Have you ever knit a Princess Sole?

The Crow Moon socks featuring a princess sole and a garter stitch, short row heel

Have you ever knit a pair of socks with a princess sole before?

A Princess Sole is where you purl the stitches for the underside of the sock rather than knit them. This means that instead of walking on the side of the fabric that has the ‘purl bumps’ you instead have the smooth stockinette fabric against your foot.

Some people who have sensory issues with handknit socks find that this type of sole suits them much better. For myself, I don’t normally find it to be a problem except occasionally with a yarn that has a very firm, high twist.

Either way, it is a useful trick to have in your sock knitters bag of tricks. Although I feel as though I should give you fair warning and say upfront that it does mean you’ll spend more time purling in the round than you might like.

Purling the sole stitches is a straighforward practice although it does take a little bit of getting used to, especially if you are a longer term knitter used to doing a traditional sole. And if you have delicate tootsies it might well be worth a try.

Crow Moon Socks

£6.50

The Crow Moon socks are designed with a Princess Sole in mind and have a slipped stitch demarcation between the purled sole and the textured upper part.

Comfort Blanket KAL 2025

I’m delighted to be able to announce that the Comfort Blanket KAL is back for 2025. Starting in 2019 I have run it as an annual event ever since (apart from 2022 when my father died)

The year doesn't seem complete without my most popular KAL event though so without further ado let me tell you what it's all about.

Tell me more...

The Comfort Blanket KAL 2025 is a 4 week KAL which walks you through every step of planning and getting started on your mitered square blanket journey. I say journey because these blankets - typically knit from leftover yarn are generally considered to be long term projects. No one is expecting you to churn out a blanket in 4 weeks - please don't worry.

Instead the KAL is intended as a springboard to get you started, with ideas and inspiration as well as practical tips for planning and construction.

The KAL will start on Monday 31 March and each Monday for 4 weeks you'll get an email with that week's topic. The information will also be available within a dedicated Facebook group where you will be able to hang out with fellow Comfort Blanket KAL'ers and chat about your various projects.

New for 2025

• A Discord group for those who prefer a non-Facebook social media experience

• A daily ‘Coffee Lounge’ thread for general chat about anything and everything

• Weekly troubleshooting (ask me anything) threads if specific help is needed.

Comfort Blanket KAL 2025

£8.50

Why everyone needs a cosy hobby

Suddenly it seems that ‘cosy hobbies’ are big news. You can’t look online or observe the world around you without becoming aware of the fact that quietly introverted hobbies such as reading, gaming and crafting are becoming much more talked about.

And hooray to that I say.

Hobbies such as reading and knitting were definitely not considered cool when I was a teenager. As a socially awkward child who was bullied at school and never really fitted in, books were my refuge and I spent most school break times with a book in my hand. Time at home I often spent knitting or trying to teach myself crochet from books while my classmates were meeting up socially.

During my student years in an attempt to emulate my peers and fit in more I dropped the yarn crafts and the books (apart from those needed for my studies). Knitting was out and hard partying was in. In fact I don’t think I read a book for pleasure during my entire first degree, and the knitting definitely didn’t get a look in.

Looking at my son’s University friends their experience could not be more different from mine. Yes, he is a non-drinker as are many of his friends so I guess it is a fairly self-selected group, and student nightlife is of course still legendary. But there is far less stigma attached these days to announcing that your hobby is something considered to be less than cool. Both of my son’s are gamers (as well as being into sports and other activities) and have a fabulous network of fellow gaming pals at Universities up and down the country. They keep in touch with friends from home via online games as well as making new ones.

Our local café for a more craft-based example, is experimenting with ‘quiet hobby’ nights. You are free to take your quiet hobby of choice - whether it is needle crafts, reading, drawing, gaming (with headphones) and just quietly enjoy your hobby in the company of others. Drinking a hot beverage, relaxing and and enjoying the feeling of being quietly, introvertedly sociable.

My friend went to the last one with her travel water-colour set and reported that there was such a lovely range of hobbies on display, she spent more time seeing what everyone else was doing than working on her own piece.

It honestly sounds like heaven - and as soon as I can persuade myself off the sofa and out of the house past 7pm I will be right there to check it out.

Stopping the scroll

The other very obvious point - and one that seems even more important right now - is that it is really hard to doom scroll when you are engaged in your favourite hobby. Whether you are losing yourself in a book, immersed in your cross stitch or just enjoying the stripes as you knit a sock. The crucial thing is that you aren’t scrolling your way through an endless parade of social media posts designed to capture the attention of your ‘fight or flight’ response and get your adrenaline levels soaring.

Cosy hobbies offer the complete antithesis to this. Pick up your project and your heart rate drops, your blood pressure lowers, you are physically, measurably calmer. Even better, you enter a psychologically beneficial flow state where you aren’t just avoiding the harm that doom scrolling can do, you are taking positive action to improve your mental wellbeing.

All is fine with your cosy world. The real world can wait a while - you have knitting to enjoy.

If you enjoyed this:

How Knitting Can Help You Stop the Scroll

You Can’t Doom Scroll When You Are Knitting

How knitting can help you stop the scroll

Let’s face it - if I could figure out a way to knit and scroll my phone at the same time I probably would have done it by now.

The fact of the matter is that it is near on impossible to scroll and knit a sock at the same time. Unless you are somehow a contortionist who can scroll with their toes. And as my morning yoga sessions with attest, I am definitely not a bendy person.

I have been on a bit of a mission to redefine my relationship with my phone recently. I use it for lots of useful and helpful things - banking, yoga, reading on my Kindle app, texting my mum. But those social media apps are so persuasive, so tempting that before you know it you find yourself 30 minutes later, knee deep in cat videos with a cold cup of coffee at your side.

Helpfully though, knitting has been my saviour.

I’ve been reading a book called The Phone Fix by Dr Faye Begeti and she talks about ‘surfing the urge’.

When you have the urge to open an app - say Instagram - ‘just to check’, she suggests you stop and pause.

You aren’t telling yourself no to opening up the app. You are just saying ‘not yet’, It’s a bit like telling a toddler that they can have the sweets - just not yet.

Then she suggests you find something else to do for 5 minutes, whether that be to read a book, wash some dishes, make a hot drink. You get the idea. The aim is to just distract your brain long enough to make you wonder whether you really want to check out that app or not.

It will come as no surprise that for me, knitting has proved invaluable in this kind of distraction activity. And 90% of the time, if I tell myself I will knit for 5 minutes I end up knitting for far longer than that.

It’s a win win. I get more knitting time and my brain benefits from fewer doom scrolling moments.

2025 - the year of big plans

Snow Moon Socks - my latest sock design

Yes, I know that it might seem a bit late to be wandering in here with my 2025 plans - seeing as how it is now the beginning of February. But despite what the calendar says I never really feel as though January counts.

To me it is a month of extremes. Lots of pressure to deny yourself after the excesses of Christmas - challenges such as Dry January and No Spend Months abound. It can all make social media feel like a very noisy place.

January is generally cold and dark (for those of us in the northern hemisphere) and any sane person is hunkered down like a dormouse. Staying quietly at home, under a blanket, possibly with snacks.

But with the first stirrings of spring (I saw my first snowdrops the other day) usually comes a burst of energy and in true fashion I leapt in with both feet.

I started a podcast - yes - you read that right.

After years of saying I would start a podcast I finally did.

Everyday Knitter Podcast - listen here

The podcast is an extension of the Everyday Knitter community I have been slowly growing on Substack. The platform there makes it really easy to not just use it for newsletters and blog-style posts but also to add audio and video to the Everyday Knitter group there.

If you are new to Substack you might want to check out this piece I wrote about it a while ago: What Can Substack Do For You?

Or you might want to just visit my homepage there and see for yourself what I have been posting. For me one of the best things is that, unlike with a blog platform, it is really easy to leave a comment and you can actually chat with other commenters as well - sometimes whole conversations happen in the comments section which is so wonderful to see and be a part of.

Say hello on Substack

Design Plans

I have also hit the group running with a slightly ambitious plan to release a new sock pattern for each of the new moons of 2025. So far we have already had Wolf Moon and Snow Moon (below) and coming up at the end of February will be the design for Crow Moon.

To make sure you don’t miss out on any new releases - and early bird discounts - don’t forget to sign up to receive my weekly newsletter - click this link to sign up.

And if you do pop over to check our Substack please do wave and say hello. My blog here isn’t going anywhere but I do spend a lot of time over on Substack now as I love how it lets me connect with other yarny and creative folk.

5 good reasons to knit an afterthought heel

Ta - da! Self stripe socks are just so satisfying and with an afterthought heel they are doubly so. These socks are knitted from a Uneek sock yarn kit in the most fabulous brightly coloured stripes - they very definition of addictive knitting as you just want to race through to the next magical colour change.

Have you worked an afterthought heel before? There are a number of advantages to this most impressive of heels:

1. No need to try on until the tube is completed - ideal for travel. No one wants to be whipping off their shoes in public to try on a sock WIP after all.

2. It doesn't interrupt the flow of the stripe.

3. You can get the heel exactly where you want

4. It always looks impressive when you take scissors to the yarn

5. It’s a great opportunity to play with colour and use a contrast yarn. Or to eke out a 50g sock skein by adding contrast heels and toes.

If the idea of actually cutting your knitting is faintly terrifying, let me offer a few words of reassurance. It really isn’t as scary as you might think and with a few simple steps it’s even fun. I have a step by step tutorial for you if you want to have a try - just tap the button below.

You might also be interested in:

How to knit a Super Sock Snake

Super Sock Snake

£3.50