Knit Holiday Socks for Any Time of Year

While these socks from Mirella Moments are officially called holiday socks, I don’t see any reason why you can’t knit them any time of year.

Sure, with the red and white colors the designer chose, they do have a bit of a candy cane, winter holiday feel. The varying width of the stripes up the leg and a little bit of a chevron thrown in too will keep it interesting to knit (and give you a tiny bit of practice with both reading a chart and working stranded knitting, if those are skills you want to learn).

The toe is simply shaped with decreases to make a round toe, and you finish it off with grafting.

The pattern uses a heel flap and gusset, so it’s pretty easy even if this is your first pair of socks. They are worked from the top down and the designer used a set of five double-pointed knitting needles for their project, but if you have knit a few and know that you like a different configuration of needles you can use whatever you like.

If you haven’t knit socks — or not many socks — before this is a great pattern because it also has a lot of photos to help you along. And you’ll get all the basic skills you need to take on any other sock knitting pattern you might like to try.

These are sized for women, and they would make great gifts, for the holidays or any other time. Mix it up with any two colors you like, or make two pairs with reversed colors for even more fun.

You can find this free pattern on the Mirella Moments website.

And if you’re looking for more easy sock knitting patterns, I have a roundup of easy socks here. Or if you want to knit socks for a guy, check out these men’s sock knitting patterns.

[Photo: Mirella Moments]

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When I first started knitting again after a long absence from the craft (which has now been almost 25 years ago!) I really didn’t like garter stitch that much. I found it super boring, somehow even more boring than knitting stockinette stitch in the round, even though it’s exactly the same thing.

Over the years I’ve softened my opinion, and even grown to like garter stitch. There’s nothing wrong with being plain, and actually the texture of garter stitch is more interesting than stockinette.

Also there are fun things you can do with garter stitch to make it more interesting if you want to, such as adding stripes, working on the bias, or doing fun effects to change the look.

That’s the way with the Bernat Twist My Way Garter Knit Blanket. Using combinations of casting on and binding off creates what they call a Swiss cheese effect along two sides of the blanket. This is a lot of fun in the self-striping ombre yarn they chose for the pattern, but it would also be fun in a solid color or making your own stripes.

Despite the dramatic effect, this pattern is rated easy. It’s worked from side to side (if you consider the “cheesy” edges the top and bottom) and has an eight-row repeat that involves binding off and then casting on again to make the holes. They’re kind of like giant buttonholes.

Once you get the hang of it it’s a pretty easy repeat to remember, and it will be smooth knitting as big as you want to make it.

You can download this pattern from the Yarnspirations website for free, or you can buy a kit direct from them that includes the yarn you need (and knitting needles if you need those, too). Bernat Sport Ombre Twist, which is what is used in the pattern, comes in 12 self patterning colors and is a DK weight acrylic yarn.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

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