Completed Sock

I was really liked the idea of Franken Sock by Janine Le Cras and Yarn Yenta, but I wanted a sock that would better fit my foot and be able to incorporate a vast array of patterns. I haven’t really written a pattern before, so let me know if you have any issues.

Feel free to substitute in your own designs and please do link it to my Ravelry Entry so I know that I helped to inspire you.

P.S. After talking to my mom she asked me why I’d be knitting my second sock to just mirror the first. “Isn’t the point of monster socks that they’re different from each other?” So I’ll be mixing up the colors pretty good when I do sock #2! Though probably using the same patterns here, this time… But next time, who knows!

General Info:

Techniques used: knit/purl, lace, cables, mosaic, kitchener stitch

Yarn: At least 3 different colors of fingering weight yarn (but the less colors you have the more of it you will need)

Gauge: Your gauge will differ vastly as you do different types of patterns. I recommend this for more advanced knitters – knit with needles and yarn you are familiar with to get a sock that fits at 60 stitches.

Needles: This pattern is written for a magic loop circular, mainly because that way you can easily leave stitches you aren’t working with hanging about. I used size 1 but you should use whatever you normally do to get a sock that fits you at 60 stitches.

Cuff

Cast on 60 stitches. I used the yarn I had the most of, which was green.

Purl 1 row.

K2 P2 for an inch (was about 8 rows for me)

Now we do a slightly modified Double Garter border. Feel free to substitute Nancy Bush’s ‘Vikkel’ braid.

Double Garter & Cuff

Purl across, wrapping yarn twice for each stitch

M1

Knit the M1 together with the first loop of the next stitch, wrapping the yarn twice and leaving the second loop on the needle

*Knit the second loop together with the first loop of the next stitch, wrapping the yarn twice and leaving the second loop on the needle.*

Repeat from * until you only have one loop left. Knit that loop.

We use the extra stitch in the lace panel, but if you are substituting your own design feel free to K3 together at the end of the row.

Panel 1

Knit/Purl Panel

This is the knit/purl panel. For me this is green, mostly so I wouldn’t have to cut the yarn from my cuff.

K 20, knitting the two loops at a time to un-double the stitches, turn work

P 20

Work Four Corners 2 times – 38 rows

Panel 2

Cable Panel

This is the cable panel, for which I used purple. If you want to mirror your second sock, you should use this for panel 3.

K 20 from the green cuff (2 loops at a time as before), turn work

P2, K2, P2, K2, P4, K2, P2, K2, P2

Work Box Cable, with extra K2s on each end of the right side (P2s on the wrong side). Then knit rows 1-4 again (38 rows)

Panel 3

Lace Panel

This is the lace panel, for which I used yellow. This should be panel 2 if you wish to mirror your second sock.

K 20 from the green cuff (2 loops at a time), and then knit the extra stitch left over due to the M1 for 21 stitches

Purl across

Work The Vandyke Lace Panel 1 from Lace & Eyelets Harmony Guide (p 99) 6 times. On the right side K2 before and after panel, and just purl the wrong side – 38 rows.

If you don’t have the book I used you can substitute your own lace pattern. Lace Diamond Insertion would work really well because you still need 21 stitches to center it, and you only need to repeat it twice after your purl row to get to 38 rows.

For me, the panels plus the cuff are just about 5 inches at this point. If you have the yarn to make them longer, go for it!

Cut all your colors and prepare for the heel flap!

NOTICE: At this point if you want you can sew up the sides of your panels. If you are insane and want to kitchener stitch for a neat wrong-way-stitch effect, you will probably want to block the panels first. I am lazy so I just wove back and forth between the very edges of the panels. The fabric turned out pretty stretchy and I don’t think it will pucker when I block.

Heel Flap

Heel Flap

Arrange stitches on your needle so that you have 15 of the the knit/purl panel and 16 of the lace panel in back for the heel, and the rest up in front for the instep. Slip the heel stitches to the right needle and turn work to the wrong side.

I had a 4th color to join here but the color for the cable panel will work as well. Join the color to the heel stitches and purl across. Be sure to purl 2 together on the lace panel somewhere to bring the stitch count back to 30.

Continue from row 2 on of Dice Check with the colors from the knit/purl and lace panel (you just did row one).

Do 6 sets of the pattern – 36 rows total (about 2.5 inches for me, slightly stretched. It should block nicely.)

Proceed to heel turn. Use whatever color you want, but I recommend the color for you used on your instep/front/cable panel because we are continuing that design in the gusset.

I noticed that row 6 of this pattern starts with a p2. I believe this to be a typo – it should probably be a k2.

Heel Turn

• Row 1: k17 , ssk, k1, turn.
• Row 2: WS Sl1, p5, p2tog, p1, turn.
• Row 3: RS Sl1, k6, ssk, k1, turn.
• Row 4: WS Sl1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn.
• Continue this way up through row 13
• Row 14: Sl1, p16, p2tog, turn work.
• Row 15: K18

Gusset

Pick up and knit 16 stitches along the edge of the heel flap, and 1 stitch between the heel flap and instep.

K2, K1 through back loop, K2.

Continue on with the Box Cable in pattern starting at row 5 for 20 stitches, with the following changes now that we are in the round:

• Row 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: k2, p2, k2, p2, k4, p2, k2, p2, k2
• Row 12, 14, 16: Purl across

K2, K1 through back loop, K2.

Pick up and knit 1 stitch between the instep and heel flap, and 16 stitches along the heel flap.

Knit 9 stitches across the heel and place marker. This is now the beginning of the round. I like to keep all the heel/gusset stitches on Needle 1 and the instep on Needle 2.

Row 1:

• Knit to last 3 stitches on N1, K2Tog, K1.
• P2, K1 through back loop, P2.
• Continue in box cable pattern for 20 stitches.
• P2, K1 through back loop, P2.
• K1, SSK, Knit to center of heel.

Row 2:

• Knit heel and gusset stitches
• Continue instep in pattern

Repeat these two rows until you are back down to 60 stitches (30 on each needle). For me, this ended at row 11 of the box cable pattern.

Completed Gusset

The Foot

From here I just striped yarn until I got to the toe, trying out different textures and ditching the ones I didn’t like more quickly than the others. Here’s a list of the ones I used.

• Raindrop – I suspect I was doing it wrong; it didn’t show up very good.
• Small Quilted Cross-Stitch – I really liked this one. I think I shall use it in a full sock sometime. Maybe something lightly variegated.
• Lozenge – a cute texture. Tricky to translate to be in the round though. Every even row needs knits changed to purls, purls changed to knits, and then they have to be knit backwards.
• Stripes and Bands – has the added benefit of a neat color transition on the first time around. God, I love slipped stitches

The Toe!

Begin the toe when you reach about 2 inches from the end of your foot (you may want to go to 1.5 if you are using Corn on the Cob for the toe, since the row gauge is shorter).

The center of round begins in the middle of the sole.

Row 1:

• Knit to 3 stitches before end of sole. K2tog, K1.
• K1, SSK, knit the instep to the last three stitches, K2tog, k1
• K1, SSk, knit to end of round

Row 2:

• Knit all stitches

Repeat these two rounds until you have 12 stitches left. Kitchener your stitches together. You’re done!  Now make another one! =D

I guess this is more of a recipe than a pattern.

Finished Size:

After blocking, about 23″.
The pattern should be easily modified for other sizes.

Gauge

In stockinette
3.5 stitches per inch
4.5 rows per inch

Materials Needed

16″ 10.5 circular needle
10.5 circular DPNs
Tapestry or Darning needle for embroidering
1 skien of black yarn
1 skien of white yarn
1-2 skiens of “TARDIS blue” yarns
3.5″ pompom maker

You can do this in bulky or worsted weight yarn. If you do it in worsted, you have to double it (which is how I did the ht shown above). Both Cascade 220 and Nature Spun worsted have good blues for a TARDIS. I used a strand of each in mine.

Directions

Cast on 72 stitches. (For a tighter rib, feel free to cast on less stitches and increase later. You can see after blocking my rib isn’t as tight.)

K1 P1 around for about an inch in blue.

Knit one row around in blue. This is where you would do the increasing up to 72 stitches if you chose that route.

Follow the color chart below for about 3 inches. I did mine in fair isle and unfortunately my tension stank because I’d never done it before. Intarsia would probably work well for this hat, too, but you will have to knit it flat and then kitchener up the side.

Knit 4 rows in blue.

Knit 6 rows in black.

Finish knitting in blue until the hat raises a little bit off of your head.

Switch to DPNs and K2tog tightly around until you have 5-7 stitches left. Pull the yarn through these stitches and finish off. I recommend leaving a long tail because when I decrease this way I get holes in the top of the hat and I like to go inside and sew them shut. It’s worth it because it makes the pompom cuter.

Make a 3.5″ pompom in white (and a bit of blue if you want) to represent the light at the top of the TARDIS. I went out and bought cute little pompom makers, but TECHknitting has a great how-to for doing pompoms using cardboard circles.

Sew your pompom to the top of the hat and weave in ends.

Embroider “POLICE BOX” in the middle four rows of the 6 rows of black using a strand of white yarn. I just delegated 2 stitches per letter and it fit evenly across two “windows” and one blue strip, giving me 3 repeats. Of course if you choose a different size, you will need to recalculate.

That’s it! You’re done and you should post your finish project here or on Ravelry so I can see it!

Recommended Charts for Different Sizes

The chart is built to repeat 6 times, so when you adjust the size you’ll want to do it by 6 stitches. I made charts for this but didn’t test them at all.

• Chart for 78 Stitches
• Chart for 66 Stitches
• Chart for 60 Stitches
• Chart for 54 Stitches
• 48 Stitches – Use 72 stitch chart and repeat 4 times instead of 6 times.

As you make smaller hats you might want to decrease how tall the windows are a bit, and do less rows for the blue and black strips above the windows so they don’t end up wrinkly from the decreases at the top of the hat.

The beginning of this belt has a hole you can use to slip the other end through for a cute and stylish look.

Materials:
1 Skein Lion Suede Mocha
1 Skein Lion Suede Coffee
US Size K Crochet Hook
Tapestry Needle

Abbreviations:
rnd = round
ch = chain
st = stitch
sl st = slip stitch
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
fpdc = front post double crochet (tutorial)

To Begin: With mocha, ch 8.
Rnd 1: dc in 4th ch from hook and in each ch across; 5 dc.
Note: Mark this side as the right side.
Rnd 2: ch 3, turn. fpdc around next dc, ch 1, skip next dc, fpdc around next dc, dc in top of beginning ch.
Rnd 3: ch 3, turn. dc in ch 1 space, ch 1, dc in same space, skip next dc, dc in top of beginning ch.
Rnd 4: ch 3, turn. fpdc around next dc, ch 1, fpdc around next dc, dc in top of beginning ch.

Repeat rounds 3 & 4 until you reach desired belt length. Fasten off and work edging.

Edging: Right side facing, attach coffee with sl st to right corner of end of belt.
Rnd 1: ch 1, 2 sc in same st, sc in next dc, sc in ch 1 space, sc in next dc, sc in top of beginning ch. 5 sc.
Rnd 2-3: ch 1, turn. sc in each sc across. 5 sc.
Rnd 4: ch 1, 2 sc in same st, sc down entire length of belt, 2 sc in corner ch, sc in next 3 chs, 2 sc in beginning ch, sc down entire length of belt, 2 sc in corner sc, sc in next 3 scs, join with sl st to first sc. Fasten off.

Finishing:
Using tapestry needle, weave in loose ends.

http://www.knittingknonsense.com/skullcrossbones.html

As you can see, the image is broken so you don’t know what the dishcloth actually looks like. So I’ve taken a picture of mine with the hopes that it might be useful to someone else. It’s a little hard to see since I use a much bigger size needle than recommended, and the gradient doesn’t help, but it’s better than no picture at all.

I had a lot of trouble finding a crocheted pumpkin fridgie that wasn’t too hard for me to do and actually looked like a pumpkin, so I decided to make one of my own with the following pattern as a base. It’s very simple to do!

Basic Crocheted Flat Circle With Solid Center

Materials:
Orange and Green Worsted Weight Yarn
US Size G Hook
stick-on magnet strip

Finished Size:
About 2 inches in diameter

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
ea = each
rnd = round
sc = single crochet
sl st = slip stitch

To Begin: Chain 2 with orange.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around. Sl st in first sc, to join. (12 sc)
Rnd 3: ch 1, (sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join. (18 sc)
Rnd 4: hdc in next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st, (sc in next 2 sts, 2 sts in next st) 4 times, hdc in next 2 sts. Sl st in last st. Fasten off, secure ends. (22 sts)

Stem:
Attach green with sl st to the sl st in rnd 4 on the pumpkin. Ch 3, sc in second st from hook. Sc in next st, join with sl st in same sl st you attached green to, fasten off, secure ends.

Finishing:
Peel back off of magnet and stick to the back of your pumpkin.

This is actually a combination of two free crochet patterns I found on the internet to make my own black cat that looked a bit more balanced, with some other tweaks.

To give credit where credit is due:
Basic Crocheted Flat Circle With Solid Center
Black Cat Fridgie

Materials:
Black Worsted Weight Yarn
US Size G Hook
Tapestry Needle
Small googlie eyes
stick-on magnet strip
White glue (like Elmer’s)

Finished Size
Body Circle: 1.5 inches in diameter
Head Circle: 1 inch in diameter

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
ea = each
rnd = round
sc = single crochet
sl st = slip stitch
hdc = half double crochet

Body and Tail:
To Begin: Chain 2.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around. Sl st in first sc, to join. (12 sc)
Rnd 3: ch 1, (sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc) around. Sl st in first sc, to join. (18 sc)
Tail: ch 6, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in remaining chs. Sl st in next st on circle. Fasten off.

Head:
To Begin: Chain 2.
Rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Sl st in first sc, to join.
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc around. Sl st in first sc, to join. (12 sc)
Rnd 3: ch 3, hdc in 3rd ch from hook. Sl st in next two sts. Ch 3, hdc in 3rd ch from hoom. Sl st in next st. Fasten off.

Finishing:
Using tapestry needle and loose yarn ends on the head, fasten the head to the body as shown in the picture and secure all loose ends. Stick the magnet on to the back of the cat. Use the white glue to fasten the googlie eyes on to the cat’s head.