Pin of the Week: A Simple Stockinette Sock

As you may know I’ve declared this the Summer of Socks if for no other reason than I need to amuse myself. Over at About I’m sharing patterns, books and techniques for knitting better socks, and I recently came across a pin on Pinterest that led me to Susan B. Anderson’s excellent blog post about how she knits stockinette socks.

A plain stockinette sock is as easy as sock knitting gets, and once you’ve done it once it really is easy. But you’ll find yourself coming back to a basic pattern over and over again because you don’t really have to think about what you’re doing, so you can knit them anywhere, and they come together pretty quickly because you’re just knitting round after round.

Stockinette socks are perfect for building your sock wardrobe and for wearing every day. Isn’t that a lovely life goal: to only wear handknit socks? I could get behind that.

In addition to the basic pattern, her recommendations for books and other resources are spot-on, so be sure to read to the end.

[Photo via Susan B. Anderson.]

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

Have you read?