My next job: a page for our fibres and yarns!

I am not the technological superstar in this loose passel (who am I calling loose?) of pals here. In fact sometimes, before coffee it is all I can do to not keep hitting the capslock button. CAUSE EVERYONE LIKES TO BE YELLED AT ON THE INTERNETS RIGHT? See? How embarassing. BUT, it is one of the reasons why we work so well together as a cohesive group. We all have different strengths. I did this weekend buy a new printer. I set it up, and have even printed with it, so take that technuhmology.

The etsy shop is humming along and in more celebration-ness, we have a scrumptious little fats knitting hat pattern for ya’ll. It knits up super quick (less than a day) at a nice chonky gauge. Slightly fashionista (slouchy and fun) slightly born of necessity, all awesome. Go forth an knit Bad Hair Day. We all have them.

Bad Hair Day pattern download in PDF

Oops. Time has slipped by hasn’t it? All three of us have had some major stuff on the go these past few months so I guess time waits for no knitter huh? Between hockey practices, moving, and um.. slacking (but I got the most NaNoBloMo posts done. thats something isn’t it? Morgan says: HEY at least I had the PLAN of writing in November) we have totally neglected our little blog. Rest assured we will try harder to not slack so much. Really!

As by way of an apology, here have a sock pattern!

Garter Toes!! Download the PDF

Well possums.. its begun. At least here in Calgary it has. The *it* I’m referring to is the snow. Now it has it’s drawbacks, yes’? Like shovelling, scraping your car and the whole wet thing, BUT it also has its advantages too right? Like knitting warm squishy things. Cabled sweaters, chunky socks, new toques (or for you Americans, beanies I think) and mittens. Scarves. You finally have an excuse to knit a scarf again! And what a great way to use up some stash right? We are fortunate enough here in Cowtown to see the snow, then thanks to the Chinook winds, it is gone again. But it does sure put one in a snuggly mood.

 Stay warm and Happy Halloween!

Salt Spring Waves socks, pdf pattern available here

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch in stockinette stitch.

Wow.. October is more than half over. How is your Socktober going? After finishing my Betty Cable socks, I am working on a pair of not quite knee highs out of some really spectacular yarn. I can’t wait to show you. I turned the heel of pair two last night watching Planet Terror (OMG!! SO GROSS AND GOOD!!!), so only have the (kinda long) cuff to go. I love the short row heels I do!! I find the double wrap really works for me with no holes. Yay!

I’m wishing I had gotten around to painting the house this summer. The lack of colour is starting to bum me out. I find colour so important don’t you? Taking the dogs for their daily walk its really inspiring to see the fall colours. Pickles loves crunching through the leaves and Max hates ANYTHING touching his belly. Silly things aren’t they?

I hope everyone is enjoying the patterns so far. There is more coming and some other really cool stuff too.. as always, STAY TUNED!

Keep Away Slippers
By Karen Harper for Knit Front and Back
Felted slippers with needle felted thrums

Gauge 4 st/inch with 6mm needles (pre felting)
Patons SWS 2 skeins
1 6 mm needle 32 inches long.
Approx 30-50 grams of roving.
Needle felting needles.
Foam to needle felt on.

Cast On:

CO 9 st with Turkish cast on
R1 -Knit 1 round even.
R2- Kfb into the first and last stitch of each needle

This pattern is assuming you are using either the 2 circ or magic loop method. I like these methods, they are simple and make turning your heel easy. No picking up of stitches either!

Repeat rows 1 &2 until you have 27 st on each needle. Knit even until piece measures approx 7.5 inches (for ladies medium (7-9) slipper. If you have bigger feet (9-11) knit until 8.5.

Turn heel.

Purl across the back to the last stitch, wrap and turn.
Knit to last stitch, wrap and turn.

Continue until you have 6 stitches (or approximately 20% of whatever number you end up with on each needle) left unwrapped.

Purl across to first wrapped stitch. Pick up wrap and stitch and purl together through the back loop. Wrap and turn the following stitch like you did before. Stitches will now have 2 wraps when you pick them up. Turn work.

Knit to first wrapped stitch. Pick up stitch and wrap, slip to RH needle, and knit through the back of the stitch. Wrap and turn next stitch (stitches will be double wrapped). Repeat until all stitches have been worked, picking up both wraps with the stitch and either p tbl or k tbl.

You may need to pick up a stitch or two between heel and top of foot. If you do, knit them together with the first stitch of the row. It will hide any small holes and make it a sturdier join.

Knit 3 rounds even or as desired. BO with EZ’s sewn cast off.

Hand or machine felt checking every few minutes for size. I recommend going slightly smaller then your foot as these will stretch out a bit.

Needle felting thrums:
Cut roving into approx 2 inch pieces. Pinch off small amounts of roving and needle felt onto interior bottom of slipper. Make sure you use at least 2 inch foam underneath or you will have a terrible time poking into your leg. NOT FUN, trust me. See pictures for more details. Thrum to your hearts content. They will felt up into a lovely soft cushion for your cosy slippers and prolong the life of them too!

(pdf available soon)

So I being late to this game (the sockitude) and also being lazy by nature, I am wondering how everyone else out there looks after these knitted little treasures? I know Morgans philosophy is to jam them into the washer and dryer and fuggedaboudit. Not sure about Dana, I’ll have to check. I am on the fence about some of this. See, I really was not all that whacked about the feel of Socks that Rock at first. (GASP sacrilegious no?) but after a trip through the washing machine, OMG. Softest most lovely ever so slightly felted gorgeousness. Really slight felt. Less than 1% so don’t get your knickers in a twist. But it was the MACHINE that did it see? I don’t have the ovaries to put those in the dryer though, or the Cadenza ones either. Colinette says they are *easy care* but doesn’t recommend the dryer so I am listening. However.. the Knitpicks Tweed? RIGHT IN BOTH MACHINES! And I even tossed my Shibui socks in the dryer about 5 minutes ago. which is what sparked this post. We’ll just see how they turn out huh?

I think superwash is the bomb. How about you?

Morgan: Its a celebration of Karen’s conversion to the dark side. Its her first sock pattern!