A Quick Toe-Up Sock Calculator

Have you ever wanted to knit plain socks for yourself or someone in your family but you aren’t sure how to get started with the math?

Henriette at Eddie’s Room has designed a super sock calculator that does all the math for you to work a toe-up sock in just about any size using Judy’s Magic Cast On.

Just change the sizing in the first box and the numbers throughout the post will update, showing you how many stitches to cast on, when to start the heel turn and how to do it. If you have a shorter foot, or a wider foot or whatever, you can change those measurements or just use the standard measures if you’re knitting for someone whose foot isn’t available for measuring.

Of course you still need to check your gauge with the yarn you are using, as the calculator assumes 26 stitches per 4 inches, or 6.5 stitches per inch. If you’re getting something different you can change the number on the form and it will recalculate for you. Easy peasy.

Have you ever used an online knitting pattern calculator before? I’d love to hear how it worked for you (and Henriette is looking for testers for the adult sizes on her calculator, so if you try it out please let her know).

[Photo via Eddie’s Room.]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

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