Free Pattern Friday – Towanda Socks
Day 9 of Winter – Series 2 Edition
This is part 9 in a 12 part series highlighting designs from our 12 Days of Winter, Series 2 Edition.
Ornaments are meant to be special. Often they are passed down to us. Perhaps they’ve been collected from some treasured place, or maybe they are handmade. After all, what is more charming than lovingly made handmade items?
The Mosaic Ornaments pattern calls for 3 balls (1 of each color) of Deluxe DK Superwash. Though there are seven different mosaic designs included in the pattern, the yarn amounts are enough to make at least 40 ornaments. Quite a bargain, eh?
Each ornament begins by knitting the two sides separately. They are then joined with a three-needle I-Cord bind-off. Sound tough? It’s not, because I’m adding a step that takes this from a three-needle bind-off to just (the usual) two needles. Keep on reading to see how I like to do it!
What I haven’t shown in these images is that the first step is to pick up and knit stitches all the way around each square with the contrasting red color. So that’s where we are at now – stitches have been picked up around each square.
Next, place both pieces with their wrong sides facing together.
What I’m doing now is certainly not absolutely necessary, but I find it makes the process so much easier. With a separate double pointed needle (dpn), first I slide a stitch from the front needle onto the spare dpn.
Next, I slide a stitch from the back needle onto this same dpn.
Keep going, alternating front and back needles/stitches until all stitches from one front and back needle have been transferred to the spare.
Now that the stitches from both needles have been combined onto one needle, all we’re really doing is an I-Cord bind-off, but with one extra step.
Next, knit 1 (the first cast-on stitch), then k3tog tbl (knit three stitches together through the back loops). These three stitches are: the second cast-on stitch, a stitch from the prior front needle, and a stitch from the prior back needle. Slip the resulting 2 stitches back to the working left needle. Then: * K1, k3tog tbl, slip these 2 sts back to the left needle; rep from *
This baby 2-stitch I-Cord is works well to join the sides of the ornament and gives a nice finished look to the project, as well.
Remember, you can find the Series 2 12 Days of Winter patterns on Ravelry!
Masten Cardigan
It seems like autumn weather came overnight in Charlotte. One moment we were experiencing hot, humid temperatures, and today I’m sitting in my office wearing the Northbound Sweater from the Light and Shadow ebook. It’s officially sweater weather!
What better way to celebrate sweater weather than with a new design? I’m pretty excited to share that I contributed the Surprise to the Deep Fall issue of Knitty (link). I’d love to share a little more about this design and its inspiration.
Originally this idea was born from the idea of water, based on a submission call. I was really happy with the idea, so when Amy and Jillian of Knitty gave me the opportunity to explore that idea further, I was thrilled. And so, the Masten Cardigan was born. I chose Deluxe DK Superwash for this project because I wanted it to be light yet warm, hard-wearing yet comfortable against my skin. It’s a great yarn for it, and I know this design will be a favorite for years to come.
The leaning cables that adorn this cardigan are the most prominent feature. I love them! The more I worked on them, the more they reminded me of archival images of timber booms. Time for a fun fact: I used to volunteer at the Pennsylvania State Archives. I loved it – it was quiet, careful work that simply captivated me (not far off from the same thing knitting offers!). Most of my volunteer work involved land records. It included rehousing and preserving old maps, cleaning and organizing photos, and, finally, creating descriptions for those artifacts. Maybe not for everyone, but I certainly loved it. Some of the images I was most fascinated by were negatives I digitized from the lumber industry in northern Pennsylvania; specifically in the Endless Mountains Region. These photos captured the history of the lumber industry there.
Hopefully, you can see why the cables reminded me of log booms. Pictured above is the Susquehanna Boom. You can find more historic photos of the timber industry in Pennsylvania here (link). The cables push into and away from one another, completely covering the sweater.
For color, I went with our gorgeous Deluxe DK Superwash in 856 Teal Rustic. It seems fitting for a water and lumber inspired sweater, right? With that said, as a lover of orange, I couldn’t resist some fun afterthought pockets using 803 Terra Cotta.
Finally – what would a sweater like this be if it didn’t have some wooden buttons? The Masten Cardigan features Summit Buttons by Katrinkle’s Knitting Jewelry, who very kindly provided me with the buttons for this design. With plenty of colors of Deluxe DK Superwash to choose from and plenty of button options to compliment those colors – you’ll be good to go. What are you waiting for? This pattern is free, so get your yarn and cast on today!