Much to my delight, the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics group on Ravelry has chosen my Marywarmers pattern for an Autumn KAL (knit-a-long).
A pair of shorty Marywarmers that I made about a month ago, and that I've worn almost every day since.
For a KAL, a bunch of knitters decide to knit the same pattern at the same time. They share tips and advice, help each other through any tricky bits, and show off their efforts.
If you would like to participate in this KAL, check out the thread in the Fingerless Gloves Fanatics forum.
If you’re not a Ravelry member, why not join? It’s free and fabulous.
The Fall issue of Knitty.com magazine is out. There are new patterns from two of my favourite designers. Straight to the queue they go!
Clandestine by Cookie A. Another ornate, decadent sock design that may be a challenge to knit but will certainly turn out gorgeous. One of these days I will buy her book, Sock Innovation, but right now I still have too many other patterns to knit.
Colonnade by Stephen West. This new designer has been producing some incredibly stylish shawls. His shawl shaping is innovative yet still quite simple. I especially love how his shawls look good on men and women — not an easy achievement.
I enjoyed completing this Online Color Challenge by X-Rite. It takes a few minutes to do it properly. According to X-Rite: ‘1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency.’
Of course it depends on the computer monitor settings, and I wouldn’t put too much weight on the results. But I do try to adjust the Yarnomat product photos to represent the yarn as accurately as possible, so it’s comforting to know that I have ‘perfect color vision’. 
There are lots of new colourways of Flat Feet available at Yarnomat. Since the Aussie dollar has improved, I’ve been able to take $5 off the price of each flat. You can now buy Flat Feet for just $32.
One side of a flat from Flat Feet. Each flat has two sides painted to match each other.
The hand-dyed flat is a fun new way to knit socks. Yarn artists paint unique patterns on matching pairs of machine-knitted rectangles of sock yarn. Each flat is different, so we photograph them all individually. That way you can be sure that the flat you see is the flat you’ll get.
You knit directly from the flat: no skeins, no balls, and no tangles! Remove the undyed waste yarn and discard it. To knit two socks simultaneously, split at the centre waste yarn and start the second sock on the second half. Only one end unravels easily; if your yarn doesn’t unravel as you expect, re-start at the opposite end of the flat.
Because the yarn has been knitted into a flat, there will be a crimp in your working yarn. Knit tightly for socks as you normally would. The crimp will release once you block your work, and then your stitches will become even.
You can stuff a hand-dyed flat into your pocket or bag, or throw it over your shoulder for easy knitting.
I must show off these lovely socks made of Crystal Palace Bamboo Silk in the Persimmon Tones colourway.
Mad Color Weave socks knit in Crystal Palace Bamboo Silk
The pattern is Mad Color Weave by Tina Lorin, and it’s available for free. I love the way the stitch pattern shows off the intense bright colours of the yarn. The heel construction is interesting, too — it’s a method I hadn’t tried before, and I like the way it cups the heel.
We don’t have the Persimmon Tones colourway in stock at the moment, but there are several other enticing shades of Crystal Palace Bamboo Silk that could look fabulous in this pattern.
I knitted these socks for the winner of a charity auction in aid of the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009. Many thanks and love to the Red Cross and community volunteers for all the work they have done and continue to do to support those affected by the bushfires.
Check out these wonderful socks made by Jill Scheetz.
Jill's Domino Diamond Socks
Jill used a free pattern from DROPS Design, and Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. Isn’t it a gorgeous combination? I wouldn’t have thought to try that pattern from the photo on the DROPS site, but Jill’s socks have me drooling.
You can see more socks made from this same pattern at Ravelry, showing how they look with various types of self-striping and self-patterning yarn. I think they’d look good in Mini Mochi too.
Thanks Jill for sending me the photo and giving me permission to share it!
Back in February, Australian Knitting magazine published my pattern for for long fingerless gloves or armwarmers. The pattern is called Marywarmers, after my dear friend Mary who inspired their design.
This pattern is now available worldwide for free, either through the Yarnomat site or through Ravelry. If you knit up a pair, I’d love to hear about it!
Hooray for catching up on the backlog of yarn waiting to go up on Yarnomat! Here is some more new yarn for you: Marathon Socks, from Wisdom Yarns.
This is a great value sock yarn at an introductory price of just $15.00 for a 100 gram ball–plenty for an average pair of socks. It is self-patterning and knits up into a variety of fun patterns that mimic fair isle (if you squint a bit).
At this price, it’s a good, easy-care choice for baby garments, hats and socks too.
It’s been a quiet few months at Yarnomat for a bunch of reasons (day job and ill health, mostly).
But at last I have something new to show you: Mini Mochi. This is a wonderfully soft, self-striping sock yarn from Crystal Palace Yarns. If you like bold self-striping yarns but found that Noro Kureyon Sock was not as soft as you’d like, give Mini Mochi a try. I think you’ll like it.
Mini Mochi yarn in the Intense Rainbow colourway
The premiere issue of the new Australian Knitting magazine is out now in Australian newsagents and Woolworths supermarkets.
Look out for two Yarnomat patterns in there:
- Marywarmers (armwarmers designed for my friend Mary, using Maizy corn fibre yarn)
- Comfy Socks (Noro Kureyon Sock in a cable pattern inspired by the DNA spiral).
Links go to Ravelry listings. It looks like Australian Knitting doesn’t have its own website yet.
The Marywarmers especially have been attracting a lot of interest, and I’m feeling pretty chuffed about them! I hope you’ll consider having a look at Australian Knitting magazine.
