A new pattern: Rosthwaite

And a good morning to you on this cold and frosty day.

I'm really pleased to be able to share my latest pattern with you today - the Rosthwaite socks.

Rosthwaite Socks: Cuff down with an afterthought heel

This pattern was designed as part of my Sock Design Challenge which I ran in September and invited you lovely readers and members of my Ravelry and Facebook pages to vote on key design elements.

The overwhelming vote was for top down socks with some fun stitch detail and nothing too complicated or stressful, and I really hope that you like the finished product as mych as I do.

As a bit of a change for me I have also worked these socks with an afterthought heel. The more I work this heel type the more pleased I am with it and if you have never tried it, maybe this is the project to start you off.

There are a lot of amazing resources on the web and I highly recommend the following as a good place to start.

The Knit Girllls have a fabulous tutorial: here

And excellent blog posts on the subject can be found here and here.

I really do hope you decide to give them a try. As a thank you for all your support and encouragement I'm offering a 25% discount until Nov 30th, 2014 with the code Rosthwaite.

Happy Knitting

Sock Design Challenge: A final vote

Apologies for the delay but I am pleased to be able to show you the sample for this challenge sock and also to ask you to vote one final time on a name for the pattern.

The names currently up for debate are:

1. Copper Mine
2. Bracken Wood
3. Rosthwaite
4. An other?

As you can tell, my name choices are skewed by my recent trip to the Lake District. The yarn colour really reminds me of barley sugar sweets but that name is already used :)

Seriously, please do vote and let me know what you think or feel free to suggest one of your own - in the true spirit of this challenge.

Sock design challenge: An Update

It may all have gone a little quiet but please rest assured that I am beavering away behind the scenes to bring you a snazzy and fun new cable pattern in time for some super-organised gift knitting in November and December.

I have tried to be faithful to the choices of the majority and so we have a cabled sock with a really effective but very simple repeat. We have it as a cuff down version (although you die-hard toe-uppers) could easily modify it and we have a fun alternative heel which might be something you haven't tried before.

The pattern will also include directions for a regular heel flap and gusset in case your nerves fail you at the last minute or in case you are up against a gift deadline and just want to power on through with your tried and tested method.

The pattern testing will be underway very shortly and my cunning plan is to release the pattern in early November.

Before that though, I will need to find a name for this design and so it seems only fitting that I turn to you for the final vote on this. I am putting together the shortlist and then I'll be asking you to vote once more for your favourite.


Back soon

xx

Sock Design Challenge: Work begins

Thank you all so much for your votes and participation over the last month. It's been really great to get so much feedback and I'm very much hoping that I can take all that valuable feedback and use it to create a sock pattern that you will really like and that you will want to knit.

I've cleared the needles, browsed my stitch dictionaries and chosen the yarn. So, this afternoon I sit down with a pencil and chart paper to get cracking.

Mmmmmmm....cables....my favourite :)

Back soon
xx

Sock design challenge: Week 4

So, it looks as though you would like a little bit more adventure in the heel department. The 'something different' option won by quite a margin.

We are looking at a unisex sock with a simple, easy to memorise cable repeat and something a little out of the ordinary for the heel. It's a good job I have been doing my homework and have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I have left the most difficult question until last.

Most of my designs I like to offer in both toe-up and cuff down formats but due to the time constraints of this project only one option will be on offer.

So, over to you...

1. Toe-up

2. Cuff down.

Leave a comment below or head on over to the Ravelry group to cast your vote.

Sock design challenge: Week 3

Ooops...

A technical hitch meant that this didn't go out on Monday as expected.

We are on to Week 3 and having determined that you fancy working on a simple cable repeat we are now thinking about heel options.

Would you prefer:

1. Standard heel flap and gusset

2. Short row heel

3. Something different that you might not have tried before

Leave a comment here on over on the ravelry group to have your say.

x

Sock design challenge: Week 2

Just an idea - not giving anything away here :)

The winner of last weeks vote was Cables by quite a margin so I'm guessing that you are up for a bit of workout with these socks.

The next question then is to try and determine how adventurous you are feeling:

Do you prefer your cables:
1. Simple, with a nice, easy to memorise pattern repeat

2. Complex - hit me with the charts - I want a challenge

3. A mixture - a more complex panel with simpler background.

You have until September 15th to decide.

Please either vote here by leaving a comment or over on the Ravelry thread here.

Thank you
x

Sock Design Challenge: Week 1

Welcome to Week 1 of my Sock Design Challenge.

Once a week for four weeks I'll be posting a question about an element of sock design for you to vote on.

At the end of the month I will use your answers to come up with a unique sock design - hopefully one which will be ideal for gift giving - enabling us to have a knit-a-long and produce a fabulous sock gift for someone in the run up to Christmas.

Once we get going we can use the hashtag: #sockdc2014 to keep track of our sockie goings-on on various social media platforms and I dare say there may be the odd prize or two for those who fancy joining in.

You can either vote in my Ravelry group: HERE

Or you can leave a comment below giving your answer as either 1 or 2.

So, for Week 1 a nice easy question...

Would you prefer the main design element of the sock to feature


1. Lace

2. Cables


I'll post the next question on September 7th, so you have a week to ponder.

xx