Free Knitting Pattern: Baby Tubies Socks

I think you all know I have baby knitting on the brain right now, so I couldn’t help but share with you this adorable pattern for baby athletic tube socks from Knit Picks’ independent designer Nona Davenport.

These cuties are worked in white and blue Stroll sportweight, but you could use any colors you like and even make them in more traditionally girl colors if you want. I would love a kid-sized pair for my daughter to wear with her Chucks (which she calls her “fancy shoes;” gotta love that girl!).

You can download the pattern by clicking the link at the upper right-hand corner of the page linked above. It will ask if you want to sign up for the newsletter, but you can bypass that if you want (or already subscribe).

If you like this project, check out other designs by Nona. She’ll appreciate it!

[Photo by Nona Davenport/Knit Picks.]

Specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get, well, knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next.

Looking for more Baby Knitting patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

Lots of craft designers are understandably frustrated about the proliferation of AI “designed” patterns and photos of projects that have no basis in reality. People who don’t know how to tell if a project is AI are often also frustrated when they see a picture for something but there’s no pattern because it’s not real, or they buy a pattern that doesn’t actually explain how to make the thing or ends up looking totally different from the picture.

Some designers have taken it upon themselves to try to make some of those AI patterns that we see online, often with hilarious results.

Katherine Foster was inspired by a famous AI elephant to make what she calls “AIlephant,” which is now a free knitting pattern on Ravelry.

Her prototype uses worsted weight yarn, but you can use whatever yarn you like to make different sizes of elephants.

The elephant features a cable running down the trunk and a different cable pattern on the back. It’s worked in pieces that are joined and stuffed as you go. It uses German short row shaping on the body and includes written instructions as well as a chart for the cable patterns.

Reading through the pattern, it sounds a little fiddly, which makes sense because it was designed to look like a pattern that isn’t real. But it’s doable, as evidenced by the handful of projects you can find on Ravelry. The ears on her version aren’t quite as big and round or maybe don’t sit in quite the same place as the AI version (which if you haven’t seen it there’s a photo of that on the projects page, too). But it’s a pretty honest replica of a dishonest photo, and a really cute elephant in its own right.

If you make this one I would love to hear about it!

You can grab the free pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katherine Foster]

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