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]

Waves Socks– Free Knitting Pattern
These cozy Waves Socks are a lovely choice if you want a handknit sock pattern with a little texture but nothing too fussy. The gentle scallop stitch creates a soft wave effect, making them pretty enough for gifting but still practical for everyday wearing. They’re worked in light worsted weight yarn, so they knit up a little faster than fine sock yarn socks too.

Ladies Lace Top Socks – Free Knitting Pattern
These Ladies Lace Top Socks are a sweet step up from a basic handknit sock, with a delicate lace cuff that adds just the right amount of pretty. The rest of the sock is worked mainly in stocking stitch, so it’s a nice project for knitters who are ready to try sock shaping without making the whole thing overly complicated. A lovely handmade gift idea, especially if you use a soft 4-ply sock yarn.

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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