Try Some Different Techniques with These Knit Socks

If you’re a sock knitter, odds are good you have certain methods that you prefer for making socks, such as cuff down on double-pointed needles of toe-up, two at a time, Magic Loop method.

You might like 2 inches of ribbing, a short-row heel and a star toe because you picked those techniques up in different patterns and liked the look of them or the way they were made.

But you probably haven’t tried all the methods, especially since there are still new techniques being developed and surely some yet to be discovered.

Rebecca Wilder has knit more than 100 pairs of socks, and she’s probably tried more techniques than most to come up with her favorite, which she called Chili Pepper. They are worked top-down and use a variation on the Eye of Partridge heel and a spiral rounded toe. If you’re into sock knitting, grab this pattern and see if it becomes one of your favorites, too.

[Photo: Rebecca Wilder.]

Looking for more knitted socks designs and patterns to keep you warm this winter? Check out these knitted sock patterns Etsy. And these Knitting Pattern books on Amazon.

Looking to buy your Yarn online? Check out these online yarn specials.

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

Have you read?