It’s that time of year again… snow returns to the Canadian north… so it's time
for my annual First Snowfall Sale. Welcome winter with a discount on patterns designed to keep you warm and cozy as the weather turns frosty outside! I'm offering a 25% discount on the purchase of the patterns for Snow Flurry Mittens, Lychgate Socks, Precambrian Cable Socks, and/or Vertigo Fingerless Gloves from October 24, 2013 through October 31, 2013. Offer applies only to purchases through my Ravelry shop using the coupon code SNOW2013. Find details of the sale in the dedicated thread in my Rav group.
0 Comments
Remember Penuche Twist Socks? That pattern was my first collaboration with Suzan of Barking Dog Yarns. She dyed a faulous caramel colourway especially for that design and we had lots of fun offering the pattern as a KAL in her ravelry group. Now we're at it again! Suzan provided me with some of her BDY Achilles sock yarn in the gorgeous Old Stone Wall colourway and asked me to design another KAL pattern. So.... introducing Lychgate Socks.... The pattern is being featured as the July/August KAL in the Barking Dog Yarns group on Ravelry. A coupon code in the KAL thread allows participants, and other resourceful folks, to obtain the pattern for free until August 31, 2013. Of course, it's also available for purchase at its regular price through my Ravelry shop, on Patternfish and Craftsy, and through this website.
Tundra Trails Socks I've just released the pattern for Tundra Trails Socks. These casual socks were inspired by the tundra of the Canadian arctic in autumn. Just like the tundra, they appear deceptively simple but closer examination reveals hidden depth and complexity. These socks are worked from the top down. They feature a simple cable and rib pattern which tranforms into a more elaorate design over the instep. Like all of my sock designs, the pattern consists of charted stitch patterns and written instructions. Caribou at Daring Lake I started these socks while camping at a research station at Daring Lake in the Northwest Territories. The tundra was spectacular with its autumn colors and we were fortunate to see several caribou while hiking on the eskers. My KAL pattern for Barking Dog Yarns has now been released. These socks remind me of the fabulous brown sugar fudge that my dad and I make every Christmas Eve. Hence the name... Penuche Twist Socks.
The socks feature an elegant cable pattern interacting with basic ribbing in an offset fashion. They are worked from the cuff down and are mirror images of each other. The pattern is available for free and includes written instructions and charted stitch patterns. Our fudge recipe appears on the pattern page. We're into the frigid depths of winter here in the Canadian arctic now, but I've finally released the pattern for Autumn Moon Socks. Time flies - so much for the idea of releasing a pattern evoking a particular season!
These casual socks were designed to take advantage of some gorgeous variegated Indigo Moon yarn that was sitting in my stash and taunting me. The cuff features a pretty twisted edge which is fun to knit and highlights the changing colours of the yarn. The slipped stitch pattern is very simple yet effective in showcasing the yarn. Summer is starting to slip away, at least here in the Canadian north. The leaves are turning colour, the evenings are getting cooler, and it's getting dark at night again. Knitting, and especially designing, have taken a backseat to flying and fishing over the past weeks, but I do have one design pending... Autumn Moon Socks!
They're in the test knitting phase over in Ravelry right now, but the pattern should be ready for release in mid-September. Just in time for all the southerners to realize that fall is coming! The pattern for Hippie Heart Socks is now available to everyone! These socks were originally designed for the February 2011 Biscotte & Cie sock club and the pattern was initially available only as part of a kit for club members.
This design project was lots of fun and pushed me to work outside my personal preferences. The colours are super-bright and funky and I love the resulting socks. But I’ll never find the nerve to actually wear them! Anybody looking for a cable extravaganza? Here's my latest sock pattern... Romantic Entanglement Socks! They were a real brain twister to design, trying to make all those cables lace continuously around the socks, but are not all that hard to knit.
Sometimes a bit of relaxing, rather than mentally taxing, knitting is just what a person needs. My latest sock design started that way and ended up as one of my favorites. Quail Trails Socks feature elegant little cables formed by the clever use of slipped stitches. My sample pair is knit in Serendipitous Sock, a delicious merino-cashmere blend by DY3 Hard Fibre Arts. Pampered relaxation at its best!
After hours spent darning my father's supply of size 13 socks, I've turned my attention to my own worn-out pairs. I just can't bear to part with even a single sock, considering the time spent knitting, the cost of materials, and the simple fact that I love every pair. But darning has lost its appeal.
The perfect compromise is to replace the worn sections, which typically seem to be the soles under the ball of my foot, by reknitting. It's a win-win solution... I'd rather knit than darn, I'm using up bits of leftover yarn from the first knitting, and I'm extending the life of my socks. Check out my tutorial page for instructions on resuscitating your own handknit socks! Here's my thrill of the week... Hippie Heart Socks! I designed these cool socks for Biscotte & Cie for its Hippie Girl themed Club Biscotte. The pattern was just released this week. I just love the photo layout that Biscotte & Cie created to display the theme and my socks. These were so much fun to create! The yarn is Felix fingering weight sock yarn by Biscotte & Cie. It's delightful stuff! These socks feature a mosaic stitch stripe pattern, duplicate stitch hearts, and crochet heartstrings... all were a pleasure to work in this yarn. And the colours speak for themselves. These are happy feet!
I released the pattern for Winterlude Socks this morning! It's the perfect day for its debut... cold and frosty. The trees look so pretty covered in hoarfrost. These socks are their knitted counterpart. The bobble edging on these socks benefits from a bit of blocking... see my tutorials page to learn how to make your own sock cuff blocker. The pattern for Winterlude Socks is now in the testing phase. I'm hoping to have it ready for release by mid-November. In the meantime, here's a sneek peek! It's a lacy little sock with a special decorative edging instead of traditional ribbing. It reminds me a tiny bit of snowflakes, hence the wintery name. I've just released the pattern for Grecian Columns Socks... photo in the sidebar! These casual socks are an easy knit for summer.
The mystery has been solved... introducing my Eye of the Helix Socks! I truly hope that the enthusiastic members of the Ravelry SolidSocks group had as much knitting this pattern as I had watching their progress. Now that May/June 2010 has been committed to history, I have consolidated the clues and released the pattern as a single pdf file. It's available for free both in my Ravelry shop and on the free patterns page of this website.
I'm absolutely thrilled to be the designer of the May/June 2010 mystery sock for the Ravelry Solid Socks group. The pattern will be released in four installments through the month of May. The first "clue" was posted early this morning. You can find it as a free pattern in my Ravelry shop.
So as not to spoil the surprise, I can't give away too many details about the pattern. Just think cables! Participants in the group KAL post project photos as they knit, so the mystery will be solved as we go along. I can't wait to see all the projects! The pattern for Palisades Socks is now available! Many thanks to the wonderful test knitters for their helpful suggestions. These socks look very lacy but are surprisingly easy to knit. The points of the lace pattern extend into the heel and toe to provide special finishing touches.
Here's my latest sock pattern... Twisted Tendrils Socks! These socks were a challenge to design since virtually every row is different. The leaf motifs are laid out on the sock so as to suggest trailing vines and tendrils. They're a brain twister, but well worth the effort. Better late than never! The pattern for my Orelia Rose Socks has finally been published. I had my heart set on using wild roses as the backdrop for the photos, and waited forever for them to bloom, but then wasn't satisfied with the results. But I do love the socks! In the course of having my Orelia Rose Socks pattern test-knitted, I discovered that my method for grafting toe stitches might be slightly unusual. However, the test knitters loved it once I provided a tiny bit of explanation and encouragement. I've now written up a short tutorial with instructions and photos and haved posted it on my new "tutorials" page. I hope it's helpful and I'm planning to create similar tutorials for other techniques as the need arises. Here's a little peek at the design that I've been working on lately. It was inspired by the wild roses that grow in our yard in early summer... I'm trying to overlook the fact that it's still below freezing with a wicked wind chill today. The lace pattern extends from the leg over the instep and trails away toward the toe. I used small needles and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the poppy colourway and I'm really happy with the results. Just finished... Precambrian Cable Socks! These socks feature both simple 4-stitch cables and more complex embedded cables. The pattern is now available both on my Ravelry store and through this website. My sample pair is knit in Soft Touch Heather from Shelridge Farms. I just love this yarn! Purple flecks add depth to the gorgeous opal blue colour. The pattern for my Falling Fern Socks has just been added to my Ravelry store. These socks feature a lacy fern diamond pattern that is easily mastered. The pattern extends from the calf just into the instep to suggest an image of trailing greenery. The pattern for my Woven Ladder Socks has finally been completed and posted in my Ravelry store. The yarn used for my samples is Estelle Cadenza, and while I love the rich pink and purple shades, this particular yarn is prone to major colour pooling. To avoid excess pooling, I chose a stitch pattern which places floats on the right side of the knitted fabric. Since the amount of yarn used for the floats is less than would be used in the bypassed stiches, the colour pooling is interrupted! The pattern for my Ribbed Rope Socks has now been added to my Ravelry store. These socks feature intricate cables within cables. Twisted stitches are used to ensure clear stitch definition. The pattern contains detailed instructions and cable charts. |