Sometimes a pattern is hard to read at a glance when you are in the middle of juggling five needles while knitting in the round.

So I color code it.

This will be for a pair of socks.

The pattern comes from the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible. If you haven't heard of it before you should definitely check it out. Super dense, it uses about 130 different stitches and hundreds of patterns. This pattern is one of the easy ones.

These socks are officially off the needles, just 4 days before the next surprise sock-along starts.

I’m counting them as done even though all these ends aren’t secured yet:

The toes are supposed to be striped, but I didn’t want to make any more ends to have to weave in, so I just used my variegated yarn. I also included a little pop of bright purple on the bottom of the heel.

Pattern: Delectable Collectible socks

Yarn: lots of different ones, all from my stash

One pair of stocks in 9 days. A personal best.

67 grams of yarn. Size 1 needles. "Strong heel" Barn Toe.

Cast on once, never pick up stitches.

I'm going to call this a winning general pattern. From here I can add some variety like cables.

Link to the pattern: https://ravel.me/paraphernalia This is my first completed project with cabling!

Still chugging along on these socks. The next sock-along starts July 28, so I’d like to have these done before then. Maybe not all the ends woven in though…

Testing the "strong heel" method. No flap, scrap yarn, hole, picking up stitches, Kitchener, or weaving loose ends. This might be my new heel. Available in toe up or top down. It solves every problem with knitting heels.

Cheap, broken yarn test.

#knitting

This is a skein of Red Heart sock yarn. 75% wool and 25% plastic. If it weren't for the fact that it cost me $6 for 6 skeins I wouldn't have picked it up at all. It's trash. I generally avoid Red Heart because even their 100% plastic yarns are scratchy crap.

If you look closely you can see several breaks in the skein that make it impossible to reroll. In the section I have wrapped around it there are four weak areas that will need to be compensated for. In the knitted piece which is all of 60 stitches per row, 18 rows on size 1 needles there were countless breaks and weak spots.

Because this is the top of the sock I had to do a lot of wet joins. Fortunately I am far enough in where I can just double up on strands

And this is exactly what I've come to expect from Red Heart. I have no idea how they stay in business offering such a miserable product.

Oh, and the color scheme is obviously trash too.

I started these socks last August. Then in September I started a new job (in a new career) and didn’t have the mental capacity to work on these socks. They’re Stephen West’s 2025 Surprise Sock Along, and he included everything but the kitchen sink in this pattern.

I just signed up for his next surprise sock, with the first 1/4 of the pattern being released July 28. That gave me the push to want to get these socks finished before then. I highly doubt I’ll get all these ends woven in too, but you never know. Luckily I don’t need as much mental bandwidth to weave in ends as knitting this pattern takes for me.

My socks are done! I have 7g of the blue and 6g of the pink left.

Pattern: Dragon skin socks

Yarn: Bling Your String mystery club - March/April 2026

Now for sock two. The hardest thing in knitting. Afterthought heel. No real pattern was used but I did write it down as I made it so I can repeat it.

I'm tired of buying socks that blow out after a week. I have been hoarding discount sock yarn for years and it's time get it used so I can repair instead of toss.

Still making progress on my socks. I’m planning to knit with the main color until it runs out. If it’s long enough to start the cuff, I’ll switch to the pink and do that.

If I run out of the main before it’s long enough, I’m trying to decide what other color I could use to make a contrast stripe before starting the pink cuff. I have some dark blue but wonder if using a dark color will change the vibe of these socks. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Some progress pictures. All this over one weekend! Used 100% acrylic yarn, medium weight

Work was really busy in May and the first part of June, so I haven’t made much knitting progress. My socks were a little too loose, so I ended up unraveling them and starting again with fewer stitches. Today I finished the heels on both socks. Now all that’s left is to knit around and around (and around) until it’s as tall as I want.

I did get some more hair scrunchies made using leftover yarn - I’m up to 6 finished scrunchies.

I hope I haven't been cross-posting too much today 🙂

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/61821343

Bought this sweater from a local master, but my wife asked to use it for her doll 🙂I really like how it fits on her.

It closes on the back:

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/61821283

I named this doll Helena because her face comes from a Fairy Godmother doll, and the Fairy Godmother was played by Helena Bonham Carter 😅 I found her used at a local market and not in good condition, and gave her a new life by swapping the body for a more articulated one.

The tunic is from a local master. It's so nicely done. I wish I could have such skills.

It has a button on the back:

cross-posted from: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/61820422

Bought from a local master. The stitches are so tiny!

Here a few closeups:

I bought a pack of Hanes socks. Not a single pair lasted more than 8 days.

I've made socks. Big ones. Kilt worthy ones. Weeks of work. But what if I made ankle socks. Ones where you get two socks from a skein instead of three or for skeins per pair?

I have a stash of sock yarn. Some of it is this brown and blue that was popular in 2008 and is, in my opinion, one of the worst color combinations that has ever existed in human history. But it's free.

I have my swatch done. Now to figure out a pattern. Eventually I'll need a darning egg.

Not sure if this is the right community, but I figured knitters would have a good understanding (hopefully) of making yarn from fibers/hair.

I have been collecting my Huskys fur since she was born. just over 4 years now. I have emassed a huge collection of fur. the bag is currently just over 3lbs.

What is the best way to wash this? my intent is to stuff a pillow or two with her fur since it's so plush. I don't want to stick the whole thing in a clwasher/drying since it'll get everywhere and probably break the machine.

How does one successfully wash loose hairs/fabrics before creating yarn? I suspect this is the same process

Ty and here's a photo of the fur for your visual amusement

also, would this be something that knitters would want if I have extra? seems a shame just throwing this plush fabric out

Received a yarn subscription as a combo Christmas/birthday gift - a 50g + a 20g skein of sock yarn every other month. The theme is Saturday morning cartoons and when the Care Bear colorway came I abandoned my Hermoine socks and cast these on instead. Pattern: Dragon skin socks; Yarn: Bling Your String sock in color Care Bear stare

Knit and blocked a swatch for my next sweater, the Argo cardigan. Yarn: Knit Picks Woodland in color hot spring

Finally I’ve been looking for small projects I can make to use up leftover yarn I have from finished projects. I’ve been making these Soho scrunchies for kids I work with, and they’re a hit:

Edit: formatting

Ordered from a local master. Can't help myself, I just like tiny things 🙂 Hand for scale:

Full look:

Ordered from a local master. It's so tiny! Here is my hand for scale:

And my hand even not that big. Some more photos just for fun:

The doll is from Barbie Basics Neutral Kit 001.

Tonight I finally finished binding off my sweater. I still have about 25 ends to weave in and then give it a good soak and block, but I’m planning to wear it to work sometime next week once it’s dry.

Only the 2nd sweater I’ve ever knit and I’m extremely happy with how it came out. Already planning my next sweater project - a cardigan this time.

Pattern: Sunanami pullover

Yarn: Knit Picks Capretta superwash in color eclipse heather

I got my sleeves done Tuesday night, ahead of plan! I bound off a little short expecting them to grow when I block the sweater. Now I’m debating how I want to tackle the hem ribbing because I don’t want it to pull in and I want the ribbing to be neat:

• Option 1: Use the same needle size as the body (US 4) and knit the ribbing inside out or half twisted rib (k1tbl, p1)
• Option 2: Go down to US 3 needles (same as I used for the sleeve cuffs) and block aggressively 
• Option 3: Using the cuffs, find my ribbing gauge on size 3 needles. Then calculate how many stitches I need to increase to get the ribbing section to be as wide as the rest of the body

I’m leaning toward either option 2 or 3

I’d be done with my sleeves this weekend like I wanted except I got into a really good knitting rhythm and made the sleeves about 2 inches too long. The stitch marker shows where I should’ve switched to ribbing for the cuff, and where I had to rip back to.

Thankfully I was able to put in an afterthought lifeline (my first through any lace, which the sleeves have running down the side) and unravel the extra without incident. I’ve now begun the cuffs and I’m hoping to finish both sleeves by this Friday.