Monday, August 31, 2015

Snakes and Ladders

The next pattern from my Edgewater Collection is out. It made its way stealthily onto Ravelry yesterday, a Sunday afternoon in late August, and I assumed it would languish for a bit, but I guess you knitters out there are in the mood for fall knitting, because when I woke up this morning the design was in the top 20 "most viewed" list. Another surprise (at least for me)? I took the first two photos on my brand new smart phone. The quality was better than with my little Canon.
The pattern notes read:
The stitch pattern in these socks is a scaled down version of the Cornish “Snake Cable” gansey stitch. I love the way the sinuous vertical cable pops out from the horizontally patterned background, then fades into smooth stocking stitch to allow the sock to fit comfortably inside shoes or clogs. The whole thing turns out to be incredibly simple to knit, with almost every other round worked in plain knitting. The cushy garter stitch short row heel, worked on 60% of the sock stitches, fits a wide range of foot shapes, and echoes the garter stitch in the leg pattern. The star toe is cinched instead of grafted. All in all, a surprisingly quick, fun, and practical sock. 



I want to use this opportunity to say how much I love Kelly McClure's "Ramble". The merino/nylon fingering yarn is currently available exclusively at Rosehaven Yarns. In Kelly's own words,
"each skein is lovingly hand-dyed in Bloomfield, Ontario. Bohoknits uses a glazing technique, giving the yarn lots of depth and there are many semi-solid colours to choose from. Bold yarn for bold knitters!"
I encourage you to try out this gorgeous sock yarn, and also to explore Kelly's shawl and hat designs, available on Ravelry.
To download a free Snakes and Ladders Socks pattern, click here.
To order Bohoknits Ramble, click here.
To visit Kelly's Ravelry page, click here.