Free Pattern Friday – Hopscotch Socks

There’s nothing better than seeking creativity in all that you do. As kids, it was imaginary lava floors and adventurous explorations of the woods in our backyard. Now, where do we find our inspiration? Well, hopefully, this Free Pattern Friday can offer you a dose of creativity that will lead to something worth cherishing with the Hopscotch Socks!

Socks are a hot commodity in the knitting and crocheting community, and we want to offer an original touch to this accessory that will have you making room in your sock drawer. The Hopscotch Socks, designed by Heather Hill, use our Zesty Sock yarn in the colorway 101 Cupcake to create an exciting next project for you.

Zips of color jump off the creamy white base of this yarn to give it a three-dimensional look and feel. These socks use calming Stockinette stitch throughout, and then each zip of color uses a purl stitch giving the Hopscotch Socks a textured design.

Constructing these socks begins from the cuff down with a heel flap and gusset, where you will use slip stitches with the yarn held in front to give these socks even more durability. The combination of stockinette and purl stitches makes this project great for someone looking to grow their knitting skillset. Socks can be intimidating, but this pattern will walk you through step by step (no pun intended) so that you will have a pair of socks you will wear for years to come!

Now, let’s talk about our featured yarn for the weekend! Zesty Sock is a super-fine weight blend of superwash merino wool and nylon. Each of the six colors of this yarn has a solid base, with pops of zesty color running throughout, creating unique designs you’ve never seen before. Newly introduced for Spring 2023, there is so much you can use our Zesty Sock yarn to craft.

If you’re feeling extra creative, we encourage you to match Zesty Sock with our solids from Uni Merino. Uni Merino is available in mini 25g balls (Uni Merino Mini) which are excellent for contrasting colorwork on small items, or in 100g balls for larger pieces. There are 50 colors to choose from, and its composition is an exact match to vibrant Zesty Sock, making them the perfect pairing for your next project.

This weekend only – save 20% off Zesty Sock!

Thanks for stopping by!

Robert

Free Pattern Friday – Peekaboo Pullover

It’s Free Pattern Friday! Today, the Peekaboo Pullover (pattern link).

A flat lay of a baby sweater hand knitted with Universal Yarn Easel. It is surrounded with chalk in colors that coordinate with the sweater.
Cute and colorful, we especially love how playful the patterning looks in this pullover. Symmetry is overrated!

Sized for babies and toddlers, the Peekaboo Pullover is a simple design with a big impact. Eclectic and playful, self-patterning Easel was designed for socks, but as you can see, it’s wonderful for so much more! Comprised of 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, Easel is soft and machine-washable. As a superfine yarn, it creates a fabric that is lightweight without sacrificing warmth. Plus, with six exciting colorways, you’re sure to fall in love with at least one!

A detail shot of the sleeve and underarms of the Peekaboo Pullover, hand knitted in Universal Yarn Easel.
Simple shaping, garter stitch, and stockinette stitch make knitting this little pullover as easy as 1-2-3!

The Peekaboo Pullover is great for new and seasoned knitters alike. The sideways, cuff-to-cuff construction shakes things up a bit, but basic stitches keep it from becoming overly complicated. This enables you to allow the yarn to do most of the work! My favorite detail is the garter hem, flipped on its side. The denser row gauge pulls the fabric in a bit along the hem, just like K1, P1 Ribbing, but with a bit more of a unique appearance!

A close-up of the patterning and neckline of the hand knitted Peekaboo Pullover.
The Peekaboo Pullover features a square neckline. It’s roomy enough to easily slip over little ones’ heads, too!

It’s inspiring to see all the beautiful things we can create with sock yarns. Too often we can put our yarn into “boxes” about their uses. And while there certainly is good reason to do that, there is just as much reason to try something new, too! Whether you choose to use Easel for this cute little sweater, a drapey shawl (see the Pointillism Shawl), or a classic pair of socks, we know you’ll love working with this fresh yarn!

And with that, I hope you have a wonderful holiday week filled with loved ones, tasty treats, and plenty of time for knitting, crocheting, or perhaps trying a new skill!

-Rachel

Yarn Spotlight: Pix

Have you ever had that moment in a yarn store when you find yourself standing before a wall of stunning sock yarn? Solid-color or variegated – the colorful skeins just call your name. As you stand there, you think about the magic of sock yarn. Each skein boasts generous yardage, so a single skein is plenty for shawls, hats, mitts, cowls, and most obviously, socks! I could go on and on about the wonderful sock yarns we offer. We really have something for everyone, but today I wanted to focus on a perfect, potato-chippy, self-patterning yarn: Pix.

Pix in #108 Techno, pictured with the Happy Magic Scarf.

Pix features a classic sock yarn base: a blend of 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. Both fibers are incredibly durable with just the right amount of bounce and memory. It is a smooth, worsted-spun 4-ply yarn that boasts crisp, well-defined stitches. These characteristics make Pix perfect for hard-wearing accessories. But what really makes this yarn stand out? Well, it’s a self-patterning yarn in a playful array of colors!

Pix Simple Sock shown in #103 Paisley (top sock) and #101 Citrus Slide (bottom sock).

The simplest and most straight-forward way to use Pix is for knitting socks. We prefer a nice vanilla sock because it allows the colorful patterns to shine. Many sock knitters have their own preferences and recipes for plain Stockinette stitch socks, but if you aren’t armed with one, we have you covered. The free Pix Simple Sock (pattern link) is knit in the round from the toe up. It features a classic K2, P2 Ribbed cuff.

Pro-tip: I prefer socks that are sisters and not twins, but if you want your socks to match perfectly you’ll need to wind off the skein so you start the second sock in the same section of the print.

Euphoric in Pix #108 Techno and Whisper Lace #111 Ebony

Socks aren’t the only way to play with this gorgeous yarn. Just take a look at the funky and fun Euphoric scarf (pattern link), designed by Amy Gunderson. This design cleverly pairs Pix with Whisper Lace in #111 Ebony for bold, high-contrast stripes to break up sections of color. The intarsia method is used to create an unexpected, staggered stripe effect. Cute twists of fringe decorate the long edges of this piece. Although it’s pictured with long sleeves above, I think this would be perfect to layer over a simple dress for springtime.

The Happy Magic Scarf in #105 Street Art

The Happy Magic Scarf (pattern link), designed by Heather Hill, magnificently displays how neat the color changes are when you throw in a chevron motif. The stitch pattern is soothing and is easily memorized, making this a great project for unwinding after a long day. This design has been well-loved in the office and by our customers for years now (it was published in 2015!). This one-skein wonder exemplifies just how far 459 yards will take you!

Pix features a palette of 8 fantastic colors – with combinations that include everything from bright and punchy to earthy, soothing, and warm. You’re sure to find a color you’ll love…and I’m sure you won’t stop at one! You can nab some Pix at your local yarn store or on our website. What will you make with it?


Free Pattern Friday – Garden Wall Socks

It’s Free Pattern Friday!
Today, Garden Wall Socks in Angora Lace (pattern link). This one’s a bit of a rare find!
The Garden Wall Socks were previously only available in a long out-of-print publication. What a delight to be able to share them now for free!
Designed by Carol J. Sulcoski, these are knit cuff down, with a heel flap and gusset. We love the trellis effect of the purl stitches in the leg.
Oh, that heel!
Angora Lace is a beautiful choice for this design. Honestly, it was after feeling how soft these socks were that I decided to design the Contented Socks (pattern link) for myself. There are so many beautiful colors, and they’re all cloud-soft. And you deserve something warm and wonderful, don’t you?
Yes. Yes you do.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Happy crafting!

What are we working on?

When I decided to write a blog post today I was planning to focus on my Seamless Leaves pullover, but as I was taking photos, an idea popped into my head – why not share what everyone around the office is working on? I moseyed around the office asking our team about what they’re working on and whether I could take a few quick photos of their projects. Sadly, Yonca and Amy are out today (they surely deserve it after a busy weekend at Stitches West), so their own projects aren’t included.

First up: Seamless Leaves

W

Cottonwood is one of my favorite yarns. It’s eco-friendly and has so many beautiful colors to choose from.

I love so many of the projects in the new collection, Arboretum, featuring projects by the one and only Amy Gunderson using Fibra Natura Cottonwood. Each pattern in the Arboretum ebook is extremely wearable and tempting to cast on, especially when the temperature has been lingering in the 60s and 70s in North Carolina.  I decided that I needed to cast on a Seamless Leaves pullover for myself, and I wanted a basic, black version. Because of my inclination to knit things in deeply saturated colors (especially warm colors), I just don’t have enough neutral garments in my wardrobe. This project is my perfect solution.

I love the lightweight fabric created by Cottonwood. It’s wonderfully smooth and even with stitch definition that makes the raglan details on this pattern shine.

Even unblocked and worked in such a dark color, these details look great thanks to Cottonwood’s superb stitch definition.

Our sales team seems to be having an affair with two-at-a-time socks, toe-up socks.

Left: Krista’s socks in Pix, Right: Katie’s socks in Allegro

Here’s what Krista had to say about her project:

“I’m always working on a pair of socks.  Always.  For this project, I am using one of my favorite yarns, Pix, in the Paisley print.  They’re a plain vanilla pair (nothing but stockinette) using a basic short row heel.  I love how Pix works up in patterns as I’m knitting. This yarn makes a simple project very fun. Socks are perfect on-the-go knitting to keep in my bag.”

Here’s what Katie had to say about her beautiful WIP:

“I enjoy making socks, but I have Second Sock Syndrome and never learned how to do two-at-a-time socks.  Krista helped me with the cast-on and now I am loving it! I was even able to just knit at my daughter’s choir concert last night and didn’t mess up.  Woohoo; progress! I love the elasticity of Allegro. I am using the color Grape Sonata. I decided to do ribbing over the arch instead of just stockinette stitch because I love my store-bought socks with the ribbing on the foot.  We’ll see how it turns out!”

I’m sure they’re going to be perfect! If you’re also a sock knitter, you might be interested in one of our free sock patterns like this one, this one, or this one.

Finally, our social-media extraordinaire (and quite frankly, everything-extraordinaire!), Heather, showed me a deliciously squishy hat knit up in Poems Silk in the Baffin Island colorway. She told me she enjoys a simple hat project when she’s knitting at the movie theater. I have to say, this is always something that impresses me. Whenever I bring knitting to the theater I have the tendency to drop the occasional stitch or insert an unwanted yarn-over. Serious props to those of you who are successful in your endeavors in low-light knitting! Heather’s hat is looking great and we can’t wait to see the finished version.

That’s it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed a little glimpse into some of our projects! We’d love to share more soon.

Let’s Get Happy

Perhaps our most fun pattern collection from this fall is Happy Sock Shawls, featuring 6 super colorful accessories using some of our sock yarns. We photographed this collection in hipster neighborhood Noda here in Charlotte, on a sunny morning this past summer. With such a beautiful smiling model, brightly painted buildings, and vibrant shades, the name “Happy Sock Shawls” was the only title that fit. It’s hard not to feel happy when looking at these images!

Rachel Brockman, our new designer here at Universal Yarn also happens to be an amateur photographer. I think she did an excellent job of capturing this knitwear in all of it’s glory.

The name of each project is a synonym of the word “happy”, all beginning with the letter “E.” I am now kicking myself for this plan of naming because I’m now having a hard time keeping them all straight!

Here’s a little overview of the 6 projects in the collection:

Ecstatic is a crescent/triangle shape, knit from the top down. Instead of having 4 increases every right side row like most triangular shawls, this one has 6, which gives it more of a “swoopy” shape. I like this shape because it sits on the shoulders a little easier than a plain triangle.

Ecstatic is mostly knit in self-shading Poems Sock, with accent rows of Pix. I just love the interest that those Pix stripes create.

 

Energize is a circular shawl knit from the center out. It begins with Pi shaping, and then progresses to having increases that are worked into the lace pattern. It ends with a knit-on border.

I love the way the Poems Sock stripes look in the round, and then sideways on the edging.

 

Exhilarate is a modern and asymmetric take on a traditional log cabin quilt. It’s worked modularly in 4 sections, all worked off the sides of preceding sections. There’s a handy diagram in the pattern to show how it all fits together.

The yarns used are Stanza (one of our striping sock yarns) plus solid colored Whisper Lace.

 

Next up we have another Stanza / Whisper Lace Combo, the Enthuse Shawl. This shawl is knit sideways, and uses the intarsia method to change colors.

I love the color-block effect of this piece. I’m also a fan of the shape – we found at least 5 ways to style it during our photo shoot.

 

Euphoric is perhaps the happiest shawl of them all (okay – it’s a scarf, not a shawl). Worked in easily the most exuberant (hey – another “e” happy word) colorway of Pix, if this scarf doesn’t make you smile, nothing will.

This scarf is knit widthwise with bound-off lace holes, intarsia, and some fun fringey bits at the sides.

 

Last but not least is Elation, using just one ball of shading Poems Sock. This small shawl is knit sideways showing off vertical striping of the yarn. A few stitches are dropped along one side just before binding off to form the loopy fringe.

You can view the full collection on our website here, or on Ravelry here. Let’s get happy!