Thank You everyone for leaving such great comments about knitting socks!

After much reading and rereading I decided that I really liked all the comments. So, I decided to have mancake draw randomly from little slips of paper that I created myself and filled out myself.

And the winner is Susan aka paintermom.

Send me a message from my contact page here and I will get your new book in the mail to you.

Author: bluegirl -  Visits: 5No Comments

Greetings, bluegirl knits readers! Chrissy Gardiner here. Nichole is letting me take over her blog for the day to tell you a little bit about my book, Toe-Up! Patterns and Worksheets to Whip Your Sock Knitting Into Shape.


Since Nichole is a fellow designer, I thought I'd delve into the designy details of a couple of the sock patterns in the book. Every sock has a story (some are more interesting than others, of course), so here are a couple of my favorites.

Peace Lily was a sock that struggled to find its place in the world, as it was originally slated for something completely different than my book.

I originally designed Peace Lily for a sock club using a gorgeous pink-and-green colorway from Fleece Artist. I was delighted with the results, which you can see here:


(Forgive my husband's rudimentary photography - they're much more lovely in person!)

I sent the sample and pattern on to the sock club folks, and they responded with the bad news that the pattern was a bit too similar in design to the previous month's pattern, which also used a traveling stitch motif although in a much different fashion than in Peace Lily. Oh, and could I still manage to design a different sock and get them a new sample in two weeks?

I happily rose to the challenge (what can I say - I work best under pressure) and came up with a lovely new pattern for the yarn. In the meantime, I decided that Peace Lily would be perfect for the new book I was working on.

Since the colorway I'd used for the original Peace Lily socks was an exclusive for the sock club, I needed to find another yarn to use for the book sample. I asked my friend Yvonne of LavenderSheep to design something specifically for these socks, and she came up with her delightful Peace Lily colorway, which is a perfect match for the design.

And now a little confession - you'll notice that these are the only socks not modeled on actual feet anywhere in the book. Unfortunately, the sample was knit to a slightly tighter gauge than the final pattern calls for, meaning they won't actually fit on my feet (yes, I acted as my own foot model for the rest of the shots in the book, along with my husband and kids - it truly was a family affair!). If I'd been knitting these for myself (a sample knitter made them for me and did a lovely job) I would've noticed the gauge error and been able to easily adjust. One of the main benefits of toe-up socks is the ability to try them on as you knit the foot (as shown in the cover photo).

Another sock club pattern that was given new life in the book is Diamond Lucy.


This was originally a top-down pattern designed for a small sock club several years ago. When I was deciding on new designs for the book, a friend of mine suggested that I rework this one since she really loved it the first time around and was sad it hadn't gotten wider distribution.

The pattern, however, turned out to be a bit high-maintenance. I had to go through several different yarns before I found the ideal fiber and color to show off the subtle brocade texture of the stitch pattern. Several months earlier, I'd picked up a skein of Blue Moon Seduction in a lovely light blue colorway called Blue Moonstone, and as soon as I swatched, it appeared that the yarn and pattern were made for each other. The subtle sheen of the Tencel and the light, uncomplicated semi-solid coloring really allowed the stitches to pop.

If you decide to attempt this pattern, which is one of the most beloved in the book (especially among people who see the trunk show and can admire it up-close and in-person), be sure to swatch and keep swatching to find the right yarn. In something that's too dark or in a yarn that's not as smooth as Seduction, the stitches can really get lost.

The fun of the design lies in the fact that it's symmetrical, with a right sock and left sock. It also features a linen-stitch heel flap (one of my favorite heel stitches of all time).

I hope you enjoyed this quick peek into the life of a couple of the socks in Toe-Up! You can find the book at your LYS or on Amazon. Now go knit some socks - you know you want to!


Nichole Here

Thanks Chrissy for sharing these sock stories with us from your fantastic book! If you do not have a copy of Toe-Up!, then you are really missing out. Chrissy does an amazing job of walking you step by step through the toe-up construction and then gives us beautiful designs as well and that's coming from a girl who has some issues with sock knitting as some of you may know from a past post.

So, with that said, on to the CONTEST. Yes, that's right, the CONTEST! Please leave me a comment educating me about why socks are so fantastic to knit and the comment that inspires me the most to knit some new socks will win a copy of Chrissy's book, Toe-Up! This is a challenge, truly, because I am pretty stubborn.

So, on to the contest!




Author: bluegirl -  Visits: 106Comments: 13

Coming soon...


in this book...


I am so excited that these mittens are in this new book. Cascade 220 is such a great yarn and these mittens were really fun to design. Sixth&Spring Books is currently taking preorders, so check it out!

I was able to have a reunion with the mittens at TNNA recently and I am looking forward to knitting another pair soon for myself.

Author: bluegirl -  Visits: 56Comments: 3

One day I decided that it would be a good idea to design some knitted lederhosen fashioned after mancake's Austrian Lederhosen from when he was a little boy. My mother-in-law, who is Austrian saved these little leather shorts and thanks to her, I was able to use these adorable, well-worn and well-loved lederhosen to come up with a pattern.

So, about 9 months later and after much work, test knitting and tech editing, the pattern is complete and here it is:

          




Author: bluegirl -  Visits: 45Comments: 1

To get to the question, we must first explore the reason for it's asking. The reason- A Cardigan for Arwen, by Kate Gilbert, which I started knitting in December of 2008. I had many roadblocks with this most beautiful design, which included:       

1. 6 sks of Malabrigo in one dye lot and 1 sk of Malabrigo in another very different looking dye lot. Good Job Yarn Shopper!

2. Pooling of the above mentioned Malabrigo, which resulted in using 2 or 3 sks at one time in order to keep the colors from pooling.

3. Tendonitis in the wrists, which got really bad while working the reversible cables, which are basically worked everywhere except the back.

4. Tons and tons of seaming, which I absolutely do not love. I have come to accept it as part of knitting, but I do dread it.

1, 2, 3, and 4 resulted in my cardigan being stuffed back into the project bag repeatedly and shoved in a corner to be forgotten. Well, not forgotten as it was sitting up there in my WIPs on Ravelry. Every time I logged on, I would see it up there and cringe and then quickly move on to something else.

For some reason in November of 2009 I decided that I was not going to let myself start any more sweaters until Arwen was complete. I have had to use this motivational tool several times over the years and find it very effective, as I am relatively compulsive. I dealt with the dye lot issue by blending the very light skein with a darker one and knitting 2 rows of one and 2 rows of the other on the back. I continued this technique, sometimes adding a 3rd skein to deal with the pooling issue. I got mancake to give me massages for my wrists and arms in order to work through the cables and then bam, I was done with all my pieces and the seaming was upon me. I started looking at how this whole sweater was going to go together and realized that the seaming was just not going to be fun. I am a knitter, who still thinks knitting is supposed to be fun!

Kate Gilbert designed Arwen so that the cables running up the front and the cables on the sleeve could be worked on the same rows by having the knitter cast on sts for the sleeve and work short rows for shaping the shoulder. The knitter then binds off the sts for the sleeve and works up the hood. Seaming sts end to end, one side from a cast on edge and one side from a bind off edge takes a lot of patience and can end up looking just awful if you are not diligent about it.

So, back to the question of why? Why is it that after I finished knitting this most beautiful sweater did I decide to go onto Ravelry and read all the fantastic notes that knitters before me had posted up about their experiences and ideas for knitting this sweater with less seaming? As a knitwear designer, I have come to appreciate how the knitters of the world can take what you have put out there and come up with some fantastic ideas for different ways to knit a design or enhance something about your design. I am not offended by this at all. I think it is flattering to see that someone has been inspired enough by your design to try something different and perhaps enhance it or modify it in a way that works for them. I also know that sometimes with magazine deadlines, you just do not have time to think through all the different combinations of how to create something, so I really appreciate the constructive comments and ideas that are shared.

So back to the why? I think it has something to do with my desire to just get it done! I am a finished goods knitter. I am not a process knitter- a knitter who knits for the process of it. I am a project knitter. A knitter who knits for the end result. This is not just true of my knitting by the way. I often think to myself, "hey I should go on Ravelry or do some research on knit-alongs before I knit this to see what others have to say", but when it comes down to it, I just want to knit whatever it is, so I cast on and go to it. I also spend a lot of time doing research for my designs, so when I decide to recreationally knit, I just want to zone out and knit.

I am happy to report that on Christmas Eve I finished my Cardigan for Arwen and blocked it Christmas day, which is a year and a couple of weeks later from the original start date. I am also happy to report that I was very careful with how I did the seaming and it looks very nice.   

I have also decided that I am going to be better about using these amazing internet tools we have as knitters before I embark on big projects and I am going to try to be better about posting up the modifications that I make to items I am knitting. I am not saying this is a resolution, as I do not really like resolutions. I am just saying that perhaps, I have learned a lesson in the process of knitting Arwen and that makes it worth the wait and worth the many hours of seaming.

        


Author: bluegirl -  Visits: 74Comments: 2