It’s the “winter” season here in TX, so time for some fall accessories! We can also call this the blog post about old knits, because two of these were finished ages ago.

Pattern: Trinity Stitch Hat from Craftster
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Hand Dyed Cotton

I started this hat about a year ago using Manos. Imagine my disappointment when I ran out of yarn before I finished the damn thing! I’m too stubborn to buy another skein of spendy yarn for a handful of yards, so I reknit it in the Blue Sky cotton that’s been hanging out in my stash for a while.

I finished this poor hat so long ago that I barely remember the details. I think it involved p3togs? And I changed the stitch count? Everything is fuzzy at this point. Either way, I think it’s pretty and smooshy even though the ribbing is too loose.

Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon
Yarn: Hand Jive Nature’s Palette in Odd Duck #4 (MC), Tess Designer Yarns Super Sock and Baby (CC)

LOVE THIS PATTERN.

That’s all.

Ok, there’s a bit more - I went up two needle sizes based on the notes on ravelry, which means the ribbing is way too loose but the rest of the hat is only a little loose. I think I look quite silly in hats, but I may actually wear this one out of the house once I attack the ribbing with some elastic.

One more thing - most of the light blue was leftover from my Endpaper Mitts. Score!

Pattern: Cashmere Cowl No. 2 - Lace Rib from Purl Soho
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool in Ocean, held double

Ah, the bonus cowl. I knit this last spring when the cowl rage was happening. I’m kind of on the fence about cowls. I get them and think they can look cute, but if I’m cold I probably need more than a loose tube with gigantic holes in it to keep my neck warm. I might just stick with my old standby, the scarf. It’s not like I don’t have a zillion scarves hanging around competing for my neck’s time!

The yarn is fan-freaking-tastic, though. I swatched a lace pattern with it a while ago, and just might end up axing this cowl for a mini Shetland Triangle, which was my original plan for it.

I held the yarn double in knitting this and used size 9 needles. I think. I know I used way less repeats than the pattern called for because I wanted a snugger fit. I haven’t blocked this yet because I’m a bit afraid it’s going to get all loose and drapey on me.

Knotions launched last weekend and I have a little green pattern in it:

Hanging Vines socks! These might just be my favorites of the three recent sock designs (Oak Leaf and Interlocking Leaves were the other two). They were inspired by the ooodles of jasmine growing along the fence in our backyard. The leaves are long gone, but the vines stay nice and green all year long.

I ripped and reknit the cuff seemingly endless times. I was damn sure to make sure it was perfect before continuing on, because I wasn’t going to do any crazy chop-and-graft action again. I’m still having nightmares about unpicking all those stitches!

The yarn was dyed by Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden. It’s such a great yellowish green - my photos definitely do not do it justice. Louet is the base yarn, and I really like working with it - it’s the perfect weight for socks and has a nice plump twist.

The only thing I’m unhappy with about these is the photos. I took a boatload of pictures in our backyard near the jasmine, but the lighting was horrible back there and you couldn’t make out the stitch pattern. I resigned myself to doing a photoshoot on our porch, which is where I photographed the Ironwork Socks. The pattern name makes more sense if you look at the socks when the cuff is at the top of the frame - the leaves are actually hanging then, and I think they look even better that way!

This is the last of the sock designs, because I have finished my 12th pair of the sock-a-month plan and am very, very done with socks for now! Socks, you are old news! Berets? Now that’s where it’s at. Even if I look silly in hats. More news next time, dear blog.

The Oak Leaf Socks pattern (originally appearing in Knotions) has been translated to German! Thanks to Andrea (kaita on Ravelry) for doing all the work of translating the pattern!

You can download the German translation here (pdf). Enjoy!

Socktoberfest is over, so it’s finally time to catch up on all the socks I’ve been knitting. These are pairs 8 through 11 of my grand sock-a-month-plan, and I’m almost done with the last pair. Finally! No more socks! I’ll be very happy when the sock knitting is complete.

Pattern: Gentleman’s Fancy Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Knitterly Things Vesper Sock Yarn in Crew

I originally omitted the calf shaping, but it was working up too small so I added it back in. It’s so nice to be able to follow a pattern verbatim for once!

There’s only one knit row between rib blocks. Also, I worked the rib blocks for two stripe color changes. Also also, I worked an afterthought heel and did my own thing for the toe shaping.

Pattern: Anna’s Socks by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Piece of Beauty Sock Yarn in October Day

I think these are a perfect combo of yarn + pattern! The pattern chart is pretty simple, yet I love the way it looks.

My gauge was smaller than the pattern’s (and I have large feet), so I modified the stitch pattern to be wider along the front and back (I think one extra repeat?) with less ribbing on the sides. I also extended the stitch pattern all the way to the toe.

Pattern: Marina Piccola by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential. I overdyed the grass green skeins with a bluish green.

Overall, I love the way the pattern looks! I did have a few wee issues with it:

In half the sizes the ribbing doesn’t match up with the pattern. I did a bunch of increasing and decreasing to make the ribbing flow into the waves of the pattern. This is only an issue in sizes where you’re working an even number of stitches between pattern repeats.

The pattern comes with a great chart on which side to select based on your gauge and foot size. However, these socks are definitely on the snuuuug size (and I definitely knit a swatch!). I’d go up a pattern size if I knit this pattern again.

I had some tension issues - the left side of each stockinette section (the ssk and regular m1 side) is much looser than the right side. I think that ssks are out to get me. These socks haven’t been blocked yet - maybe the magic of blocking with solve everything?

These were supposed to be a gift for my mother in law, but my 12th pair of socks is a bit to small, so she’ll be getting those. The heel flap on these is pretty short, and I’ve learned from all this sock knitting that I have a huge instep, so I should really frog back to the heel flap and make it taller. The thought of ripping this pattern that I knit on size 1 needles and that I’m oh-so-very over pains me greatly. So we’re going to go ahead and call them finished for now.

These are a little preview of my design for the winter issue of Knotions! The issue looks awesome overall, Jody did a fabulous job putting it together. You can queue these up on Ravelry now - I’ll post more when the pattern comes out next week.