Another Sock Idea - Socks with a Butterfly Pattern

Happy new year to all of you!

Over the holidays I stayed at home a lot - and knitted socks. So here's another idea for knitted socks, however this exact pattern only works with a stitch count that is a multiple of 12. These socks are knitted top down with a heel flap.

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

As in my last blogpost with a sock idea, this is NOT a complete knitting pattern, but just a sketch or rather a stitch pattern (over 12 stitches and 12 rows) that can be used for socks. So this only works for socks with a number of stitches that is a multiple of 12.
For socks there are many general instructions and tutorials around, I have linked to some in the Techniques section of this post.


Materials

• about 60 grams of fingering weight yarn - or yarn where a multiple of 12 stitches is big enough to fit around your ankles
• 3mm knitting needles (I used dpns, but a circular needle works as well with the magic loop method) - or needles where the multiple of 12 stitches fits around your ankles
• slightly bigger needles for a looser CO
• a darning needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Knitting a sock top down with a flap/gusset heel on dummies.com or in this 6-Part Series of YouTube videos by VeryPink Knits.
• Cabling or crossed stitches (C2F and C2B) without a needle is shown in this YouTube video by Purl Avenue or this YouTube video by MamasStitchery
• Kitchener stitch to finish the toe is shown in this YouTube video by The Crafts Channel

"Instructions"

With the bigger needles CO 60 stitches and join in round.
With smaller needles start knitting.

Knit 12 rounds of p2k2 ribbing.

Then start with the butterfly pattern (see also chart below):
Round 1: k all
Round 2: * k1, C2B, C2F, k7 repeat from *
Round 3: k all
Round 4: * k1, C2F, C2B, k7 repeat from *
Rounds 5, 6, 7: k all
Round 8: * k7, C2B, C2F, k1 repeat from *
Round 9: k all
Round 10: * k7, C2F, C2B, k1 repeat from *
Round 11, 12: k all

Repeat three times then start heel flap over 30 stitches. Turn the heel. Then knit the gusset while continuing the butterfly pattern in front.

When foot is long enough, do toe decreases and graft leftover stitches with kitchener stitch.

Make two.

This post was featured at the Linky Ladies Community Link Party No. 86. Thank you!

An Idea for Knitted Socks

In this frosty winter weather, nice wollen socks are a comfort for cold feet. That's why I am currently knitting socks, socks and even more socks. I also wanted to try a few different techniques for knitting socks. The helix knitting allows for jogless stripes and is great to use up leftovers of sock yarn that are not enough for a complete pair of socks.

This is definitely NOT a complete pattern, but a sketch or idea for a pair of socks that explains some points to pay attention to when knitting socks with this helix knitting technique.




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


Materials

• about 60 to 70 grams of fingering weight yarn
• 3mm dpns (I usually distribute my stitches on four needles when knitting socks)
• scrap yarn for afterthought heel
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques

• Toe up sock knitting: as explained on dummies.com or in this video by Girly Knits 
• Afterthought heel: Here's a tutorial in three videos by Knit Purl Hunter
• Helix knitting: as shown in this video by Pepperly
• Stretchy BO: for a stretchy BO I usually use this method (as shown by VeryPink Knits), but there are other stretchy BOs as well, e.g. a sewn BO.

"Instructions" or what to bear in mind

Knit a toe in one color and distribute your stitches on four needles. After finishing the toe, skip one needle and start the 2nd color in the middle of the sole side of your sock (see photo on the right hand side).


Knit two needles with the 2nd color, then go back to the 1st color yarn and knit two needles with your 1st color. Switch to the needle where the yarn of the 2nd color is currently and knit two needles from there. Go on alternating between both colors.

For this kind of helix knitting you need a heel that does not rely on rows on the top of the foot. The only heel with this property that I know of is the afterthought heel. Make sure to insert the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel after knitting the two heel needles in one color, i.e. do not insert the scrap yarn for the afterthought heel over a color change.

Then go on with your helix pattern - make sure to end the 2nd color also in the middle of the back of the sock. I used the first color to knit the rib and also to knit the afterthought heel.

Garter Stitch Christmas Gnome

When I recently saw a picture of a felted "Weihnachtswichtel" (Christmas gnome or christmas elf) on social media, I wanted to do something similar in knitting. So I took the general shape of the Little Christmas Tree pattern and added some stranded colorwork.

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





I like the result - even though it took me a while to get the face right - so the first two got a little facelift after the knitting was finished, i.e. I added some embroidery :) The version described in this pattern is the last one I knitted (see picture below). for this one, no embroidery was added.

Materials

• I used old yarn in four colors - mainly red, some white, some beige (for the face) and black for the eyes - I believe it was sports weight yarn; one gnome weighs about 12 grams
• knitting needle that's a bit smaller than the size the yarn calls for; I used 2.5mm needles
• a third needle for a three-needle bind off
• scrap yarn for the provisional cast on
• a crochet hook for provisional cast on

Techniques and Special Abbreviations

• Provisional CO (pCO): My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Short rows with wrap and turn ("w+t"): https://youtu.be/G4GxFvi4KD0
• Three Needle Bind Off: https://youtu.be/Ph93jWSzTa0
• kX (color Y): knit X stitches in color Y

General Construction
Each gnome consist of a pizza-slice shaped piece that is sewn together at the straight sides in the end. The shape is achieved by knitting three parts of garter stitch short rows. Part 1 and 3 are only knitted in one color - part two also has the colorwork for the beard an face.
Before the three needle BO, the piece looks as shown in the picture below.

Instructions

With scrap yarn pCO 24 stitches - this does not include the first row with your working yarn.

Part 1 - all knitted in red yarn
Rigde 1: k all, turn, sl1, k to end
Ridge 2: k10, w+t, k to end
Ridge 3: k16, w+t, k to end
Ridge 4: k8, w+t, k to end
Ridge 5: k14, w+t, k to end
Ridge 6: k4, w+t, k to end
Ridge 7: k20, w+t, k to end
Ridge 8: k12, w+t, k to end
Ridge 9: k2, w+t, k to end
Ridge 10: k18, w+t, k to end
Ridge 11: k6, w+t, k to end
Ridge 12: k22, w+t, k to end

Chart for parts 1 and 3 - click to enlarge

Part 2
Ridge 1: k4 (red),
Ridge 2: k4 (red), k3 (white), k1 (red), w+t, k1 (red), k3 (white), k4 (red)
Ridge 3: k6 (white), k1 (beige), k5 (red), w+t, k5 (red), k1 (beige), k6 (white)
Ridge 4: k5 (white), k3 (beige), k8 (red), w+t, k8 (red), k3 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 5: k5 (white), k1 (beige), k1 (black), 1 (beige), k12 (red), w+t, k12 (red), k1 (beige), k1 (black), 1 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 6: k4 (white), k4 (beige), k16 (red), w+t, k16 (red), k4 (beige), k4 (white)
Ridge 7: k5 (white), k1 (beige), k1 (black), k1 (beige), k14 (red), w+t, k14 (red), k1 (beige), k1 (black), k1 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 8: k5 (white), k3 (beige), k10 (red), w+t, k10 (red), k3 (beige), k5 (white)
Ridge 9:  k6 (white), k1 (beige), k7 (red), w+t, k7 (red), k1 (beige), k6 (white)
Ridge 10: k4 (red), k3 (beige), k3 (red), w+t, k3 (red), k3 (beige), k4 (red)
Ridge 11: k7 (red), w+t, k7 (red)
Ridge 12: k2 (red), w+t, k2 (red)

Chart for part 2 - click to enlarge

Part 3

Repeat part 1

Finishing

Put the stitches from the provisional CO on a knitting needle. Hold the piece rights sides together and do a three needle bind off.
Afterwards, turn the piece right sides out. Use a pen or something similar to get into the top.
If the yarn you used was really soft, you might want to stabilize the tree. You can do this by cutting out a piece of paper or soft cardboard in the shape of a 90° pizza slice (similar to the tree before the three needle BO) and insert it into the tree.
The yarn I used was stiff enough, so there wasn't any need for stabilization.

This pattern was featured on Hooking up on Hump Day Link Party #134. Thank you!