Yarn: Black Sheep Hand Crafts in “Persimmon” (other colors available here)

Pattern: Darjeeling by Cat Bordhi

Notes: As I was knitting this ingenious heel, I thought to myself “this is way too many increases. This is ginormous. This is never going to fit…” but I had seen one other person on Ravelry who had said the same thing but then it wound up fitting her. So I soldiered on. Turned the heel. HAHAHAHA. Ginormous. My husband could fit his foot in here with mine. So, ripping back about half the increases and followed the instructions but with my own count (21 between the stitch markers rather than 33).

So, then, the heel came out a little differently. In fighting with the numbers, I totally spaced on doing the pattern on the bottom part of the heel. I’m sure the knitting police will let me off, though. Jury of my peers, and all.

Yarn: HaldeCraft HandDyed in Chocolate Covered Cherries

Pattern:  Yoga/Dance Socks by Charlene Schurch and Beth Parrott

Notes: These took, like, NO time!

Yarn: String Theory Colorworks Resonance Self Striping in “Fermentation”

Pattern: Fissility by Lorena Haldeman

Notes: worn for the first time on Christmas Day!

Yarn: Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in “Sedona”

Pattern: Roll-Top Bootees by Zoë Mellor

Notes: goes with the Not a Placket Pullover; made for my friend’s baby who is thankfully garganutan, meaning that the things I knitted and fretted over that they had turned out too large… fit fine.

Yarn: Mind’s Eye Yarns, from the March 2011 sock club

Pattern: Kaiso by Judy Sumner

Yarn: String Theory Colorworks in “Resistor”

Pattern: Hypothesis by Lorena Haldeman

Notes: Earlier this year, I started talking with my friend Caitlin, of String Theory Colorworks, about doing a pattern for her self-striping yarns in which the pattern would change every time there was a color change. I thought it would be easy and fun. It was fun, but it wasn’t easy — I wound up charting patterns for twelve different row counts and socks that can be knit in any even number between 60 and 80. The pattern, 14 pages long, was included with her December sock club, of which the colorway is shown above in my pattern photo. In addition, I knitted two other socks as I wanted to be able to test as many of the stitch patterns as I could. Good thing I did, too, because some of them looked good on paper but didn’t turn out well actually in a sock. All in all I think I spent… five months on this sock pattern. I started in June, and I think I finished in October. CRAZY, right?! But it’s all good — I think I came out with a really kick-ass, adjustable, customizable sock pattern.

This pattern will be for sale to the general public in about six months.

Yarn: HaldeCraft HandDyed in “Denali” (a limited edition sock club colorway)

Pattern: Fissility by Lorena Haldeman

Notes: My second for-sale pattern, Fissility, has been tested within an inch of its life! Honestly. I think I knit at least six pairs of these before finalizing the pattern. I wanted to be able to offer two different heels, and two different bind-offs for the cuffs (they are toe up).

One of my favorite sock patterns to knit is a simple feather and fan pattern. It’s easy to memorize, knits up fast, and looks good in both solid and multi-colored yarns. However, all of the feather and fan patterns I’ve found also tend to pull in too much for my feet, and after a few washings my socks have tightened up to the point where they’re uncomfortable to wrestle onto my foot. So I started researching other similar patterns, and after much test-knitting, settled on one of many variations of Old Shale, sometimes also called Old Shell, sister pattern to Feather and Fan. In A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, Barbara Walker writes that no two families in the Shetland Islands knit this pattern in the same way, and after exhausting research on the many different styles, I am inclined to agree.

This pattern has both charted and written instructions.

Yarn: Mind’s Eye Yarns, from the sock club

Pattern: coming in late November!

Yarn: HaldeCraft HandDyed in “Green-eyed Monster”

Pattern: Child’s First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush

Yarn: HaldeCraft HandDyed in “Dogwood”

Pattern: toe-up Old Shale

Notes: these turned out just  a liiiiiitle too big for me, so someone will be getting them for Christmas.