Didn’t Make it to Rhinebeck? Learn about the “It” Sweater of the Season

The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, known in knitting circles as Rhinebeck, is pretty much the fiber-related gathering of the year. It always falls around my husband’s birthday, so I’ll probably never get to go, but I love seeing pictures and hearing stories from the event.

Kay Gardiner from Mason-Dixon Knitting indulged my desire for Rhinebeck-news when she reported on the must-knit sweater of the season based on her trend-spotting at the festival. She said she saw lots of Birkin sweaters, designed by Caitlin Hunter, and that the design looked great on a lot of bodies and in a range of colors.

Its a top-down, circular yoke sweater with bands of floral motifs on the yoke. The original was worked in pastels, but there’s a black and white version, too, that comes off a lot more geometric and visually striking. It’s all about what you like and apparently this is a garment for many moods.

The pattern runs $7 and is available on Ravelry.

Have you ever been to Rhinebeck? If you were there this year, did you notice this sweater? I’d love to hear all about it!

[Photo: Jonna Hietala via Ravelry.]

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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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