Knit Matching Socks and Sweater with Black Cats

I feel like I write about cats a lot, but looking back there don’t seem to me as many posts on the subject as I thought there were. (I did find a cat sweater and a pair of socks to get you started.) I am a sucker for cats in craft projects, particularly black cats, because we have a black cat and a tuxedo cat in the household.

So when I saw the Shadow Socks from The Petite Knitter, I knew I needed to add them to my to-knit list (and share them here!). The socks include two color corrugated ribbing, lots of little bits of colorwork, and a band of black cats standing in front of the moon(s) around the leg.

They’re inspired by a tuxedo cat named Shadow, who you can see in some of the photos.

They’re worked in the round from the cuff down and use a chart for the colorwork and afterthought heels. You can work them with opposite colors on the cuff, heel and toe or make them match if you’d rather.

The socks come in four sizes and the pattern coordinates with Nocturnal, a top down mock turtleneck with the same corrugated ribbing at the neckline and other edges, and the same kinds of colorwork patterns found on the socks.

The sweater calls for DK weight yarn and has a circular yoke. It comes in 10 sizes, with a chest measurement ranging from 36 to 80 inches (or 91 to 200 cm) and is meant to be worn with 4-7 inches/10-18 cm of positive ease.

Both designs use three colors of yarn. The sock pattern is available in English, Spanish and French, while the sweater pattern is in all of those languages as well as Korean.

You can purchase the sock pattern and/or the sweater pattern directly from The Petite Knitter’s website.

[Photo: The Petite Knitter]

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Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

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