Goodbye, Mister Wobbles

RIP Fluffy Monster

You were always a little scared of my long swishy skirts when I visited your Mummy, but you'd still manage a hello, even if it was from the safety of the hallway!  (And egged-on by the promise of a treatie!)

You brought your own brand of wobbly happiness to our lives, wee man, and you are going to be sorely missed.

mickey: the owner of my wee sis from 08/08 to 22/06/11

Sockalicious Summer Sale

Don't say I'm not good to you!  

From now until June the 30th, when you buy 2 or more patterns from my 6 'to-buy' lovelies, you will get an automatic 25% off the WHOLE TOTAL.

Oh yes!

(Excluding the Bloody Mary pattern, which is available in kit form from Holiday Yarns until the end of October, after which it will be possible to buy the yarn and pattern seperately...) 
Yes indeed, go get your choosing shoes on, and get the patterns you're missing from your collection!

(click on the thumbnails, and you'll be whisked off to the individual pattern pages on Ravelry for further info.)

Click HERE to go straight to the pattern store!

Go on, you know you want to! :D

Update: I had this banner ad running in Ravelry (the one above) - you may have seen it if you've been on the threads in CPaAG or LSG, but sadly I've had to curtail impressions because of only a couple of sales and not enough to cover the ad, never mind make any profit. But keep an eye out on twitter and facebook, plus ravelry, for any new announcements!

Speakeasy

arty-farty pseudo 1920 photo

Well, I have to admit that making this pattern, and knitting up the actual socks has been a LOT of fun, so it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you my new Prohibition Socks!

Neatly bringing together my two current themes of costume through the ages, and booze, these Prohibition Socks, with a gangster pinstripe trouser leg covering a crisp pair of spats (that give a nod towards a neat white hanky triangle shown from the upper jacket pocket) and shiny black oxford brogues, are worthy of Al Capone himself! 

This is a cuff down, afterthought-heeled, seam-footed, be-buttoned sock inspired by 1920’s foot fashion, and the promise of bootleg liquor!

This gangster sock begins with a really cool pinstripe trouser-leg fold-over cuff that looks impressive but is really a very simple slip stitch, 2-round pattern,

which lie over a contrasting set of spats, that appear almost embossed with a triangle pattern that represents the corner of a handkerchief poking out of the suit's jacket breast pocket.  The leg part includes some neat little nupps that pretend to be buttons.

The spats, which include the 'elastic strap' on the sole, continues over the shiny Oxford Brogue toe. (Although, technically, it's a Half-Oxford, but I reckoned it was all getting a little too wordy!)

The construction of this sock is a little different from the norm...

You start off in the round for the fold-down cuff and inner ribbing, then when you reach the place where you add the row of spare yarn for the afterthought heel, you then continue to work on two sides, on the flat, a little like working on two heel flaps, one for the sole, one for the instep upper.

Once you reach the length you need (I measured mine against another sock that had an afterthought heel/short-row heel, as it gives a good indication of the middle of the heel for measuring) you then join the two sides together using mattress stitch or backstitch - or something that gives you a nice flat seam.  (I used backstitch - apologies for dodgy piccie - it's not the easiest thing on earth to photograph one-handed!)

After you have joined the sides together, it's a simple thing indeed to continue in the round with the Oxford toe, and onto the finished sock, via the completion of the afterthought heel.

These socks just make me smile!

And for only $4 (£2.45, €2.80) you can smile too, just by clicking on the buy now link below!  It'll take you straight to the Ravelry buy page. (You don't need to be a member to buy patterns from Ravelry, or to look at the design pages!)

And talking of design pages - you can click HERE for the Prohibition Socks page for further info!  But shhhhh - watch out for the feds!

:D