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Knit Socks with Gate-Inspired Colorwork

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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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A Few of My Favorite Things for Knitters

It’s that time of year when you might want to shop for something special for a knitter (or crocheter!) in your life, or when you might want to start dropping hints for someone who might want to buy something for you this holiday season.

Either way, I’ve got just the thing on my list of gift ideas for knitters and crocheters. The full list is over on my blog Our Daily Craft, but I wanted to share a few of the highlights here to get a conversation going about great gifts for knitters.

This year I really want to get some knitter’s barber cord. There are lots of knockoffs of this product out there, but as far as I can tell Handsome Fibers on Etsy was the first to sell it. It’s a flexible cord that you can slip over your needle points (up to size 9 US/5.5mm) so that you can slip on a top-down sweater or a sleeve without having to slip all the stitches onto a piece of yarn, then back onto the needle. I feel like this would save me a ton of time, and they’re just fun besides.

I love a good knitting toolkit that can hold a bunch of tools in one place for your travel knitting kit (or to keep near wherever you knit most often). I’ve got my eye on a Akerworks knitting and crochet kit, which includes a needle gauge, swatch gauge, tiny scissors, a tape measure, stitch markers and darning needles.

And this is one I already have, but I was recently reminded how much I love my set of Fix-A-Stitch double-ended crochet hooks. These short hooks are perfect for picking up dropped stitches, and because they have hooks on both ends you can move the tool around instead of having to flip the fabric when you’re fixing a dropped stitch in garter stitch. It’s honestly the coolest thing and they’re great for fixing stitches in any other kind of fabric, too.

So, you tell me, what did I miss? Do you have a favorite knitting tool or accessory that you think every knitter should have? Tell me about it!

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