Garudasana Yoga Socks

In summer I like feeling the floor under my bare feet. Unfortunately, summers here in Germany or Switzerland can get pretty cool, so I often need something to warm my feet a bit.  That's why I like wearing yoga socks (even when I'm too lazy to do my sun salutations in the morning). They keep the feet (a bit) warm while still giving you the a "summery" feeling under your soles.

On this blog there are already two patterns for yoga socks. One (very easy) in the round (loom-style) pattern and a second sideways knitted flat pattern. Both were fun to make but a bit plain. That's why I decided to try something less boring and I experimented a bit with horizontal cables ... so here's the result: Yoga socks knitted flat and sideways with a cable pattern on the back of the foot.

These yoga socks are called Garudasana, because the horizontal cabling reminds me of the crossed legs and arms in Eagle pose (Garudasana). 

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The pattern is written in a way that it can be adapted to most foot sizes. However, I have included the stitch and row counts that I have used - written in purple.

Materials

• a total of about 25 to 30 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors
• three knitting needles (3mm), I used both circular and dpns (short dpns for the narrow bits at start and finish, circulars for the wide bit in the middle
• scrap yarn, for the provisional CO and to secure stitches
• a crochet hook for the provisional CO
• tapestry needle, for kitchener stitch and to weave in ends

Techniques and Terminology

• Provisional Cast-On: My preferred method of a provisional cast-on is the crochet provisional CO – as shown in this YouTube Video
• Grafting or kitchener stitch: The basic stockinette kitchener stitch is shown in this YouTube-Video by PurlSoho.
• Backwards Loop Cast-On: See this YouTube-Video by planetpurl.
• Ridges: Throughout the pattern, the term ridges will be used. One ridge is a sequence of four rows - two k-rows followed by two p-rows.

Gauge

Before starting to knit measure the circumference of your ankles. You will be asked to knit until you have reached half of that circumference.

As to the width of your stitches, I had 13 stitches to 5 cm. However, this is one of the cases where knitting a swatch is actually more work than casting on “normally” and ripping back after a few rows if the piece is too wide or too narrow.

Because the pattern (horizontal ribs) is very stretchy and the widening because of the holes in the middle, these socks need negative ease to fit snugly. This means that they have to be knitted smaller than the wearer's foot. That's why I'd recommend to make these socks at least three centimeters smaller than the measured circumference.

Example: the circumference of my ankles measures 21 cm - the circumference of the socks I knitted is only 17 to 18 cm (depending how it's being held).

Or in ridges: for a sideways version of yoga socks without a horizontal cable pattern - I equalled the circumference with 22 ridges (11 for the front, 11 for the back) - for the Garudasana yoga socks, I knitted 9 ridges for the back (narrow part) and 10 for the front (i.e. 19 in total) with the same yarn weight and same needles.

General Construction

The picture below shows the general construction (click on the image to enlarge it).

You start with a narrow part, i.e. half of the intended lenght of the sock (for me this was about 8 cm - or 20 stitches for the first provisional CO). This part will later be at the above your heel or under your sole.

Then you knit half of the sock's circumference in horizontal ribs and afterwards provisionally CO the other half of the intended stitches, i.e. your starting the front part. The part that is knitted next is used to cover the front of your feet (wide part in the middle).
In order to center the cabling in the middle of this part, the number of ridges in this wide (front) part must be even.

When this wide (front) part is finished, the half of the stitches are put on scrap yarn to be later grafted to the firt provisional CO. Then you continue in another narrow strip of horizontal ribs. You finish by grafting  two seams.

So the piece that you knit will look a bit like a Tetris piece :)

  

Instructions

  

With scrap yarn, provisionally CO 20 stitches

1st narrow part

Start with yarn A, leaving a tail long enough for grafting 20 sts.

First ridge

Row 1: k all sts

Row 2: sl1 p-wise, k to end

Row 3: sl1 p-wise, p to end

Row 4: sl1 k-wise, p to end

Next ridges

Row 5: sl1 k-wise, k to end

Row 6: sl1 p-wise, k to end

Row 7: sl1 p-wise, p to end

Row 8: sl1 k-wise, p to end

Repeat rows 5 to 8 until the piece is as high as half of your ankle circumference. End with a row 8.

Count the number of ridges, this number is called X - it will be needed later to calculate the number of ridges to knit until the cabling starts.

For my socks I knitted a total of 9 ridges in this part.

Middle part (wide) - includes horizontal cabling

On a third needle prepare 20 more provisionally CO stitches.

Knit a row 5 and then go on knitting the 20 new stitches, i.e. the row is now 20 stitches wider (see pictures 1 and 2).

Knit one ridge less than half the number of ridges knitted during the first (narrow section), i.e. X/2-2 ridges. Then the cabling is started right in the center of the middle part.

Example: if you knitted 10 ridges during the narrow part (X=10), then knit 3 ridges (10/2 = 5; 5-2 = 3). In my case, I knitted 9 rigdes during the narrow part, and 3 ridges before I started the cabling. To center the cables, the wide (front) parts needs to have an even number of ridges. That's why I ended up with the narrow parts a bit shorter (9 ridges) than the middle part (10 ridges).

Cabling:

The cabling consists of four ridges - two in color A, two in color B, i.e. 16 rows. The horizontal cables are a bit tricky, that's why I have tried to illustrate the steps with photos.

C-Row 1: sl1 k-wise, k to end

C-Row 2: sl1 p-wise, k to end

C-Row 3: sl1 p-wise, p to end

C-Row 4: sl1 k-wise, p7, BO8, p8, BO8, p8

C-Row 5: sl1 k-wise, k7, CO8 (with backwards-Loop CO), k8, CO8, k8 - you have now created two holes through which the first ridge in color B will be drawn.

C-Row 6: sl1 p-wise, k to end
C-Row 7: sl1 p-wise, p to end
C-Row 8: sl1, k-wise,  p7, BO8, p8, BO8, p8 (your piece should look like in picture 3)

You can now cut yarn A.
Change color and continue with yarn B.

C-Row 9: sl1 k-wise, k7, CO8 (with backwards loop CO) and draw the tip of your needle and a Loop of your working yarn through the hole made by the BO/CO in C-Rows 4 and 5, make sure to not twist your new CO and to keep the working yarn over the new CO (see picture 4), k8, CO8 and repeat what you did through the first hole, k8. There will be yarn wrapped throuhg the holes as well, when you knit the next row, you will draw it back.
C-Row 10: sl1 p-wise, and k all stitches to the end, this means that when you are knitting the newly CO stitches you have to draw both needles through the hole and also draw the loop of yarn through the hole - do this for both holes.  (see picture 5).

C-Row 11: sl1 p-wise, p to end - again, when knitting over the newly CO stitches draw both needles through the hole and also draw a loop of string, make sure to not twist your stitches and keep the loop of working yarn over your stitches (see picture 6), again there will be a loop of yarn wrapped through the two holes (see picture 7)
C-Row 12: sl1 k-wise, p7, BO8, after binding off the last of the 8 stitches, put the last stitch on the left-hand needle, draws both needle tips through the hole, draw the yarn through, and put the last stitch back on the right-hand needle, p8, BO8 and repeat what you did through the first hole, p8 (your piece should now look like in picture 8)

C-Row 13: sl1 k-wise, k7, CO8 (with backwards-Loop CO), k8, CO8, k8 (see picture 9)

C-Row 14: sl1 p-wise, k to end
C-Row 15: sl1 p-wise, p to end
C-Row 16: sl1 k-wise, p to end

Continue knitting normal rows 5-8 (i.e. normal ridges) the same number of times you knitted them in the wide part before the cabling started.
However, in the last ridge knit row 8 only up to and including the 20th stitch. Put the last 20 stitch on a stitch holder - they will be grafted to the 1st provisional CO later.

2nd narrow part

Knit rows 5-8 (i.e. normal ridges) the same amount of times you knitted during the first narrow part (i.e. X times, for my socks this was 9 times). However, do not knit the last row of the last ridge.
Picture 10 shows how the socks while knitting this part.

Cut yarn B but leave a tail long enough to graft 20 stitches.

Capture the stitches of the 2nd provisional CO on a needle. Hold together with the stitches still on your needle (right sides out) and graft with normal kitchener stitch (stockinette graft).

Capture stitches from 1st provisional CO on a needle and the stitches you put on scrap yarn at the end of the middle part. Hold needles together (right sides out)  and graft with normal kitchener stitch (stockinette graft).

Weave in Ends.

Make two.

Horizontal Cables II

About a year ago, I experimented a bit with horizontal cables (see this blogpost) … at the time, this idea was prompted by a crochet pattern I saw on Ravelry: Comet by Tanja Oswald. However, I didn’t really like how my horizontal cables turned out and didn't have any idea on how to use it in a project.

That changed recently, when I started to knit yoga socks again – and tried to knit them sideways. After the simple sideways version, I tried a cabled one. This time, I'm happier with the look of my horizontal cables.

 

 

I guess I will knit a second one - with the colors mirror-inverted and see what they look like on my feet. 

 

What's more, I even have an idea for a name (usually my weak point :) ... So I might publish the pattern soon.

 

Sideways Yoga Socks

I love to knit yoga socks … they are comfy to wear and can even be used to warm the feet a bit in summer ... when you tend to have cold feet, but still want the feeling walking barefoot (sort of).

As a challenge to myself, I wanted to knit them flat, but without cutting the yarn while knitting one socks. This pattern is what I came up with. 

So if you don't like to knit in the round, this pattern is for you :)

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.





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Materials

• about 25 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 3 knitting needles (3mm), it’s best to use double pointed needles (e.g. one circular and one straight needle)
• a tapestry needle for grafting and to weave in ends
• scrap yarn for crochet provisional CO
• a crochet hook for crochet provisional CO

Techniques

• Provisional Cast-On: My preferred method of a provisional cast-on is the crochet provisional CO – as shown in this YouTube Video
• Grafting: Joni Coniglio has written a series on grafting (“5 Grafting Myths”) on the knitting daily blog. All her post can be found here: http://www.knittingdaily.com/author/joni-coniglio/  ).
  The techniques used here, can be found in this blog post.

Gauge and What to Measure
Before starting to knit measure the circumference of your ankles. You will be asked to knit until you have reached half of that circumference.

As to the width of your stitches, I had 13 stitches to 5 cm. However, this is one of the cases where knitting a swatch is actually more work than casting on “normally” and ripping back after a few rows if the piece is too wide or too narrow.

General Construction

The piece that you knit looks a bit like a Tetris piece ... however, you'll never see it flat and complete, because one edge is grafted to another before the piece is finished.

The picture below shows the general construction. You start with half of the intended lenght of the sock (for me this was about 7.5 cm - or 18 stitches for the first provisional CO).
Then you knit half of the sock's circumference in horizontal ribs and afterwards provisionally CO the other half of the intended stitches. The part that is knitted next is used to cover the back of the foot and the front part of your ankles (wide part in the middle).
When this is finished, the first provisional CO is grafted to the upper stitches creating the first tube of your sock.
Then you continue in another narrow strip of horizontal ribs and finish with a second graft to complete the second part of the tube.

The photo below shows how the finished socks look when they are lying flat.



Instructions

With scrap yarn provisionally CO 18 sts

Row 0: k all stitches, but leave a tail long enough to graft your stitches (one meter is more than enough)

Row 1 (RS): sl1 p-wise, p to end
Row 2 (WS): sl1 k-wise, p to end
Row 3 (RS): sl1 k-wise, k to end
Row 4 (WS): sl1 p-wise, k to end

Repeat rows 1 to 4 until the piece is as high as half of your ankle circumference. End with a row 4. Count the number of pattern repeats you have knitted, this number will be called A.
Note: since this pattern is very stretchy, I’d recommend stretching the piece while measuring it.

With a second piece of scrap yarn and another needle, provisionally CO 18 stitches. Then continue knitting row 4 over the 18 newly cast-on stitches (see pictures 1 and 2).

Continue knitting rows 1 to 4 A times, i.e. the same amount of times you knitted it during the narrow part in the beginning, but end with row 2 of the last repeat.

Now it’s time for the first graft. Slip your working needle to the side without your working yarn. This will be your front needle.

Capture the stitches from the first provisional CO on a needle – this will be your back needle (see pictures 3 and 4). Fold the piece right side out.
With the tail of yarn you left in the beginning start grafting as follows (this is called "Garter stitch grafting (purl ridge row on the front needle and knit valley row on the back needle)"in Joni Coniglio's blog post cited in the Techniques section):

• First stitch: on front needle k-wise through, leave stitch on needles; on back needle k-wise through, leave stitch on needles
• Than repeat: Front needle: p-wise through first stitch on needle, slip it off; k-wise through next stitch, leave it on
• Back needle: p-wise through first stitch on needle, slip it off; k-wise through next stitch, leave it on

Repeat until all stitches on back needle are grafted. There should be 18 stitches left on the working needle.

Slip the remaining stitches back to the other end of the needle (where your working yarn is) and continue with rows 3 and 4 of the pattern.

Now continue repeats of rows 1 to 4 – one time less than A. Knit rows 1 and 2 and start with the second graft.

Capture the stitches of the 2nd provisional CO on a needle – this will be your back needle. Fold piece right sides out. Cut yarn but leave a tail long enough to complete the graft as follows (this is called "Garter stitch grafting (knit valley row on the front needle and purl ridge row on the back needle)" in Joni Coniglio's blog post cited in the Techniques section):

• First stitch: on front needle p-wise through, leave stitch on needles; on back needle p-wise through, leave stitch on needles
• Than repeat: Front needle: k-wise through first stitch on needle, slip it off; p-wise through next stitch, leave it on
• Back needle: k-wise through first stitch on needle, slip it off; p-wise through next stitch, leave it on

Weave in ends. Make two.

 

  

Nikko Summer Crochet Hat

In high summer I tend to get sunburned. Therefore I usually have to shield my eyes and face somehow. Last year I decided to crochet a cotton hat, I bought the yarn ... and put it in one of my stash boxes ...

Another summer started and I - finally - started to crochet a hat. As usual I was too lazy to search for a pattern that fits my size, to swatch and so on. I ended up trying and frogging twice before I got it right. But now, it fits perfectly.

I chose the name Nikko because these kinds of hats remind me of Japan in summer and "nikko" - besides being a town name - means sunlight or sunshine.




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Materials

• yarn (I used about 200 metres of DK weight yarn - 2 skeins of Lang Xenia (a mix of cotton, linen and rayon)
• a crochet hook to match the yarn (I used 3.5mm hook)
• a tape measure
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques and Abbreviations

• Magic ring: A method to avoid the little hole when starting to crochet in the round - the technique is shown in this YouTube video by planetjune.com
• ch: chain stitch
• ss: slip stitch
• sc: single crochet
• sc-inc: single crochet increase; two single crochets into one stitch below
• dc: double crochet
• dc-inc: double crochet increase: two double crochets into one stitch below

How to Crochet a Flat Circle ... and a Hat
A way to crochet a flat circle is to start with a magic loop and 8 sc in the round. In each of the following rounds the stitch count will be increased by 8.
That means that in the 2nd round every 2nd stitch needs to be doubled (e.g. by crocheting 2 sc into the sc below). In the 3rd round every 3rd stitch needs to be doubled, in the 4th round every 4 stitch ... and so on. So when you distribute the increases evenly, in round 2 there is always one stitch between the increases, in the 3rd round there are 2 normal stitches between the increases, in round 4 there are 3 stitches between the increases ... and so one.

For a hat there needs to be a sort of incline, i.e. less than 8 stitches need to be doubled per round, so after the first few rounds there will be more stitches between the increases.

Preparations

Take the following measurements:

• A = the desired height of your hat (you can do that by measuring around the top of your head from about 1 cm into your ear to the same point at the other ear - and then taking half of that distance
• B = the circumference of your head

See also the picture on the right for a schematic.

Instructions
There are two versions of the instructions one really short one that explains the

Really short version

• Crochet a magic ring with 8 sc and close with ss
• Crocheting a circle (as explained above) alternate in crocheting one round of sc and one round of dc - until your piece measures one fifth (1/5) of the desired height.
• Continue alternating sc and dc rounds, but with less increases - calculate the stitches between the increases by multiplying the normal stitch distance by 1.5 until your piece measures three fifth of the desired height.
• Continue alternating sc and dc rounds, but now with a distance between the increases as twice as wide as the distance for a normal circle until your piece has the desired circumference.
• Then continue to alternate sc and dc rounds without any increases until your head has the desired height.
• To crochet the brim, increase every third stitch - still continuing to change each round between  a dc round and an sc round.
• Continue without any increases until the brim is as wide as you like it to be.

Longer Version with Examples and Comments

This example is one-size only - there are explanations to adjust it to your size, and some comments (written in purple) to explain the "thinking" behind this pattern.

Crochet a magic ring with  8 sc and close with a ss.

For the first fifth of the height the hat is worked as a circle,
R1: ch1, sc-inc to end of round, close with ss
R2: ch3, * dc, dc-inc repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
R3: ch1, * sc-in, 2sc repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
R4: ch3, * dc, dc-inc, dc repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[To avoid visible corners the first increase stitch is at a random spot.]

After these four rounds, I had finished one fifth of the height. Adjust the number of rows to the size of your head and your crochet piece.

In order to shape the hat, less increases are worked from now on. For the 2nd and 3rd fifth, the distance between the increases is 1.5 times as high as for a flat circle.

R5: ch1, * sc3, sc-inc, sc3 * sc, sc-inc, sc repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[5 x 1.5 = 7.5 (rounded to 7), i.e. every 7th stitch is doubled, i.e. there are 6 stiches between the increases] 
[To avoid visible corners the first increase stitch is always at a random spot.]
From this point on there may be a few stitches left at the end of your round after you finish your last complete repeat. Just finish the round with sc's (or dc's in even-numbered rounds) and then close with ss
R6: ch3, * dc8, dc-inc repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[6 * 1.5 = 9, i.e. every 9th stitch is double or 8 stitches between the increases]
R7: ch1, * sc1, sc-inc, sc8 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[7 x 1.5 = 10.5 (rounded to 10), i.e. every 10th stitch is doubled]
R8: ch3, * dc5, dc-inc, dc6 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[8 x 1.5 = 12, i.e. every 12th stitch is doubled or 11 stitches between the increases]

Continue in this fashion (increasing according to the formula and alternating sc- and dc-rounds) until you have reached 3/5 (three fifth) of the height of your hat. For me this was the case after the 12th round, i.e. I continued with round number 13. Please adjust this to your size.

From now on you have to measure the hat's desired circumference, once you've reached that, stop the increases and just go on with alternating sc- and dc-rounds until you've reached the desired height.
If you haven't reached the circumference, yet, continue increasing but with an even wider distance between the increases: twice as wide as for a flat circle.

R13: ch1, * sc10, sc-inc, sc15 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[13 x 2 = 26, every 26th stitch is doubled]
R14: ch3, * dc3, dc-inc, dc24 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
[14 x 2 = 28, every 28th stitch is doubled]

Continue in this fashion (increasing according to the formula and alternating sc- and dc-rounds) until your hat has the desired circumference.

Then add alternating sc- and dc-rounds without any increases until your piece has the desired height.
For me this was the case after round 16. Please adjust to your size.

R17: ch1, sc until end or round, close with ss
R18: ch3, dc until end or round, close with ss

When your hat has the desired height, start crocheting the brim. For me this was the case after the 24th round.

To start the brim, crochet a round where every 2nd stitch is doubled.
If this is an odd-number round (i.e. an sc-round): ch1 * sc-inc, sc2 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss
If this is an even-number round (i.e. a dc-round): ch1 * dc-inc, dc2 repeat from * to end of round, close with ss

Continue alternating sc- and dc-rounds (without increases) until you're brim is as wide as you like it to be. I stopped after the 4th brim-round because I ran out of yarn. 

Weave in ends and you're done!