Summer issue, have articles on Natural Dyeing, The Hyperbolic Coral Reef, and learning the Magic Loop technique for knitting socks. In addition to socks, there are patterns for a camisole, a beach bag, arm warmers, a scarf and a crocheted stole in the Summer issue. Do take a look at the spring issue in their archive for more articles and patterns. If you want to print out the patterns, do open up the ‘printer-friendly’ .pdf versions first, as they have larger charts.

Sorry for being a bit quiet the past few days, but I have been a bit under the weather with sinus issues and a queasy stomach (again!). My awake hours have been focused on knitting furiously on Dad’s birthday socks (60% done), which will be posted as a free pattern once I finish sock #2 and take some pics and get the write-up done. Photos on the current status will be displayed tomorrow on WIP Wednesday.

This being Toesday and all, I will offer some other interesting free sock patterns I’ve run across in my Ravelry surfing. (For those of you not in Ravelry, whatcha waiting for? Get over to the homepage advance card cash creditcash till payday loanadvance cash faxing magnum,magnum cash advancefast cash advance,cash advance,online cash advanceallied cash advanceinheritance cash advanceadvance america cash advance,advance advance america cash center,ace advance america cashnational cash advancecash advance until pay day,advance cash day paycash until payday loanno fax cash advance for bad credit,bad credit cash advance,advance bad cash credit servicescash advance new yorkpayday cash loanadvance cash day loan paycash loan payday tilcash loan payday untiladvance cash loan overnight,advance cash overnight,overnight cash advanceadvance america cash advance center inc,advance america cash loan,cash advance americapay day loan cash advance,pay day cash advance payday loanget payday cash advance fast online loan,fast no fax cash advance,fast cash advanceno fax faxless cash advance payday loan,faxless cash advance,advance cash faxless loanquick cash payday loanadvance cash fax loan no payday quick,advance cash fax loan no payday,no fax cash advanceadvance cash loan onlinecash til payday loancash fast loan paydayquick and easy cash advance,quick cash advance,instant quick cash advance loanstrip roulettecraps ruleswww poli poqueraprender a jugar pokerrevista pokerjuego poker online gratisplay 7 card studapuestas onlinejugar 7 card stud gratisholdem poker gratispoker sin dinerobunny pokerjugar poker sin dineropoquer poquerpoker portales internetjugar poquerreglas de pokerpoker de asespoker en linea gratis,poker en linea,jugar poker en lineadraw pokertorneos de poker gratiscartas internetjuego al instante pagina web and sign up for a free id to join in all sorts of fibery wonderfulness!) Never fear, these links are to non-Ravelry sites (but you really should check them out in Ravelry as well!)

• Kathleen Taylor’s Dakota Dreams: Niblet Socks, a quick knit in a worsted weight yarn, that makes a cushy sock.
• Jane Prater’s Merely A Suggestion: Chicken Feet Socks, uses two colors of fingering weight sock yarn to add a ‘chicken track’ look to the leg. Jane is a Charlotte knitter, who also teaches knitting. I have taken several classes from her some years ago when I was just starting to get hooked on knitting again.
• Anne Campbell’s Needlework: Show Off Stranded Socks, which works well for hand-dyed sock weight yarns. The sock architecture looks a bit unusual, not quite like one of Cat Bordhi’s, but the patterning is done down the heel and three suggested patterns are offered for the gusset triangle.

And for our seasonal fun, I offer up:

• Easter Peeps by Kat Lewinski, in duckie or bunny flavors
• Chick Egg Cozies by Derya Davenport for keeping the chocolate variety or the soft-boiled variety of eggs cozy.
• Felted Bunny by Christine Manitz of Strickanleitungen (pattern is in English).

And if you are partial to crochet, these Miniature Easter Baskets look so sweet with some jelly beans in them, from Marilee Norris of Blogless Knitting.

For Toesday, I thought I’d share a few free sock patterns I found of interest:

Modified Cloverleaf Rib Socks from Edina of ‘knit with me’. These are two-at-a-time, toe-up socks, knit with magic loop using a fingering weight yarn.

Lara’s Herringbone Lace Socks, from Lara of ‘Ramblings of a Knitting Nerd.’ These are knit cuff down, with a traditional heel flap, on 4 DPNs. Again, for a fingering weight yarn.

Roundabout Socks, from Ruth, ‘The Yarnarian.’ These have a yarnover pattern that moves around the foot, knit from the cuff down on your choice of needles (DPNs, 2 circulars or magic loop). It has a traditional heel flap, and uses fingering/sock-weight yarn.

While these are not socks, I thought they were seasonably appropriate, and darn cute:

Knitted Easter eggs, from Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits, which includes several different patterns for stripes, zig-zags, dots, checks.