Free Knitting Patterns, Instructions, Projects & Designs.

Just (barely) in time for Christmas knitting, I have finished designing the Christmas Smock Top Socks. This is what the Mystery Sock decided it wanted to become. I love the way the smocking stitch lends a quilted, cozy look to the sock’s cuff. It took some trail and error to come up with the right number of stitches and rows to form an appealing look once the cuff is stretched out over the leg. I’m happy with how the proportions turned out.

I chose Regia 4-ply sock yarn for its crisp stitch definition. In the pattern I call for 9 sts per inch rather than the 7.5 sts on the ball band. I just hate walking around on too-loose knitting. It feels like some kind of couture torture involving twine! At 9 sts per inch, the Regia make a smooth, kind-to-the-feet fabric.

The sock is knitted from the cuff down. An important design consideration was that the cuff must be knit flat so the smocking’s horizonal bars meet up properly. Trying to knit the cuff in the round wouldn’t work because the rounds are really spirals. The “rows” would never match up.

Once the cuff is completed, the yarn is joined and the rest of the sock is knitted in the round. I hid some ribbing under the cuff to make sure the sock stays up through all the Christmas day festivities.

If you like the way Christmas Smock Top Socks truned out, you may want to check out the Pattern Store.

…and red. I just love Christmas, which may explain the Mystery Sock’s morphing into a holiday design. Jimmy the Vicious Attack Cat doesn’t care about seasonal matters. He’s just glad to have a project to curl up near.

This is where it all started. I suppose I could have put an end to it at the first hint that I was going to get obsessed. Again. But I ignored that inner voice which cried “Stop while you can!”

Three skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn. That’s all it took. (Plus a visit from my friend Mary, who has so much creativity that apparently she left some behind for me when she went back to Ohio.)

I didn’t mean to design a sock. I certainly didn’t mean to design anything in fair isle. But the shmooey yarn with bright spring colors drew me in and demanded I grab some needles. A design snuck into my mind as if it were a gremlin….  

With the help of the Stitch & Motif Maker software, here’s how the swatching process evolved for Mary’s Garden Socks.

A lot of trail and error, ripping out, starting over, and here is the final product:

 At a later date I’ll post more on the Stitch & Motif Maker, but you can imagine how helpful it is to be able to plan this sort of design out on a just-the-right-proportion grid.

If you like this sock you can find it my Original Designs in my Pattern Store. I find knitting it to be a nice dose of fair isle fun, and I hope you do to!

I’m so glad you’ve discovered my website! My hope is that you’ll find my blog postings, links, and patterns to be sources of inspiration for your own knitting. I’ll be writing about projects I’m working on, tips that I’ve found to be helpful, and best of all the process of designing patterns.

Pattern designing is the most exciting area for me personally (other than that wonderful race to the finish we all feel as we near the end of a project)! It’s a miracle the way a tiny germ of inspiration winds its way through the design process to become an actual thing. After much trial and error, I send my pattern off to my wonderful tech editor. I think I’ve sent it to her perfect – surely this time I’ve corrected all the errors before they’ve gone out! But noooo. There are always changes I need to make to get the pattern right. I want to make sure that anyone buying a pattern from me is getting the best, most accurate pattern I can possibly create. So I also send the pattern and yarn off to a test knitter who makes further suggestions and refinements.

With cool weather coming, you might enjoy knitting my “Gentle Stripes Scarf”. You can download it for free from my pattern store. I made the scarf at a time when I was making a lot of long flights. I wanted something simple, easily transportable, and pretty enough to keep me entertained. The simple stitch pattern was easy to remember, and the Karaoke yarn changed colors nicely. I hope you’ll find it as soothing to knit as I do!