Cortado Socks - Cosy, quick and DK weight

The Cortado DK weight socks - click here to purchase

If you are a fan of speckled yarn and cushy, cosy DK weight socks then look no further. The Cortado socks are knit cuff down with 1 skein of DK weight yarn and with a straightforward, 4 round repeat they knit up so much faster than you might expect.

If you are lucky enough to be at Unravel this weekend you'll be able to see these socks in person. Gem of The Little Grey Girl is launching her fabulous new DK yarn - Coveny - in some beautiful colourways and I was lucky enough to be able to get my hands on an advance skein.

Having knit fingering weight socks for so long, it's such a treat to whip up a satisfyingly quick pair of cosy DK-weight socks - so much so that I'm eagerly planning to cast on another pair as soon as possible.

My husband - who never normally notices my knitting much - was particularly taken with these and casually enquired whether a 'speckled sock' might be in the offing for him too. As he is a larger-footed chap I normally approach socks for him with a degree of trepidation but at the speed I managed to knock these out I think he might have a fighting chance of a new pair by Easter.

If you are an email subscriber please check your inbox for an exclusive discount code. If not please use the code EARLYBIRD for a 15% discount - valid for 24hrs only. And if you’d like to join my email list to be notified of future offers please use this link.

Reading Corner Shawl

The Reading Corner Shawl

If you find yourself with some DK leftovers or small 10g mini-skeins this is the perfect shawl to use them up. The Reading Corner shawl combines 2 x 100g DK skeins and 5x10g minis in a simple stripe and eyelet design. Designed for minimal counting and maximum ease.

The Reading Corner shawl is an elongated triangle, knit mainly in garter stitch with contrast stripes, with an eyelet detail. As it’s knit in DK weight yarn it’s wonderfully warm and squishy, perfect for draping over your shoulders while you read, or the elongated ends mean that it also works well as a wearable, wrappable shawl on colder days.

Perfect for stashbusting and adapting to the yarn you have, each contrast stripe uses just under 10g yarn. You could use a single contrast colour for all the stripes, or mix and match with leftovers from your stash.

Disturbia Collaboration is Live

It’s a very exciting day today, with the official launch of a collaboration I have been involved with for some time. When a yarny project with fabulous, talented friends comes together it’s a thing of beauty and I’m honored to have been part of this project.

For a few months now I have been working on a yarny collaboration with Martyn of the Knit365 podcast and today is the official launch. 

Martyn had the idea to commission an exclusive hand dyed yarn colourway from the fabulous indie dyer Gem (The Little Grey Girl) and then to have a knitting designer and a crochet designer come up with two different-but-similar shawl designs.

My version - the Do Not Disturb shawl is shown above. It is a sideways knit, garter stitch shawl with a decorative ‘sharks tooth’ edging and an integral i-cord - both knitted as you go. I wanted something that would really showcase the beautiful speckles and semi-solid tones of Gem’s gorgeous colourway - Disturbia.

The crochet version has been designed by the very talented Hanna (Germander Cottage Crafts) and uses the same skein of yarn to create a beautiful crochet design. Hanna and I worked together to ensure that the finished pieces were similar in shape and style, whilst each putting our own unique stamp on it. Hanna had the greater challenge, given that one-skein shawls in crochet have a little more constraint but she has absolutely knocked it out of the park with this beautiful, very wearable design, that I can’t wait to try.

All the official details will be available at this link from 4pm (UK time) along with details on how to get your hands on a skein of this lovely sock yarn.

Hanna’s Disturbia Crochet Shawl - purchase here

The Little Grey Girl’s Disturbia yarn - purchase here

How much do I love a cowl?

Tap to buy patterns

The answer is lots...apparently

I've written about my love of cowls versus shawls a few times before - at length - but it's really at this time of year that they come into their own.

Something you can just throw on in a morning as you dash out of the door. Those first few frosty mornings that catch you slightly unawares and can leave the knitter feeling exposed and slightly draughty at the bus stop.

Until I had knit a few I was unpersuaded by the joys of cowls, I thought they would feel bulky or constraining (I have an irrational fear of polo neck sweaters and anything too tight under my chin) but they have turned out to be a surprisingly versatile and well-worn addition to my wardrobe.

They are also pretty quick to knit - compared to a full on shawl - and 1 skein of DK can go a long way when you pair it with a stretchy, squishy stitch pattern.

As a winter treat I have put together a bundle of cowl patterns with the discount code COWL15 on my website. You can buy as many as you like - just add the code at the checkout.

Happy knitting

Fickle Steps: a new sock pattern

Fickle Steps Socks - buy pattern here

Not the most obvious name for a new design, but bear with. I’m about to entertain you with the backstory to these smart looking cuff down socks which I hope will make you smile and will give you some sort of insight into our slightly crazy ‘life with two boys’ world.

As you may know we are keen fans of walking in the Lake District and we introduced our two boys to it at a very early age - backpacking them up to summits and letting them toddle through woodland trails as soon as we could jam wellie boots onto their chubby little legs.

Fickle Steps is the name given to a river crossing - a set of stepping stones in the Duddon Valley (in the Western lakes). They cross at a broad point in the river and are usually (but not always) free from water. On this particular day we had to cut our planned walk short. I forget why exactly, but walking with young children - by then the boys were aged about 3 and 4 - had already taught us that some days you just have to cut your losses and accept that your ‘nice walk in the Lakes’ isn’t going quite as you planned. I may have forgotten the snacks!

In any case we ended up wanting to cross the river at Fickle Steps, and we hadn’t antcipated that the river would be quite so high, leaving a couple of the steps almost under water. But it was either cross, or add an extra 3 miles to our walk, which none of us were in the mood for.

Always prepared, my husband dug out rope and carabiners (don’t ask) from his rucksack and fashioned makeshift sit harnesses for the boys so that they could clip on to the steel hawser that serves as a handrail across the stones. Whilst not too deep, the river is fairly fast flowing at that point and we didn’t want to lose a child overboard.

I went first with the younger boy, step by step with him copying my moves - the mantra ‘step, balance’ was something we taught them early on when crossing rough ground. We made it to the other side without incident then turned to watch the other pair. Husband was already burdened with the rucksack though and coupled with wild failing from eldest son -always one for the drama - found himself caught off balance on a slippy rock. He ended up thigh deep in icy water whilst eldest son swung, sloth-like from his harness cackling wildly.

Thus, Fickle Steps entered our lexicon of family stories. To be brought out and talked over in the same way as the ‘day of the red ant bite’ - Harter Fell, or ‘the time mum got chased by a cow’ - Grey Friar.

I chose the name for these socks, as they look a little fearsome - with the crossed stitch detail across the cable. But really, with a bit of solid preparation work (the steel hawser across the stones) they are really fun to work, and give a very satisfying result.

PIN FOR LATER

Blankets: the joys of doubling up

Garter Ripple Squish - pattern here

Yesterday I shared a post on 10 things to make with leftover sock yarn (that isn’t a sock yarn blanket). Because, let’s face it, sometimes you just need something gratifyingly quick to make. And with all the will in the world, and for all it’s many virtues, a sock yarn blanket is anything but quick to make.

I would however, add the addendum that sock yarn blankets can be speeded up quite considerably by the simple act of doubling up. Holding your sock yarn leftovers double or even treble can result in a very pleasing, squishy fabric that knits up quickly. It also eats through your stash with amazing rapidity - perfect for when you want to make a substantial dent in the leftover pile.

In this blog post here I talk about my Mahoosive Mitered Square project - which still isn’t finished, but that’s by the by. Holding the yarn doubled results in some really pleasing marled effects and makes the large squares knit up surprisingly quickly.

For a project with the yarn held trebled, please check out this post on my Garter Ripple Squish baby blanket. I originally knit this as a traditional DK baby blanket, but then being slightly overwhelmed by the size of my leftover pile I decided to knit with 3 strands at once. Yarn management was a bit more of an issue here but I solved it with the nifty use of a colander to hold the strands separate.

If I did this again, and I have to admit that I’m tempted I might consider winding the yarn into a magic ball - or 3 before I started - if only for ease of portability. I did find, as I moved around the house that my 3 yarn strands tended to get a bit tangled, no matter what I did to try to contain them.

For my next doubling up project I’m considering trying crochet granny squares. But with my notoriously awful crochet tension that could prove to be a bit tricksy. Still, I’ll give it a go and see what happens - watch this space.

Have you ever tried a project with the yarn held double/treble? And if so, did you find it helpful to pre-wind your strands to save on tangling. I’m curious about the different approaches we all take on this.