Knit Little Elf Knit

Seasonal knits bring me lots of joy and help me get into the mood of whichever season is coming. This year I finished up my Christmas socks on Christmas Eve Eve, and they've been a long time coming because...I actually started them in 2023! 

The awesome yarn was dyed by Show Me Yarn on the Bootheel base and as the title says the colorway was 'Knit Little Elf Knit' which just tickled my sense of humor. I added the contrast heel flap as I prefer to have my stripes stay in order, it makes my brain happy. Using of little bits of leftovers in heel flaps also makes my knitting more sustainably. Less waste is being thrown out and I'm purchasing less yarn using what I already have. 

I didn't use any specific pattern, this is my standard US 1.5 needle with 64 stitches cast on using the cuff down method. I use a Modified Eye of Partridge Heel Flap that is used in all of my sock designs (free and paid.) 

Are you a Christmas sock knitter? I thoroughly enjoy searching out Christmas colored yarn (Even if it's accidental Christmas) at fiber festivals. It gets me excited about my favorite holiday! 

Reverse Socks

The start of my designing career (when I think about it) starts with Color Riot. But, I started designing sock patterns before that! Sock patterns allowed me to practice my design writing, fitting stitch patterns into certain parameters, and how to photograph knits to really highlight them. 

I went back to my roots on my latest project and worked my Reverse Socks pattern in a new colorway! You can out the original blog post about the Reverse Socks here. My new yarn was the exclusive colorway from Nano Stitch for Red Alder Fiber Retreat in Tacoma WA. I actually cast on these at Red Alder but it has taken me this many months to actually finish them. 

Although it's taken me this long to finish them I love how they turned out. I'm excited to stick my feet in them as the fall weather has hit Port Angeles in full force! I followed my Reverse pattern as written but added a contrast heel in. I wrote the pattern as a needle ambiguous pattern but I used a 9inch circular which is my preferred method. I hope this updated sample inspires you to knit a pair of Reverse Socks!

Two of a Kind Shawl

Hey Knitters! We have 6 days of sunshine coming up this week and I am SO EXCITED! Spring is on the way and the colorway for my newest shawl is perfect! 

Two of a Kind Shawl is uses the same stitch pattern as my Two of a Kind Cowl using the slip stitches as well as an i-cord! Two of a Kind is the perfect shawl to show off two coordinating skeins of yarn that highlight each other as well as contrast. I think the i-cord helps frame the shawl and give it a bit more structure around the edges. 

I used two skeins of Yummy 2-Ply provided by Miss Babs yarn; this yarn is wonderful to knit with! Yummy 2-Ply is a plump multi-ply 100% merino yarn that is a staple in my stash. It has such great stitch definition and the most amazing array of tonal and variegated yarn. 

I think Two of a Kind Shawl could really be knit with whatever yarn you want to knit it in. You could use a gradient for one color and pair it with a solid, a mini skein set would work fabulous as well! Or you could follow as my original sample and just use two colors. A knitting friend thought that this pattern looks like veins of a leaf and want to knit it in greens, I can't wait to see! 

Dark Color Happy Scrappy

I usually knit my patterns once, I love the adventure of a new knit so I rarely reknit my own designs. But! Sometimes it can be hard for a knitter to see a design and relate to it if it's not in a color palette they use! I tend to knit my scrappy projects with a lighter color base but I decided to mix it up and knit Happy Scrappy for a second time and use a dark color base for the knitters who prefer a darker color palette. 

Happy Scrappy is my bottom up triangle shawl that uses drop stitches to make fringe...which means there's no ends to weave in! Instead of using scraps for both the dark color and the light color I used a full skein of grey yarn from my stash and leftovers for the other colors. Just a fun way you can coordinate your yarn to knit the patterns you want! 

Stitch & Pitch with the Home team socks!

Have you ever been to a Stitch & Pitch? Have you ever even heard of one? A Stitch & Pitch is a ball game (baseball, football, soccer) that encourage needle artists to bring their projects and come and stitch at the game! 

In fall of 2023 my mom and I went to our first Stitch & Pitch game for a major league team, we went and saw the Mariners play! 100% honest I have no loyalty to any baseball team and was a terrible softball player but I do enjoy the atmosphere at games and thoroughly enjoyed my time at AT&T Stadium watching the Mariner win! 

This was a stitch & pitch game so there were quilters, knitters, crocheters, and other stitchers all seated in the same sections together! We had a great time getting to talk about the projects that were going on around us and then visiting the small market place...say what? Yes! There was some yarn and fiber shopping! I've joined the list for vending for 2024 with the Mariners to maybe you'll see my booth set up! 

The pattern I used for my Home Team socks is my Saddle Socks pattern, a simple garter embellishment on a stockinette background. I really like the difference in the color placement between the stockinette and the garter. 

Long Nights Shawl

If you've been around for awhile you know I grew up in California and moved to Washington's Olympic Peninsula in spring of 2021. I absolutely love where I live in WA but some of the winter nights are so long. 

My newest shawl pattern is inspired by those long winters nights! Long Nights is a top down triangle shawl using DK weight yarn for a heavier and very squishy shawl that is perfect to knit on long dark nights and wear on those nights too! 

Long Nights has a simple pattern that incorporates both garter and stockinette so it really shows off hand dyed yarn in those two different stitches. I used DK+ from Puzzle Tree Yarns which is a 100% Superwash Merino wool base. I love how squishy and warm the original sample is. 

I suggested in the pattern some alternatives that can be used. You could use a a mohair or suri alpaca blend held with a fingering weight yarn to make DK or a Sport weight yarn held with a lace weight. This would be a fun way to marl a project or knit Long Nights with a few different colors if you feel like you don't have enough yardage in your stash. 

Long Nights was going to originally be called 'Because I Can' because there is a two stitch spine instead of a more traditional single stitch. Long Nights came as I was knitting the sample and how calming it was to knit in the transition between fall and winter. 

Hygge, what the heck is it?

Ever read the world hygge and thought 'huh?' you and me are in the same boat. I don't really enjoy not knowing something so I went and did a little research. First of all, it's actually pronounced Hoo-ga which is 100% not how I was saying it and it is a Danish philosophy of 'finding joy in the simple pleasures of our daily lives, creating a warm atmosphere, for calmness, relaxation and cosiness.' This seems right in-line with my new years goals! 

I think any kind of concept where you focus on finding joy for calmness, relaxation, and coziness is a concept I can get on board with. As knitters, we have the unique ability to be making art and coziness with our hands, we literally make hygge! I also think having an area where you can focus solely on your stitches and what you are creating brings your practice of the concept to a whole new level. 

When I think calmness, a warm atmosphere and relaxation I think easy knitting projects and heavier yarns. Here are a few of my patterns that I think would be perfect hygge knitting for this winter. Scales uses DK weight yarn and faux cabling pattern and Intersection highlights the crossing between utility and beauty.

I hope my post inspires you to transform your creative space into your own calming corner, where you can have your cosy project at hand, to escape, even if it’s just for a few minutes each day, and stitch yourself calm.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the concept of Hygge, and if it’s something you already embrace?

2023 Christmas Socks

How is it that 2 months have slipped away since I've done a blog post! October was full of shows and a visit to California, November had a show, Thanksgiving, and a trunk show...that's how 2 months slipped by! 

Along with these busy business times I've also had some knitting time! I finished a pair of Christmas socks that I started in...2020...yes, it took me three years to finish these socks. I tried working on them last year and they just weren't bringing me any joy so I put them away, which is totally fine. I want my hobby time to bring me joy and I'm totally okay if I need to switch things up to make that happen. 

The yarn for this pair is from Leading Men Fiber Arts in the 'Oh Christmas Tree' colorway. The color totally looks like a Christmas tree with lights on it! The base I used is not one I've had from them before and it's a BFL and nylon base. 

BFL is a hardier wool yarn that wears well and is no where near as soft as merino. The lack of softness means that the socks don't pill as quickly or easily. I also find that they don't stretch out as quickly through the day as some of my hand dyed merino ones do. Do you have a non-merino wool you like to knit with? 

Faux Hounds Shawl

The stitch that my newest shawl uses has been on my mind for years. I originally found/used the stitch in Auditions by KnitPurl Hunter and just love the movement of the colors. I've been playing around with shawl shapes and ideas for the stitch since I started designing and finally settled on a traditional triangle shape to really make the colors and stitch shine. 

Faux Hounds is my newest shawl pattern and it utilizes the 3 to 1 stitch as well as a gradient to great a gentle flow of color and texture. I used two different yarn bases for Faux Hounds, a merino, yak and silk as the base color and a merino silk blend for the gradient. I get asked frequently if I do/is it okay to mix fibers and my answer is yes...with some rules. 

I tend to keep my blends similar in base (these two are both heavily merino wool and have the silk) and I don't usually mix plant and animal bases. Why don't I mix plant and animal bases? They stretch differently as well as hold dye differently. Wool bases have lots of 'life' to them and spring back into place when they've been stretched out, usually why socks are hand knit with wool. A cotton yarn is much heavier than a wool and does not bounce back into shape when it's been stretched out. 

Faux Hounds is an excellent example on how to combine different bases and how nicely they can knit together. Faux Hounds works great with a solid color base and a variegated, a solid with mini skeins, or a solid color with leftovers. There are so many opportunities to play with color. Also, doesn't the stitch remind you of houndstooth fabric? That's where Faux Hounds came from! A faux houndstooth print! 

Socks are Done!

I've finished a pair socks for me! With how much I design and sew it isn't very often lately that I am able to knit something for me that isn't a design. The latest pair of socks was cast on at the beginning of the summer and just got their first wear! 

The yarn was a brand I'd used before but not from the specific line. I used Pairfect from Regia and it's a yarn that has a starting section that the knitter cuts out so that the socks start in the exact same place and they are a perfect pair! 

Regia is a sturdier sock yarn that makes me think of cold weather and warm toes. I tend to use Regia as socks for my sisters as they are superwash and can be thrown in the washing machine and dryer (I don't machine dry mine but don't expect my sister to hang dry their socks.) I talked with the members of Knitting Joy and asked what color they thought I should use for the heel. Navy blue was the winning choice but I didn't have any in stash to I went with a charcoal grey. How do you show your pride? 

Just a Piece Shawl

We're having a heat wave up here in the PNW so it feels weird to be releasing a shawl pattern but...fall will eventually get here so you need new inspiration! Just a Piece is my latest shawl design using half twisted ribbing and simple garter. Just a Piece sounds kinda funky right? This shawl was inspired by just a piece of my Playground Shawl! I was thoroughly pleased by the twisted ribbing in Playground and wanted to explore a design that would highlight just that section, thus, Just a Piece was born!

 

Just a Piece is knit from the top down using a garter tab cast on and easy triangle shaping. This is a great shawl for someone looking to practice twisted stitches or a knitter who just needs a simple project to make their yarn shine. 

The sample shawl was knit in TML + Tweed by Madelinetosh, a fingering weight yarn composed of merino, rayon, nylon tweed in the Pink Mist Smoke Tree colorway. I used two skeins of this yarn and had just a tiny nugget leftover. Like many of my designs whatever fingering weight yarn you are comfortable wearing around your neck would work for Just a Piece. Tonal, solid, or lightly speckled yarn would show off the twisted stitches best. If you adjusted the needle size accordingly a sport or dk weight yarn would work as well. 

I hope you found some good info and inspiration from this post! 

-- Sierra

Shorty Socks for Summer

When I lived in California I hardly ever wore socks from March - the end of October, but here in Washington it still gets Cold! I knit up a partial skein of yarn from my newest fav yarn MustStash! A few times a year the company has a warehouse sale and sells partial skeins at reduced prices.

I set an alarm as a reminder and was able to grab a few skeins! The first one I've knit up is the Great Smoky Mountain colorway from the National Parks collection and I love how it knit up! 

Just like the full skeins, each mini starts at the same place so there is no guessing if your stripes will line up. I added the green contrast heel so my stripes would stay in order (not necessary, just what I like). I knit 5 rows of ribbing and then a few rows of stockinette for the leg and then went into the heel right away. These new shorties look great with my sandals and keep my toes toasty in the cooler June mornings. Have you knit shorty socks before? You should give them a try, they knit up so fast! 

Welly's Socks

What makes you think of summer? Change from pants to shorts? Pulling the cover off the grill? For me, it's ice cream. As soon as the weather starts to warm I want all different kinds of ice cream. So when I saw the Mint Chip colorway from Jadawoo Designs I knew that I needed to design with it. 

From Jessica's gorgeous wool came the Welly's Socks, a knitted interpretation of an ice cream cone! Welly's is a top down sock pattern with cables, a contrast heel, and helical knitting. The cable is fully written out for all three sizes which makes it so simple to knit. 

The cables are 1x1 crosses which made it easy to knit them without a cable needle. The heel used is a Modified Eye of Partridge Heel Flap which is always eye catching. Before starting the toe the helical knitting technique is used which is a single row striping technique that doesn't require any slip stitches! To me, it looks like ice cream cone, swirled ice cream, and then topped with chocolate. 

There are kits available at my Etsy shop that is for the yarn and a matching sock bag! So cute right! I was just so excited for this collab that I wanted to make it even more special. 

Welly's is a pattern that will work great with tonal, solid, or speckled yarn. I think a variegated would overtake the cables but any sock yarn will work! With the cable pattern across the top of the foot sock is a tighter fit. If you prefer less negative ease then I would suggest going up a cast on size or needle size. 

The Palette

Hey knitters! Does knitting make you feel like an artist? Does the combination of colors and stitches feel like art work to you? My latest shawl design is the perfect pattern to bring out the artist in ANY knitter. 

The Palette is a 3/4 shaped shawl that uses 5 different stitches to create the perfect opportunity for knitters to explore color combinations and knit a truly unique piece. Why The Palette? While designing it truly felt like a painters palette opened up to me! The original sample was knit in a jewel tone palette but knitters could use neons with a black base, or neutrals with a cream base. So many options for different color tastes! 

The 3/4 shape is easy to memorize and so comfy to wear. It feels like a cardigan draped across the shoulders and stays in place. Each different stitch pattern is written out and easy to follow. 

The Palette was designed in fingering weight yarn and a variety of bases, the main color is a wool/silk blend but the contrast colors run the gamut of 100% wool, merino/nylon, merino/cashmere/nylon so any combination of fingering weights will work. Each of the contrast colors uses less than 100 grams, the largest being 75 grams. So many options open up if you want to use scraps! 

I can’t wait to see all the color combinations you artists come up with! 

More Spring Socks!

I am totally addicted to self-striping yarn right now. I want to knit ALL THE YARNS in my stash. I'm also a bit of a collector so I have quite a few to choose from. One dyer, who I have an array of yarns from, is Must Stash Yarns. I've knit one of her Christmas colors and loved working with her yarn, the other colors I have I've pretty much just hoarded. But, this spring, the spring of 2023 I dove into my collection and pulled out the happiest spring colorway. 

My newest finished socks are Firework from Must Stash Yarns and they have been so fun to knit through the gray days of spring. I added the heel flap color (a mini pulled from leftover box) and I love the reverse of the speckle in the heel vs as the main color. The sock is my 'vanilla' recipe, 64 stitches with a modified Eye of Partridge heel flap and a wedge toe. This recipe seems to fit my feet perfectly with a US 1.5 needle. 

Stacy is the owner of Must Stash and she sends out a newsletter with an update every Tuesday, some weeks I just can't even open the email because I know something is going to catch my eye. Do you have a dyer that you do this with? Stacy has a very cool concept that she calls Must Match, which means that your skein of yarn comes broken into two 50 hanks and they start at the exact same place! No trying to match up stripes because she does it for you! Isn't it genius! Now tell me you don't want to go and buy some of her yarn. 

Spring Socks for me!

I love to knit a pair of socks for the coming of a new season and during the season. Seeing as it's April 2023 it's Spring sock time! 

I picked a pastel rainbow self-striping yarn distributed by Lang Yarns from stash and I had so much fun knitting it. The yarn is Super Soxx Color in color 901.0199 (I don't have an affiliation to this shop but I wanted to link it in case you'd like some.) I loved every time the color started to change, it was like a small push to get to the next section. 

The yarn is definitely a hardy wool, not soft to the touch but such hardwearing socks are my favorite! They wear well and don't stretch out as quickly as the softer handdyed yarns. 

The heel was pulled from my leftovers stash and seemed to match perfectly. Using a vanilla pattern and adding in a heel flap a had 33 grams of yarn left so my mom will be knitting a pair of shorty socks with a contrast heel and toe. 

Do you like to knit with seasonal colors? Is it usually socks or a larger project? 

Playground Shawl

It's April of 2023 and I haven't published a shawl pattern yet! Well, worry no more because the first shawl of 2023 is here! Playground shawl is a top down triangle shawl that uses four different stitch patterns to show off your skills and keep you interested. 

Why Playground? Have you ever watched kids on a playground, how they bounce from one activity to another as they see fit? Playground Shawl is very similar! As soon as you start to get bored with a section you are on to the next one! 

Playground has broken rib, garter, a simple lace, and half twisted rib and each section keeps your needles flying! The yarn is a fingering weight with ~800 yards used. So whatever you are comfortable having around your neck will work. 

Little Pops Hat and Cowl

Do little things make you happy? A small sticker, a tiny tapestry needle? For me, they totally do. Little Pops Hat and Cowl set brings out those tiny pops of color to make you ridiculously happy! 

Little Pops Duo is a meditative knit with stockinette in the round interspersed with a slip stitch round that is easy to memorize and breaks up the knitting. 

This set can be made as a matching set to fit your winter wardrobe or switch it up and make them fraternal twins, change which color is the contrast and which one is the main color. 

The sample was made with a neutral color as the base and a barber poled gradient, a fun way to add hand spun or a similar yarn to your knit. Don't have a hand spun yarn? Use scraps or a variegated yarn as the contrast color! 

The only requirement for this set is to have the main yarn be comfy on your skin. You can even play around with the weight of the yarn. The main color for the samples is a fingering weight but the contrast color is classified as a sport weight. What do you think you're going to use? 

Two of a Kind Cowl

When the cold really hits all I'm inspired to design is cowls. I want that snuggly wool and cashmere on my neck, tucked in my coat, and keeping out the damp chill from the ocean. I'm very much a 'design what inspires you' designer so my pattern for February is a cowl design! 

Two of a Kind is a two skein cowl using complimentary color fingering weight yarn and mosaic knitting! Two of a Kind uses provisional cast on and icord bind off for a polished and structured finish. The mosaic pattern is easy to knit and simple to memorize, perfect TV or social knitting! 

Two of a Kind uses 75 grams of two different colors, I used two colors of Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply a 100% Merino yarn. For my colors I chose a speckled and solid, my speckled was a yellow base with speckles of green, teal, and a bit of purple. My solid is a teal that matches perfectly and really brings out the teal speckles. 

My recommendation is two fingering weight yarns you are comfortable wearing around your neck and that you like the color combination of. If you have slightly less than 75 grams of yarn you can definitely still knit Two of a Kind it will be slightly shorter or you can decrease the cast on by 10 stitches (the amount that is in a repeat) 

I had a few testers knit with a solid and a gradient/self striping and their projects look amazing! Fun color changes without the ends to weave in, gotta love that! Not loving any combos in your stash? Check out Miss. Babs Duo Sets, combinations of two colors the dyer has already put together! 

Knit Ornaments

Just a quick little update on a fun project I just finished up. I signed up for a few fiber holiday swaps and for one I needed to knit an object for someone not send them yarn (which is the usual.) So I dug into my stash of leftover sock yarns and knit an ornament! 

I currently have no pattern written for this as I was just increasing and decreasing around the shape but I think next holiday season I'll have a variety of patterns for these little plastic ornaments! I essentially knit a sleeve/sock for these plastic ornaments I purchased from Michaels. There are a variety of shapes and I think I'll have recipes for a few of the different shapes in the pattern.