Fall Trends: Knitwear still rules!

I had the privilege of attending a Canadian Fashion Week event last night, thanks to my friend L.

It's a lot of fun -- and not just because of the free Orangina and nail polish (colour #580, "Stroke of Midnight"). I got to see what's going to be gracing the store shelves come September/October this year. I'm very pleased to report that there was lots of great knitwear. And interesting stuff, too. Yes, the eternal black turtleneck, but also more knitted dresses and some really great capey sorts of things.

I liked very much the chunky knit dress in a great, traditional aran colour with a single, bold cable. I was also very impressed with what they called a "sweater cape". Imagine a big, loose, long cardigan without sleeves, with cape-style slits for your arms. I am thinking about a design already...

Semi-decent pic of the cable knit dress.
(Still looking for a pic of the sweater cape thingy.)

As I Was Saying

Really. Only sock yarn.

LK got in a new shipment of Socks that Rock, and I found myself buying two more skeins... (No alcohol involved this time, though.) Mr. Green Jeans and Grawk. Mr. Green Jeans must be a new colourway, as I can't find it on the Blue Moon site. I do love the "almost black" colourways they've done -- I've got both Grawk and Thraven in the stash now. I want to do a pair of my Basic Ribbed Socks in black, I think they'll be terrific but also subtle and very wearable.

And I've got an order in for 2 balls of the Noro Kureyon sock yarn at PP. Colours 164 and 185, if you must know.

My excuse is that I'm doing so many design samples at the moment that it's hard to take on a big project for myself. And socks are the perfect mindless rest-knitting I need. Yeah, that's it. THAT'S the reason.

Hello. My name is Kate and I love sock yarn.

Reader Mail: Another Question about Sock Knitting, A Question About Silk

Nikki asks about where to start with sock knitting. I will indulge in a bit of shameless self-promotion, and point to my "Socks 101" article on Knitty.

The article guides you through creating a mini "training sock" that teaches you all the skills you need, and then helps you create your own custom-fit basic sock pattern.

Marilyn asks about using silk for shawls. Silk is terrific for lace, it blocks very very well. I've had great success with both refined, smooth silk yarns, and rougher silk yarns. Some of the blends are just fabulous. The Feeling I mention has a relatively small silk content, and really just feels and behaves like the nicest softest wool in the world. I am a big fan of Fleece Artist's Sea Silk, I used it for my Swallowtail Shawl. I can't find that specific yarn listed on their site at the moment, but they have many other silk and silk blend yarns.

For more details on the properties of silk, take at look at Amy Singer's No Sheep for You book.

To Patti, Who Asked About Sock Knitting

Patti posted a comment to my Basic Ribbed sock pattern, and asked an important question.

She mentioned she'd didn't like the fabric she'd produced working with standard sock yarn on US size 3 needles. She said it was too loose and not stretchy.

Your yarn choice is good, it's actually the needles I'd change. Try much smaller needles -- 2.5mm (no US size equivalent), 2.25mm (US size 1) or even 2mm (US size 0).

She mentions that WoolEase sportweight works well on US size 3 -- yes, absolutely, it's heavier than standard sock yarn. Paton's Kroy is a terrific choice -- try it again, but use smaller needles.

You need to go small with sock needles, because you need a good, dense fabric that will stretch and bounce back, and will wear well. I always err on the smaller side of the recommended needles for a sock yarn, and for a yarn that's not specifically designed for socks -- the WoolEase being a good example -- I go down a couple from even the smallest recommended.

On Stashing

In general, I'm not much of a stasher. For me, a project is as much about the design as it is about the yarn, and so I can usually resist the urge to fall in love with yarn on its own. It may look nice, but unless I know what it's for, I can't make a decision about whether it's exactly perfect or not.

This attitude has saved me on a number of occasions -- saved my bank account, that is. I do stash patterns, about which I refuse to feel guilty. They take up much less storage space, cost less, and I can consider them research -- ooh hey, look, an interesting sleeve shaping!

Sometimes, what happens is that I fall in love with a yarn and then immediately have to go out and find or create a pattern to use for it. And I like to start working it quickly, as otherwise I fear I'll lose or forget about the yarn.

Over the years, this has done me well to help me manage both money and storage space.

I do have a massive blind spot, however. An exception to the stash rule.

Sock yarn.

It's cheap, you see, and it doesn't take up a lot of storage room, and I'm always knitting socks....

There's a dangerous strip of stores on Queen West, near Palmerston. Second Cup coffee shop, Comrags, my favourite dress shop, Romni wools, my hairdresser, and a truly excellent vintage shop, Cabaret. I can't get a haircut without spending at least the same again at one of the other stores.

This time, I got away pretty lightly -- only a couple of balls of sock yarn from the bargain basement of wonders at Romni. How on earth could I resist this wonder -- on sale and everything?


Part of the Regia Nation Colours line. The staff in the shop said that it's not selling because no-one likes this colour combo. Except me! For someone who rarely wears one colour, let alone two, I do have a soft spot for insane sock yarn.

Without further ado, this is my stash of sock yarn. Unused balls, anyway. 2 Socks that Rock -- one insane, one very quiet and tasteful. 2 sets of other insane coloured yarn (bee stripe as above, and a good old Paton's Kroy), and a single 50gm ball of a black and white blend that I want to (i.e. will have to, because I only have one ball) work with plain black cuffs, heels and toes.


See, reasonably restrained? None of these purchases were required -- they were all shameless stashing. I will even admit that the Socks that Rock Pirate's Booty, was bought after a few drinks. (This is the problem with your LYS is on the way home from your local bar.)

Of course, there's this other pair underway right now that I keep putting down. The yarn is Estelle Arequipa -- a great wool, angora and nylon blend. It's not stash if it's on my needles, right? Ok, so they're on one of three sets of sock needles, so it's not like I need to finish them anytime soon.

And then there's the partial balls. The leftovers. Although I don't think they count as stash, they do require storage.


Of course, after I'd taken this picture, I realized I had a whole other bag of sock leftovers. The leftovers from all the hand-dyed sock yarns -- the Fleece Artist, The Shepherd Sock, Jitterbug, Socks that Rock, etc., etc.

But otherwise, no, I'm not a stasher. Really.

Cabled Bag Design & Class

Excellent new photos courtesy of Sarah.

I'm rather proud of this design, if I do say so myself.

I'm a big fan of smaller, structured bags. I'm not very tall, as I've probably mentioned before, and the oversized slouchy bags so popular at the moment look silly on my arm.

It works up quickly, in a nice thick yarn, on needles slightly smaller than usual to create a good solid fabric.

The pattern is available at The Naked Sheep, and I'm also teaching a class on it in April. The class is two sessions -- the first teaches everything you need to know about cables of all kinds , including reading of both written instructions and charts. And the second focuses on this bag, and the complex and sophisticated cable it features.

Once More, With Feeling

(I couldn't resist, sorry.)


The Bunny kerchief again, this time for me... in a lovely, springy shade of green Feeling. Feeling is a terrific yarn, a smooth and fabulously soft wool/silk/cashmere blend from Needful Yarns. A single ball is 140m, which is enough to provide a nice little kerchief to go with my spring coats.

I rather like this design, if I do say so myself. This design solves two problems at once: a nice little showcase for a fabulous little yarn, and a quick and interesting-but-not-too-challenging project.

Don't tell me you haven't fallen in love with an luxurious (and expensive) yarn and craved a single-skein project for it? Don't tell me you haven't wished for a bit of light relief in the middle or a larger project? The bunny kerchief is a delicious distraction.

I've got several other things on the go at the moment -- and two of them have deadlines. So I'm trying not to be distracted with my own distraction project. To make it less tempting, I put it onto straight needles....

Sock Ness Monster/"Good for you"

Finished! 1 pair plain and simple socks in Socks that Rock Loch Ness.

Loving the yarn so far. Great hand, with a nice bit of squishiness for comfort. I look forward to wearing them... once I've woven in the ends, of course.

I was knitting on the subway the other day, as I am wont to do. I could see, out of the corner of my eye, an older man watching me. I was well into this second sock, at the stage where it was clearly identifiable as a sock. After a few minutes, he came up to me.

"If you don't mind me asking, how long does it take to make a pair?"

"About six hours a sock." An educated guess on my part, but a reasonable one.

"Huh." He paused.

I attempted to keep the conversation going... "I enjoy it. They're my design, my choice of colour, and they fit like they're made for me."

"They are made for you..."

I just smiled. I guess I shouldn't try to be poetic on the subway.

He took a good look at the sock one more time, nodded, and said simply "good for you."

I'm honestly not sure what he was trying to say, but whatever it was, it was nice.

Has It Come to This?

At the Sheep last night, Emily and I were chatting about the wonders of Elizabeth Zimmerman's work.

And Emily reminded me that in EZ's Opinionated Knitter book, there is a pattern for long underwear. (Pic of completed baby version.) For adults, she does a strap under the foot that reminds me of the stirrup pants I wore in the 1980s. (Yes, I admit it, and I don't care who knows.)

And you know, given the never-ending nightmare of a winter we're having, I think I may well cast on for a set. She recommends a worsted weight, so they wouldn't take that long. And maybe spring will have come by the time they're finished....

As I Feared/If The Needles Don't Fit...

After one evening gamely working away on the world's loudest sweater... tinkle tinkle tinkle of the metal dpns... I've given up again.

I need 5mm bamboo dpns.

It's not just that the needles are noisy, it's that they're slippery and hard to handle, and strangely unforgiving. It really is quite startling to me how different the experience can be.

I often talk in my classes about how swatching is a useful exercise to determine whether you're going to enjoy working with a particular yarn. But the point applies just as well for the needles, too.

Will be needle shopping later today.

It's not all socks...

I've picked up an abandoned project, Handmaiden's Jane sweater.

It's a neat idea -- worked in one piece, with an origami sorta construction. You work the back sideways, and construct the sleeves from the top half of the back stitches, and the two fronts from the lower half. You fold the two fronts up and across the front, for a wrap-around effect.

The colour really isn't reading in the picture, but it's a nice bright but not too garish lime green.

Working on it the other night, I remembered why I'd put it down. I modified the sleeves to be worked in the round (of course), and my only appropriately sized (5mm) dpns are metal. And the tinkling is driving me insane. (Not to mention poor Norman who was trying to pay attention to the television.) I might have to get new needles to finish it.

It will be just the thing for those not-quite-freezing-cold but-still-not-very-warm days of spring.

Basic Ribbed Sock for Men

By popular demand! I am very flattered that people are using and enjoying this pattern.

I have a few variations in mind... watch this space over the next month or so. I'll also compile all the size variations into one post, so it's a bit easier to read.

In the meantime...

Basic Ribbed Sock Sized for Men
Refer to basic pattern here. Notes on resizing for women here.

Cast on 64 sts for a smaller man's foot, 68 sts for a larger man's foot.

Work 8 ins/20 cm for leg.

Work heel on first 31 (35) sts of round. Work 23 (25) heel rows.

Work the heel turn as follows:
RS: K21 (23) , skp, turn.
WS: P11, p2tog, turn.
RS: K11, skp, turn.

and repeat the last two rows to turn the heel. You’ll have 13 left over, and pick up 16 (17) sts for the gusset. Then decrease the gusset down to 64 (68) sts for the foot.

And of course, lengthen the foot to suit – toe decreases start 5cm/2 ins short of your foot length.

(For those who are doing the math, the only really tricky bit is making sure that the ribbing lines up nicely on the foot. That is, you want to work the heel sts on the first 4x+3 sts so that the heel sts start and end with three knit sts, and there's a purl st running down each side of the instep sts.)

Mmmm... Bunny....

Despite not being a pink sorta girl, nor really an angora girl, have fallen quietly in love...

Cottage Craft Angora, in pink. One skein! I chose a traditional, reversible Shetland lace pattern, and worked until I'd just about run out of yarn, then cast off.

It's just the sort of thing to combat the winter blahs. Ideal for cheering up that winter coat you're seriously tired of wearing by now.

Pattern available from Patternfish, Ravelry, and at The Purple Purl.

This pattern uses one skein (120-150m) of the softest, most luxurious fibre you have in your stash. Come on, you know you have something in the bottom of a box somewhere, something you couldn't afford to buy more than one of?

More Socks

.5000001 of a pair of Socks That Rock in "Loch Ness".

That is, one full sock and the cast-on for the second.

Seriously good travelling project, which was good, because I was travelling. Compact, interesting, yet can be worked with little attention and even the barest of holds on the handrail in the subway car. (I suspect the Beastie Boys weren't thinking of knitting as they sang "Doing fine on the 1 and 9 line", but I was, and I couldn't help but sing it to myself.)

Anyway, yes. Simple stocking stitch body.

Confession time, though... I bought this colourway more because of the name than the actual colours itself. Yeah, loving the lime, and it's a cool finished effect, but if you'd described the yarn to me (browns and light blue and some greens and yellows) I would have said no.

Anyone else been sucked in? Bought a colourway because it had a great name? The Sweet Georgia sock yarns are particularly well named -- for characters in my favourite TV show, for movies, for music references.

Will be interested to see how these wear...

It's Not Just Socks, Y'Know/Email Address Change

A design project underway.


Pink angora lace to chase away the winter blahs. I don't even like pink and it's cheering me up.

Swatches show a bunch of different ideas in development. The plastic bag is to try to keep the yarn nice and clean, and to minimize the shedding all over the rest of my darker coloured knitting-in-progress. Angora is lovely, but it does shed.

If you're trying to get hold of me using the sympatico.ca email address, note that it's going away. If you need to contact me, there's a link at the bottom of this page, or use firstname at wisehildaknits dot com.

FO: The Tweedy Socks/Ribbing Needles

Stash sock yarn... not really sure what it is, the ball band disappeared. It's traditional sock yarn, with nylon. Using my standard sock recipe as per the Knitty article. 2.5mm needles.

I've been teaching a few sock classes of late, and we use my standard sock recipe as the basis for designing custom-fit socks. My standard sock recipe calls for the use of smaller needles for the ribbing. I am a filthy hypocrite on this point... I long ago abandoned the use of ribbing needles for socks.

It's partially because socks are my favourite travelling project, and if I'm travelling (whether on a streetcar, subway or a plane), I don't want to bother with any unnecessary equipment.

Plus I'm not sure they're required, strictly speaking. Smaller needles for ribbing allow the ribbing to pull in more, and mitigate the stretching out. For sweaters, when you want a tighter cuff/lower edge, this makes sense.

But for socks, I don't bother. Two reasons: I tend not to do a ton of ribbing at the cuff -- as per my Basic Ribbed Sock design, I find k1 p1 ribbing very tedious.

And perhaps -- more to the point -- if you design your sock well, it fits your leg and doesn't fall down so you don't need the tighter ribbing to keep it up.

Yes, that's right! A sock that actually fits. Back to my point in the Knitty article, if you're going to make socks you may as well make 'em to fit. I'm modestly sized -- not very tall, small feet, narrow ankles -- and I find that one-size-fits-all socks are always too big, and even the smaller size of a multi-size pattern is often a bit big. So I make 'em to fit. (I refer you back to my standard sock recipe .)

And they don't fall down! And therefore I don't need tighter ribbing! And so I don't use ribbing needles. Now, I do use a slightly smaller needle for the entire thing -- 2.5mm rather than 3mm.

There are knitters out there who might disagree with me violently. And this is the great part about this sort of thing -- we're ultimately designing and working to suit our own needs. I just don't happen to need to work my ribbing on smaller needles.

Just Socks Excerpt Online: Free Slipper Pattern

Free Moccasin Slipper Pattern

Excerpted from "Lion Brand® Yarn Just Socks" edited by Shannon Okey. Photography by Jack Deutsch. Copyright © 2007. Reprinted by permission of Potter Craft.

FO: Basic Ribbed Sock; More on Sock Yarn

Hey, that's convenient! I've just finished a pair of my own Basic Ribbed Socks, worked using the instructions for the smaller size.

Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn. It comes as a kit, but I ignore the pattern because it's awful. (See previous post on this topic.)

I've used this yarn several times before. Other than concerns about wear (which aren't really the fault of the yarn, it's all about the appropriateness of the application), I've been happy with it.

But look at this...

these are the same yarn, same skein, and there's a fairly big difference in the colouring. It's ok, it's not the end of the world, but one part of the skein is definitely lighter. It's not how the yarn was stored, as it was stored in the skein, and I only wound it into a ball shortly before I began to knit. And in the store, it wasn't anywhere near a window. It's impossible that this is fading, it's a manufacturing problem.

I'm disappointed.

Another nudge back towards "commercial" sock yarn?

Resizing the Basic Ribbed Sock

From a request on Ravelry... I'm easy to find there, BTW... like the Harlot, my ID is basically my blog address.

The sock at the standard 60 sts fits women's shoe sizes 6 to 8 1/2 no problems.

For a smaller foot -- up to size 6 1/2 or so -- cast on and work 56 sts for the leg. The rest remains much the same -- heel is worked on 27 sts (therefore you're putting 29 sts on hold for the instep), 21 heel rows (although I'd go down to 19 if you're working for a very small foot) pick up 15 (again, 14 for a very small foot) for the gusset. Work gusset decreases so you're back down to 56 stitches. And start the toe decreases 5cm/2 inches short of the desired foot length.

For a larger foot -- size 9 or above -- cast on 64 sts. Work an additional 1-3cm/1/2 - 1 in for the leg.

Work the heel on 31 sts and work 23 heel rows. The heel turn would go like this....

RS: K21, skp, turn.
WS: P11, p2tog, turn.
RS: K11, skp, turn.

and repeat the last two rows to turn the heel. You’ll have 13 left over, and pick up 16 sts for the gusset. Then decrease the gusset down to 64 sts for the foot.

And of course, lengthen the foot to suit – toe decreases start 5cm/2 ins short of your foot length.

Anyone want a men's version?

Because he loved Lizard Ridge as much as I do

I always considered Nathan an honourary knitter.

If I believed in this sort of thing, I would hope that kitty heaven is staffed with knitters working on large blanket projects that can be lain about upon. He deserves it.