Socks – less a pattern, more a guideline

Clarification: I’ve clarified rounds 6-8 and 10.  Because I wrote it, I knew to slip the first stitch of the last 3 and knit (or purl) the final 2.  I can see how that might be confusing when you get to the end of the repeats and have 3 stitches left, then I say K2.  My bad.

Because I knit virtually all my socks toe-up, and with a Fish Lips Kiss heel, it is really quite easy to slot in any stitch pattern I want.  I have, goodness, maybe 6 or more books of stitch pattern, but my favourites are from Wendy Bernard.  I have The Knitting All Around one, the Up, Down, All Around one, and her Japanese stitches one.  I love that there re lists in the back that sort the various patterns by stitch count, so if I want to see all the patterns that match my usual 68 stitches count, I can do it.  It is also pretty easy to figure out how to add a couple of framing stitches and use most patterns that way.

I saw a stitch pattern called the Alternating Slip Stitch, and quite liked the way it looked. I felt like it might work well for hand-dyed yarn, and decided to give it a go.  after knitting a bit of a swatch, I decided to omit one line, which made the pattern created more round then oval.

One of my mates asked for the pattern, but there really isn’t a pattern, I just slot in the stitch sequence to my existing framework.  But I wrote up a little description for her, and having gone to the trouble to do that, I figured I might as well share it.

Here is another look at the socks:

I always like how a slipped stitch pattern breaks up colour pools in hand dyed yarn

Anyway, if you fancy the look here is the most basic outline of what I did. and just a little tip – I placed the stitch pattern info quite specifically on the PDF.  I like to use a little clip like these:

although to be fair a paper clip works just as well, on the side of the printout,  to keep track of where I am in the sequence.

I am already working on another pair, which I am really liking a LOT, but I feel like the stitch pattern might work even better if I shift it a few stitches tot he right to centre the design, or if I flip one sock so they are a mirror image.  Perhaps more on that at a later date.

 

Now-Sew hearts in the round, two at a time

Because I made the mistake of hiding the link at the bottom the last time I posted about these No-Sew hearts, I am going to put it at the top this time!

Here is the pattern. 

A few places here in the UK have asked people from shielded households to knit pairs of hearts.  This is one post I saw on Facebook:

Hello everyone 😊 I was wondering if any knitters can help us! My ward at Wigan hospital are unfortunately looking after extremely poorly Covid positive pts. At the moment no visitors are allowed on the ward as it is obviously extremely high risk. It is devastating for us to watch someone suffer without their relatives around them – although they do have us and we try our best to hold their hand and provide the best support that we can ❤️💜💗💙 we are looking to trial an idea whereby we give our patients a knitted heart and send a matching knitted heart to their relative/next of kin. We are looking for people who can knit that have ideally been self isolating and had no contact with anyone who could possibly be infected to send pairs of knitted hearts to us and we can then distribute them to our patients and their loving relatives who cannot be with them. I really do believe it would be so comforting to our patients and their relatives in such sad times and I’m hoping that we can facilitate this with your help. Thank you so much for taking the time to read and please please share this to anyone you think could help.

Ince ward at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary
Wigan hospital
Wigan Lane
WN1 2NN

another is this one and this one.  I made a few (made quite a few more since I took this photo!)

Hubby is going out tomorrow for his once weekly shopping trip and he will be dropping these in the post on his way.

As I make another pair, I thought I would show that it is quite easy to make them two-at-a-time, in the round as well.

Just cast on both hearts. It’s only six stitches to begin with so easy peasy!

 

Knit up to the point where you off-load half the stitches to create the first heart bump then work just on the bumps till they are complete.

When you are finished, thread thru the ends but remember, DO NOT pull the end tight.  Y will be stuffing the heart thru the two openings. You might find it easier to do the last rounds to make the second heart bump by working on one heart at a time.  Up to you….

All done.

 

and stuffed!

Knitting two at a time you can knock out identical pairs pretty quick!