Thanks so much for all your great sock yarn recommendations in the comments to my previous post! How did I not know that Cascade had a sock yarn? I'm definitely ordering some of that to play around with along with some of the other yarns recommended. I'll keep you posted.

One of my problems in finding sock yarn is that I get these particular colors in my head and then I can't find that color in sock yarn, like the deep medium pink I want for the piggy toe socks (DrLeonesse mentioned the same problem in the comments) or the rich kelly green I want for the Leaves socks in the Socks, Socks, Socks book.

I did recently purchase some of Elann's Sock it to Me Essentials. Like LaurieM mentioned in the comments, I also thought the colors weren't quite what I saw on the website - they seemed more faded in real life. Still the price is excellent so I guess I'll combine those with some of the other new sock yarns to get enough colors.




HERE is the link to the German sock book I mentioned. Pat told me about it and that there is a possibility of an upcoming translation to English. I used Google Translate and it looks like there are a good amount of colorwork patterns.

Deep Sea Diving

This week I am taking you deep sea diving! That is where I found my inspiration. The sea anemones, as graceful as Victorian ladies in silks and laces helped create the Under the Sea Collection .I found these colors to have a unique glow. They are at the same time deeply saturated but almost transparent.

I hope you will enjoy going on this under the sea adventure with me.

Good thing I just planted some strawberry plants because here is what it looks like from my front door today:




Fortunately the strawberries are safe in the cold frame and I've even heard the rabbit rescue garage sale is actually doing well in the snow.

Every year I choose a fun summer knitting project and this year my plan is to knit as many complicated mind-bending baffling sock patterns as I can find. Of course I'm getting Cookie A.'s book and a few Cat Bordhi books and I found a German one that has some colorwork socks (link later when I find it). I also have the Katherine Pence Tongue River sock book and PGR's Ethnic Socks books so I should have enough patterns. I don't have enough colors of sock yarn for color work though. For instance, I've always wanted to make those pig socks with toes from the Socks, Socks, Socks book but I have yet to find a pink yarn that is the right color.

Can anyone recommend a sock yarn line with at least 20-40 SOLID colors? Otherwise I could just use my Palette stash but I prefer socks to be machine washable so I can give them away.

Is Spring Here Yet

I am a patient person, but now I have had it with the cold. The official beginning of spring came, and went, but the temperatures remained bitterly cold. Looking out the window one could definitely have been fooled, with the shining sun, the blue sky and the singing birds. As a matter of fact I got fooled. I opened the door to go for my early morning walk...I took a breath, and I went right back in to get my gloves, my scarf and my hat. I still went for the walk, and it was beautiful. The courageous crocus were in bloom...

I love spring flowers in particular the lily of the valley. Its delicate little cups with their curled edges, and the fresh green always make me happy.

I just happened to be staring at the lily of the valley that my littlest pixie had given her father for his birthday, when the knitter in me took over. If spring does not want to come, I'll make spring!
So off I went to my studio, I grabbed a skein of natural cream colored yarn, dyed a smidgeon of fresh green for what will become a hat for babies/toddlers and cute little pixies in general.

So tonight, I'm knitting spring!

Two of my favorite pieces of art are these molas from Panama. A mola is made by the Kuna Indians using reverse applique on colorful fabrics. My father bought these for himself and had them framed in Chicago. Fortunately after a few years I managed to convince him to give them to me. The bird and lobster designs seen here are actually much simpler than some I've seen.







They feature embroidery on the faces and the applique stitching is seriously tiny. There used to be a mola store on Canyon Road in Santa Fe and I enjoyed looking through all the designs.







I'm knitting these alpaca mittens in 3 colors - they will photograph much better on one of our rare cloudy days. I need to make them again in wool with a greater contrast between colors.

Go with the Flow Socks FREE PATTERN

The Go with the Flow Socks pattern is ready. As always I did my best to avoid mistakes, but these can still happen. Please let me know if there is any problem with the pattern. As you know, SockPixie has a new helper, which means that I will be able to answer your questions much faster, so feel free to contact me any time.

In the pattern you will notice that I do not give you an exact number of stitches to cast on. Rather, I tell you to cast on a multiple of 4. What that means is that you can really knit the sock for the intended person. Measure the ankle of the person, round that down to the nearest multiple of 4, and times it by your gauge. For example, if he person's ankle is 10", round that down to 8, then multiply 8 by your gauge per inch, which in the case of this sock should be 8, and you get 64. You should therefore cast on 64 stitches. I prefer to round down as this makes for a sock with a better body on the leg. This sock also has a lot of horizontal stretch because of the zigzag rib, so it is better to cast on a smaller number. Throughout the pattern, you will find instructions that will help you make a sock with a perfect fit.

You can click on the picture below to download the pdf pattern of the Go with the Flow Socks.




Happy Knitting!

Happy Birthday Mr. SockPixie

I had not knitted socks for Mr. SockPixie in a very, very long time. So when I thought about what I could make for Mr. SockPixie's Birthday, socks naturally came to mind.



And then I remembered that he had been blessed with size 13 feet and loved really long cuffs! What to do? He just loves is hand knit socks so much...So, I compromised. Sport weight yarn, of course! I set out to dye a special batch for him, and played with the dyes until the yellow ochre was just perfect. I kept adding drops of green and brown to the dye bath until the color was rich enough. The yarn cooked, and cooked... Once it was dyed, I could hardly wait for the yarn to dry. Isn't it amazing how things can take so long to dry?


Then came the time to think of a pattern. I knit and frogged, and knit and frogged. I wanted something textural, masculine, yet fluid. Finally I found my groove, and came up wih this zigzag rib. I cast on for 2 socks at once on one circular, and started knitting.



Half way down he cuff, I realized that I should have reversed the pattern on the second sock. I debated, and debated, and eventually decided to redo the second sock to make it a mirror image of the first. Even though reknitting the cuff did not at first make me really happy, I am now glad I did, as it really gave the socks a more fluid appearance.



When I reached the heel, I chose a textured stitch stagerring the slipped stitches. After the heel flap was finished I realized I really liked the wrong side of the heel flap. No problem, I turned the socks inside out making the wrong side of the flap the right one.
The rest is history, turning the heels, working the gussets, and all the long, long, long way...down to the toe!


Mr. SockPixie's verdict: "He loves the socks!" and so do I. I love them so much that I am writing the pattern up, and will be offering it as a free pdf pattern (the pattern will be posted either later on today, or tomorrow.) I will call them Go with the Flow.
Happy Birthday darling Mr. SockPixie!

Happy Birthday Mr. SockPixie

SockPixie is off today to celebrate Mr. SockPixie's Birthday!I will be posting about his birthday present later on today.
SockPixie will be back with new colors next week!

SockPixie is Growing

SockPixie, thanks to your wonderful support has been growing. It has been growing so much that there were not enough hours in the day, inspite of all the pixie dust I sprinkled, for the dyeing, the packing, the e-mailing, and the blog writing to get done. I decided it was time to add a second pixie to the team. I am so excited to welcome her to SockPixie.

Treasures of North Africa

This week has been a soul searching week for some of the SockPixie family, and a time to reflect on, and reconnect with our origins. These moments of reflection, led me to think about my North African origins. My family, being Jewish, left Spain at the time of the Inquisition and settled in North Africa, and after living there of quite a few generations moved to Paris. My parents took me to visit Tunis, and Marrakesh. I decided to revisit these places in colors.

I hope you will enjoy the Treasures of North Africa Collection. The colorway at the center is called Feuille de Menthe after the famous Mint Tea served evrywhere in the region.

Here is the Pantone Color/Fashion forecast for Spring 2009 - these colors should be reflected in upcoming fashion lines. What's notable for me is that I love all these colors and would wear them (well except for the lemon yellow). I wish some yarn company would create some yarn in these colors (well except for the lemon yellow). I can imagine a knitting project with all these colors together (except for you-know-what). If you're interested in seeing larger swatches of the colors or learning more about each, you can open this PDF from Pantone.

I heard from Sarah B with her method of doing the knitted braid and I asked her if I could share it here.

"I know the Latvian braid seems to be a challenge for a huge number of people the first time out. For some reason, I "got it" immediately but I think the reason why is because I knit combined and must drop the other strand when purling with two yarns. I knit with the yarn in both hands, but I must purl with both in one hand and drop the yarn to do the braid. Therefore, as I purl one round of the braid, I tuck the just-purled yarn under my left thumb until I pick up the other stand. For the next round, I set the just-purled yarn off to the right over the needle until I pick up the other strand. Because of this I don't really have to worry about whether I am picking the yarn up from under or over the other. I just set the first strand down to the same side all the way around the each round."

Bunny Finger Puppets

I often wonder how people can make money knitting for hire. I'm a fast knitter but when I think of how much time these finger puppets took and how little they'll be able to get for them at the HRS garage sale... well, maybe I'll just give them a check next time. The free pattern is on my links to the right.

Anyway if you're in Albuquerque and would enjoy visiting a garage sale to help out pet rabbits, it will be held Friday and Saturday March 27th and 28th from 8 am to 4 pm. The address is 13709 Conner Court NE (in the NE Heights off Tramway). From Lomas and Tramway, take Lomas East six blocks intothe foothills. There will be signs w/balloons. Conner court is on the left directly off of Lomas. It looks to be quite a large sale and the rescuers are even getting goods to sell from Animal Humane's gift shop. All proceeds go to help rescue pet rabbits from the Albuquerque and Santa Fe city animal shelters.

Jack the cat was offended that Bubbles' nose was featured since he feels his nose is better looking. Every morning both Jack and Bubbles fight over a patch of sunlight in the 2nd bedroom - they both park it as far away from each other as possible (but still in the sun) and glare at each other. I'll have to get a photo - it is hilarious.

I didn't know Blogger would shrink the size of the videos so much - I'll have to keep that in mind next time I do one. I'd like to show my weaving in ends assembly line procedure next - I estimate I can weave in 10 to 20 yarn ends per minute so I will try to put my money where my mouth is in a video.

I need to give a shout out to CreateSpace which is an excellent service for publishing knitting booklets for sale on Amazon. First of all they give your booklet a free ISBN number (last time I checked an ISBN was $150 elsewhere) and they are very easy to use. You upload a PDF and then they ask that you order one copy of your booklet before they put it up for sale. I was initially unable to use their cover template with my graphics program but fortunately I figured out that during the publishing process they offer a great service called Cover Creator to make simple book covers. Both Stranded Color Knitting and Glove Knitting are now on Amazon with free super saver shipping so if you want a print version, that is the least expensive method.

Also, I've put a few of my pattern PDFs on Patternfish - here is the listing for the Arctic Spring Mittens. I think they do a beautiful job of showing the patterns with the larger images and Julia is extremely kind in her description of the patterns.

I am currently finishing up about a million rabbit finger puppets for our local rescue group's garage sale later this month so I will show you those in a day or two.

Here's your bunny nose close-up for today courtesy of Miss Bubbles:

Spring Promenade in Paris

Spring is in the air. The light lately has been so much like the light in Paris. I miss Paris most in the spring. Paris was so much in my mind that I dedicated these colorways to Paris in the Spring.
Enjoy your Promenade...

Knitted Two Color Braid Video, Step Two

STEP TWO - KNITTED 2-COLOR BRAID


STEP TWO: For this row you do the opposite of Step One and thus untwist your yarns. Both yarns remain in FRONT of the work. Take the Color A yarn and put it OVER the Color B yarn and purl one stitch. Then take the Color B yarn and put it OVER the Color A yarn and purl one stitch. Repeat these two stitches across the row as shown in the video below.


That's it! You can also reverse Step One and Step Two if you prefer or work 2 rows of Step One then two of Step Two.
Copyright 2009, Nanette Blanchard

Knitted Two Color Braid Video, Step One

STEP ONE - KNITTED 2-COLOR BRAID
Knitted braids are beautiful and they get easier the more often you do them. They don't curl so they are an excellent alternative to ribbing for a hem. The braid here is just a basic braid but there are many fun alternatives. Check out the excellent book Folk Knitting in Estonia by Nancy Bush (one of my top five favorite knitting books!) for some more advanced braids - I think she even has a 3 color braid.

There's usually a set-up row - in this case I did K1 Color A, K1 Color B, and on across the row.

STEP ONE: You take both yarns and hold them IN FRONT of your work as if to purl. Take the Color A yarn and pull it UNDER the Color B yarn and purl one stitch. Then take the Color B yarn and pull it UNDER the Color A yarn and purl one stitch. Repeat these two steps across the row as shown in the video below.

You are purposely twisting the yarns in Step One. Any time in knitting when you are purposely twisting two or more yarns you need to regularly run your fingers between the two yarns (as seen at the end of the video below) and push the twist as far away from your needles as possible. If the twist gets too close to your needles it gets tough to knit.

Yesterday we drove south past the tiny land grant town of Manzano to the Quarai ruins. These red sandstone ruins were from a Tiwa Pueblo and the large structure was a church from the 1620's built when the Spanish settlers arrived. The pueblo mets its demise in 1677 from a combination of famine and war with the Apache.




You can see the Manzano mountains in the distance. Last year they had a terrible wildfire and there were blackened spots all over the mountains.



Unfortunately I forgot to bring any mittens to photograph so here is a very thick glove I knit from one of Kristin Nicholas' books a few years ago. I keep these gloves in the truck for any emergencies requiring brightly colored worsted weight gloves.




You gotta love New Mexic0!

Thank you to you and Itchiku Kobota

Dear Friends,

First I want to thank all of you for your kind words on the blog, for your many emails, and cards you sent me. Your support has meant a lot to me, Mr. SockPixie and the children.
After taking a little time off ( I thank you so much for your patience with the shipping of your orders...I am finally caught up with shipments! I am still catching up on answering emails...), I felt great joy in exploring the wonderful work of Itchiku Kubota. His kimonos are an ode to the eternal beauty of nature, of the seasons,and of the elements.
If you want to see more of his work, I recommend you read Kimono as Art: the Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota. I know you will love it.



Here are the 6 Itchiku Kubota colorways. I hope you will enjoy them.