Knit Socks with Gate-Inspired Colorwork

I’ll admit to not totally understanding the appeal of fancy knit socks. I enjoy knit socks (both wearing and knitting them), but my socks are generally super simple, stockinette or a basic textured stitch pattern. For me socks are all about warmth and comfort and much less about how they look.

But then I come across a pattern like Palace Gate by Tiina Kuu, and I wonder if I should rethink my position on fancy knit socks.

These lovely socks include colorwork inspired by the gates of Buckingham Palace (they were designed in memory of Quenn Elizabeth II). The rest of the sock has a pretty textured stitch pattern. There’s even a little picot cuff for extra frills.

The pattern uses two colors of sock yarn (choose high contrast colors so the gate really pops) and uses a chart for the colorwork sections. The socks are worked from the top down and feature a strong heel.

The pattern is available in four sizes, ranging from 60 stitches to 78 stitches.

It’s available as a free download on Ravelry, or you can get a pay what you want version from PayHip.

If you’re new to knitting colorwork, you might want to know more about color dominance in knitting. Since the gate is the part you want to stand out, you’d want to work with that color to the left, whatever that means for the way you knit colorwork.

Want more Queen-inspired knits? This collection of Queen Elizabeth II knitting patterns was put together for her Jubilee, but they are still great patterns to stitch in her memory. Or how about knitting a royal corgi?

[Photo: Tiina Kuu.]

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Not too long ago I was seeing a crochet pattern for a glasses holder shaped like a bear all over the Internet. It was super cute, and also useful as a place to put your glasses on your bedside table instead of just throwing them somewhere random.

This project stewed in my brain for a little while and I decided I needed to make a knit version, but I didn’t want to make a bear. If you know anything about me you might know that I’m a cat person, so of course my version had to be a cat.

The base is just a basic little basic worked from the center out to the desired size, then up the sides as long as you want them. Knit some ears and add embellishments to make it whatever kind of animal you want.

The way I figured out to work the base from the center out was to use a crochet cast on, which gives you an easier way to pick up stitches from the back of the cast on than if you worked a more traditional cast on for a knitting project. It’s kind of fun to do things in a different way from time to time.

This little project is adorable if I do say so myself, and even as a plain little basket not made into an animal it’s a cute way to keep your glasses or other little things in one place. I’m tempted to make one for my desk to hold pens or even little little scissors and sewing needles that are always on my desk but somehow always seem to get lost on my desk.

If you need a little holder for your glasses on your table, check out the pattern at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

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