Review: 3 Skeins or Less

December 22, 2016 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

I love knitting ebooks because they keep me from having quite so many books on my shelf, but I do tend to forget they exist, which is a shame when it comes to reviewing books, because I often miss ones I wish I’d looked at earlier.

So it is with 3 Skeins or Less by Tanis Gray. I’m glad I’ve given it a look now. It’s full of accessories that use a relatively small amount of yarn, from a bunch of great designers so there’s a lot of variety to be found.

There’s an entrelac lace stole designed by Heather Zoppetti, mitts with a ton of Latvian braiding by Ann Weaver, a mesh-stitch mobeius cowl from Åsa Tricosa, a buttoned cowl bedecked with stripes and an open dot pattern from Kirsten Kapur, even a lace camisole designed by Sauniell Connally.

Some of these skeins are obviously bigger than others, such that three can get you a top, a shrug or a shawl, but there are lots of little projects here, too, including hats, mitts and socks. Check out all the patterns on Ravelry. About half of the patterns are accessories like hats, mitts and socks, while the rest are larger projects.

If you’re the sort of person who buys yarn a skein to two (or three!) at a time without much of an idea of what you want to make with it, this book has a lot of lovely ideas to make for yourself or to knit as gifts.

If you’ve looked at this book or made any of the patterns from it, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published October 2014 by Interweave/F+W. Retail price $24.99.

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Christmas Sock Knitting Patterns

Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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