Celebrating 10 Years in Yarn

Clara Parkes at Knitter’s Review has been looking back at the year that was in knitting for 10 years now, and her look back at the past decade in knitting shows how truly far we’ve come in a relatively short time.

Ten years ago was when Knitty got started. It was before Ravelry (and before I took over at About.com Knitting, which sadly didn’t make her highlight reel).

It was before Stitch ‘n Bitch. Before Mason-Dixon Knitting. Before we all knew the Yarn Harlot and wanted to knit a Clapotis (which I still haven’t done).

Back then there was lots and lots of novelty yarn produced by big manufacturers. Now: indie spinners and dyers abound, and tons of patterns are available from independent designers, self-published books, even yarn companies started by knitters. We can chat about them all on Ravelry and build our skills on Craftsy. We are more connected and have more options than even.

I for one am excited to see what the next few years bring and hope it’s more of the same.What do you think about how far we’ve come in the past decade?

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Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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