Testing out a Different Sock Pattern

Hey Everyone!

Since I started knitting up socks I have always done a k1p1 cuff pattern until I am about to where I am going to knit the heel flap. Just before I would knit the heel flap, I started out with two rounds of straight knitting and eventually went to ten rounds before starting the heel flap. While having a 40 – 50 row ribbed cuff plus 10 rows of straight knitting before the heel flap made a good length for me, I don’t like how my sock blockers stretch out that cuff as it is drying.

While the socks that Reese Witherspoon wears with her Danner’s in the movie Wild are bulkier than what I like for hiking, that scrunched down sock is something that I want to try, and I like making my own hiking socks, so I am in the process of trying out a bit of a new sock pattern for myself.

The biggest changes I am making on my go to sock pattern, is that instead of 40 – 50 rounds of ribbing at the top, I am only doing 10, and then knitting the rest of the leg portion of the top just normally. I am using my sock blockers as a reference guide, so the ribbing will end up drying on the slanted area at the top, and the leg part will just be straight and not be stretched out much by the blockers.

Part of my goal with this as well, is not having to use pins to secure my socks to the blockers while they are drying outside. There will really be no chance of them sliding off the blockers if it happens to be windy and they are hung on the line.

I am also testing out if this pattern will still work with the quantity of sock yarns I have. I tend to have leftover Palette and Stroll yarns when I do the 40 – 50 row cuff, I am going to see if this pattern will help me get more of each color used up without having a whole lot left over.

If you knit socks I would love to hear about what you do when you knit socks, and what patterns you use.

Tweaking the Pattern

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My journey to finding the perfect basic sock pattern is still evolving. I have it pretty well pegged down, though every so often I try something a little different to see if I like it any better than the previous version. 

This time I tweaked my go to pattern ever so slightly. This time around I added 7 rows to what I had been putting between the cuff and heel flap of the sock, bringing the total to 10 rows. I have to say that I actually am liking the 10 rows between the cuff and the start of the heel flap over just 3 rows. 

I am hoping this is the last tweak for a while. 

With 3 rows between the cuff and heel flap:

With 10 rows between the cuff and heel flap:

I think it looks a little more like a sock should this way. 

Le Petit Pont Scarf

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Over the weekend I completed the Le Petit Pont scarf I had been working on. The pattern is by Irish Girlie Knits, and can be downloaded from Ravelry for a small fee. 

For this scarf I used the Fibre Company’s Canopy Fingering yarn in Dragonfruit. I used a Hank and a half to obtain the length I desired. I had purchased this yarn from Happy Knits on SE Hawthrone Blvd (between 16th and 17th Ave). I also washed my scarf by hand once I finished it, which was a good idea, beings that a whole lot of excess dye came out in the washing process. This is hand wash only yarn, and lay flat to dry. I used Wrapture wash with jasmine oil by euclan to wash this scarf. 

I honestly love going yarn shopping at Happy Knits. It is a locally owned small business. It has a great selection of yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, other knitting accessories, as well as patterns, knit samples and pattern samples in store for project inspiration. I also love how open and airy, and roomy enough to not feel claustrophobic or overwhelming. I also love how helpful the staff is, yet they also give you space to just look. The day I was in there buying yarn, and saw the sample scarf in this pattern, they were out of the pattern in their stock but wrote down the pattern details so I could find it on Ravelry for myself. 

8 Strand Braided Cable

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I had a request to post the pattern for the 8 strand braided cable, as used in the scarf I shared in yesterday’s post.

The pattern itself has 28 stitches within it

Row 1: Purl 2 Knit 24 Purl 2

Row 2: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 3: Purl 2 Slide 3 to Cable Needle Hold to Back, Knit 3, Knit 3 from Cable Needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, slide 3 to cable needle hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, slide 3 to cable needle hold to back, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle Purl 2

Row 4: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 5: Purl 2 Knit 24 Purl 2

Row 6: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Row 7: Purl 2 Knit 3, Slide 3 to Cable Needle hold in Front, Knit 3, Knit 3 from Cable Needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to front, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle, Slide 3 to cable needle, hold to front, knit 3, knit 3 from cable needle,  knit last 3 Purl 2

Row 8: Knit 2 Purl 24 Knit 2

Repeat these 8 rows until the item you are working on is the correct length

*Note: For scarves I cast on an addition 6 stitches for a 3 stitch border on each side, and I knit 3 garter stitch rows at each end for a 3 X 3 border around the pattern.*

Saxon Braid

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This week’s Pattern is the Saxon Braid. The pattern that I used I found here. The pattern itself is a diagram on a graph square. There are no written instructions for this pattern, just the pictures.

Beings that I am a visual person, I figured it out on my own, with a couple restarts. I learned that the dots were purled stitches, and the slanted colored lines were where the stockinette stitches were being held to the front while a purled stitch was brought to the back (I would often look to the next row up to get an idea of what it should look like when the WS was complete).

I have made two scarves using this pattern, and for me it helped to print out the full pattern grid from the blog I found it on (which I linked above) and then in the little squares on the right it helped me, to write in the row number (1 being on the bottom 16 being at the top). This pattern repeats on itself to make the item you are working on as long as you need it to be. 

Rows 3, 7, 11 and 15 are “set up” rows where you are moving the purled stitched to set up for the cross over/under of the stockinette stitches which take places on 1, 5, 9 and 13.  So row 15 “sets up” for row 1. Row 3 “sets up” for row 5, row 7 “sets up” for row 9 and row 11 “sets up” for row 13. if that makes any sense to anyone else but me. 

This is one of my least favorite to work on, but one of my favorites once it is complete. It takes time and concentration for me to get a project complete. I love using this pattern in combination with Lion Brand Fishermen’s Wool yarn. 

Seed Stitch

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This week’s pattern is the seed stitch (or British Moss Stitch).

This pattern is super easy. All you do is:

Row 1: *K1 P1 Across*
Row 2: *P1 K1 Across*

So you start out like you are doing a single rib going across the first row, and then you do the reverse on the wrong side, and just keep repeating the 2 row pattern until you obtain the length you need.

Double S Cable

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Welcome to the fifth cable pattern post, in my cable pattern series. This week’s cable pattern is the double S cable. This pattern is based off the single s cable pattern that I wrote about in last week’s post. what I did was that I took the basic s cable and then mirrored it for the second one. So one is always doing the opposite of what the other is doing. It looks pretty cool.

I have used this pattern in making one of my fishermen’s wool scarves. I like that it adds something to the otherwise boring but functional garment, yet is still casual enough for everyday (during the cold season) wear.

I enjoy trying new patterns, and seeing how projects turn out. If you are anything like me, simple patterns that look nice are what I spend hours on Pinterest, ravelry, knitty and other sites looking for. The patterns that I use on a regular basis were hard finds, and I did not come by them easily. Since I found them, I want to share what I found and maybe help some of you who haven’t been knitting as long find some great knitting patterns.

 

Single S Cable

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Welcome to my fourth cable pattern post! This week’s pattern is the single S cable. This pattern came about when I had seen a picture of a sweater that had used one of these (among other cables) in it. I thought it looked interesting and got thinking about how you would do this cable. I know it was a single cable and could be adapted using the single cable pattern. It did not take me long to figure out how you would do this pattern by alternating which side of the project you hold the three stitches on the cable needle.

I love seeing a picture with a knit pattern in it, and being able to figure out how to make that pattern by just looking at the picture. I am very much a hands on learner, and like being able to take what I see, and be able to take that and easily translate that into what I already know how to do. I love being able to add to my knowledge bank with little tidbits and finds here and there. I like to be continually learning and adding to my knitting knowledge, especially through every day life.

Braided Cable

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Welcome to the third post in my Cable Pattern Series! This week’s cable pattern of the week is the Braided Cable. This is one of my favorite simple cable patterns to put in a sweater. I have used this pattern multiple times for different projects, including knit for kids sweaters, and a wool wrap that I knit.

I like that it is a bit more intricate than the simple rope cable, but it isn’t too difficult that you can’t do other things like watch tv, or watch a movie while working on something that you are using this pattern in. This is one of the patterns I use most often when I am making a solid color sweater. I do a lot more knit patterns in the solid color sweaters, since I don’t have the color changes keep it interesting, or to differentiate the back and the front.

 

Double Cable Pattern

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Happy Friday! It is time for another Pattern Friday Post!

This week is the second post in my basic cable series and I am sharing with you all the double cable pattern I have come up with. This pattern includes the basic double cable, and directions as for spacing to put it in a knit for kids sweater if you want to use it in that.

This was the second cable I learned after the basic single cable, and while this is not my favorite cable, it was definitely a spring board for me to learn other cable patterns. I had mastered the single cable, and I was feeling rather sure of myself with the whole cable thing, so I decided to try this one out on my own, without help and I succeeded. I had created a sample, and then wrote up the directions with is in the note on facebook that I linked above. Like I said this pattern was a spring board for me learning other more complicated cables, because once I had figured out this one on my own, my confidence grew and I wanted to try new cables, and just keep learning and adding to the patterns I knew how to do and could use in projects.