Tag Archives: socks

Favorite New Favorites of 2019

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Best knitting patterns of the year (Bouquet by Junko)

I’m awed every single year when I scroll back through New Favorites to see how many fantastic patterns I’ve posted here, knowing they’re still only a fraction of everything that caught my eye and made me pause in admiration for a moment (or obsess for weeks or months). As is my annual custom, I’ve rounded up my very favorite favorites below — by which I simply mean the ones I personally have the strongest urge to cast on and wear. Each pattern listed includes a link to the post in which it originally appeared, if you want to see what I had to say about it at the time and more of what was featured alongside — or you can scroll through the entirety of New Favorites at any time or just the annual Favorite New Favorites roundups! So much beauty and talent to behold.

MY HIGHEST ESTEEM
In any given year, my absolute favorite pattern is not necessarily the most creative or innovative, and I tend to skew more heavily toward wearability regardless, but in my humble opinion the best pattern of 2019 is equal parts creative/innovative and wearable, above, and that’s Junko Okamoto’s Bouquet Sweater (from Junko’s abstract Bouquet). Her use of RS and WS floats in creating a variety of “bouquets” of flowers that are then asymmetrically scattered across the garment … it’s amazing in the concept and execution, and I have seen several really beautiful examples walking around in the world. I hope in 2020 I may have the courage to make it my colorwork project for the year. (Since I seem to pretty reliably do one per year.)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (sweaters)

SWEATERS
top: Column by Hiromi Nagasawa (from Simple pleasures)
row two, left: Tarn by Claire Walls (from Textured yokes)
row two, right: Eva by Julie Weisenberger (from Eva)
middle: Streaks by Keiko Kikuno (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, left: Escala by Alice Caetano (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, right: ふっくらケーブル模様のセーター by Yokota/Daruma (from Bulky beauties)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (scarves)

SCARVES and COWL
top: Dyyni by Sari Nordlund (from The ones I’ve been waiting for)
middle left: Isadora by Berroco (from Fall warm-ups)
middle right: No-Cable Cable Scarf by Purl Soho (from Cables for the Cable-averse)
bottom: Lierne Cowl by Bristol Ivy (from Amirisu 19, all of it)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (hats)

HATS
top: The Dawn Hat by Brandi Harper (from Holiday hat knitting cheat sheet: 10 skill-stretching patterns)
middle left: Oleander Reversible Hat by Laura Chau (from Texture, please!)
middle right: Hatdana by Denise Bayron (from Head kercheifs)
bottom: Hjarn Hat by Amber Platzer Corcoran (from Stranded purl hats)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (socks)

SOCKS
top: Open Heart by Ainur Berkimbayeva (from Serious sock temptations)
bottom left: Chunky Slipper Socks by Churchmouse (from Simple pleasures)
bottom right: Thaba by Dawn Henderson (from Serious sock temptations)

. . . . .

I should note that my New Favorites picks aren’t always published within the year, and some of these may not have been 2019, but I’d love to hear what your favorites of the year have been!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: “Cables” for the cable-averse

New Favorites: Serious sock temptations

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New Favorites: Serious sock temptations

Right on the heels (har!) of that conversation about how socks are the perfect travel project but I’m not a sock knitter, I’m feeling tempted by socks. No doubt fueled by your comments as well as the extremely cute pair of Harper socks that my friend Jen just finished. Sock temptation happens to me once in awhile but somehow the socks never do. Will any of these make it from my favorites list to my needles?

TOP: Open Heart by Ainur Berkimbayeva are some darling slipper socks

MIDDLE LEFT: Block Party Socks by Dawn Henderson are simple-cute footies

MIDDLE RIGHT: Thaba also by Dawn Henderson are the full sock-knitting commitment, but oh so cute!

BOTTOM: Willard Socks by Alicia Plummer are basically the dense house socks of my dreams

p.s. I’m still working on my India tale for you! I’m a bit swamped, having been gone and then come back right at my very busiest work moment of the year, and I also underestimated the challenge of boiling it down into words! But soon, soon.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Bulky beauties

New Favorites: Sock season

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Does it mean anything, do you think, that the rate at which I bookmark sock patterns has seen a noticeable increase lately? I don’t think I feel any more inclined to knit a pair, but I’m all heart eyes for these: 

ABOVE—

TOP: Near and Far by Hanna Lisa Haferkamp — I honestly don’t know which is more mesmerizing: the cable or the color

MIDDLE LEFT: Celebration Socks by Winter’s Weather Knits — I love the look of these as well as the backstory

MIDDLE RIGHT: Vinr by Andrea Mowry are toe-up, braid-laden, and ribbed on the bottom for a foot-hugging fit

BOTTOM: Year’s End by Veera Välimäki are simple enough to show off a groovy yarn but still interesting enough in the knitting

BELOW—

TOP: Pollen Socks by Annie Rowden are so pretty with allover 1/1 cables (except the bottom of the foot) which I find profoundly pleasant to knit!

BOTTOM: Striped Crew Socks by Purl Soho — I’m always a sucker for their simply striking socks (free pattern)

PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Quick Knits: Cowls

Favorite New Favorites of 2017

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Favorite knitting patterns of 2017

Every December, I go back through the year’s New Favorites posts to see what patterns I had highlighted along the way and which of them I don’t want to lose track of as we head into another year of endless knitting temptations. The best of the best are always the ones I didn’t need reminded of because they’ve never stopped tapping a finger on my brain — I’ve gone back to them repeatedly, thought about yarns and colors and usefulness. This narrowed-down list leaves out so many beautiful and worthwhile patterns (scroll through the whole series to see) but these are ones I can most imagine having on my needles at some point. And by the way, I still want to make every single thing in last year’s list.

TEMPTATION OF THE YEAR
I’m reluctant to call Michele Wang’s simple-but-perfect Charles Pullover (above) the “Best” pattern of the year necessarily, but it’s the one I absolutely cannot get out of my brain, and definitely my very Favorite New Favorite. We’re into the time of year where I want to have on a big cozy turtleneck every single day, and my only one is 15 years old and looking it. So there’s an excellent chance this one will go from Fave to Made. (As seen in Mildly mannish cables)

Favorite knitting patterns of 2017

SWEATERS
top: Massaman by Elizabeth Smith (as seen in Massaman set)
middle left: Galloway* by Jared Flood (as seen in From BT fall/holiday)
middle right: Anker’s Sweater by PetiteKnit (as seen in Banded ribs)
bottom left: Vodka on the Rocks by Thea Colman (as seen in Vodka on the Rocks)
bottom right: Whelk by Martin Storey (as seen in Whelk)

Favorite knitting patterns of 2017

WEARABLE BLANKET
Veronika* by Shannon Cook (as seen in Veronika)

Favorite knitting patterns of 2017

SCARVES
top: Binary by Michele Wang (as seen in Texture by the yard)
bottom left: Facade by Shellie Anderson (as seen in Texture by the yard)
bottom right: Baedecker by Marina Skua (as seen in Baedecker)

Best knitting patterns of 2017

HATS
top left: Bulletproof Aran Hat by Chuck Wright (as seen in Aran-style hats)
top right: Voe Hat by Gudrun Johnston (as seen in From BT fall/holiday)
middle left: Huck* by Norah Gaughan (as seen in Huck)
middle right: Miguel Hat by Rosa Pomar (as seen in Holiday hat mania)
bottom left: The Adrian by Armenuhi Khachatryan (as seen in Adrian)
bottom right: Tincture by Andrea Mowry (as seen in Someday vs Right Away: Mosaic knitting)

Best knitting patterns of 2017

SOCKS AND SLIPPERS
Flaps by Cindy Pilon (as seen in Quickies! aka last-minute gifts)
Hansdatter Slippers* by Kristin Drysdale (as seen in Colorwork slippers)
Hot Chocolate Socks by Irina Dmitrieva (as seen in House socks)
Seamed Socks by Purl Soho (free pattern; as seen in House socks)

I feel like 2018 could be the year I finally knit my first scarf! How about you — what were your favorite patterns of the year?

*Asterisked patterns have been sent to me by the designer or publisher in the interim. I do not request that from anyone, but do feel compelled to note it.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Quickies! (aka last-minute gifts)

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New Favorites: House socks

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New Favorites: House socks

Thoughts of my upcoming Rhinebeck trip have me dreaming of house socks — as is normal anyway for this time of year — for two reasons. One, I’m a little preoccupied with flannel pajama pants and thick socks for wearing around our rental house, which in my imagination is apparently quite drafty. And two, I need a small-scale project to take with me. I’m envisioning myself standing in the long unmoving lines — waiting for a falafel or an autograph — knitting out of the giant pocket of one of my beloved smocks. (I don’t even know what I’m wearing yet, but this is the persistent image in my head!) If it’s a sock I’m working on in that moment, I obviously haven’t made them in time for lounging around le chalet, and really my plan is to be starting a Cline sleeve by then. But regardless of any of that, I am sorely tempted by Andrea Mowry’s lightly textured Marluks (bottom left) while craving the cables of Irina Dmitrieva’s Hot Chocolate Socks (bottom right) and yet actually very close to casting on Purl Soho’s old-school Seamed Socks (free pattern) up top. Minus the fiddliness and plus the trip-worthiness, I can imagine actually completing a pair. The yarn is even sitting quietly in my stash …

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: from the Grannies collection

New Favorites: Kanoko

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New Favorites: Kanoko

On the morning of our first full day at Squam a few weeks back, my friend and cabin mate Mary Jane Mucklestone popped out of her room, declared that she was ready to go, and proceeded to make pretty much every single person at the retreat fall in love with her. In her effortlessly MJ way, she was wearing a sort of prim, navy, polka-dotted shirtdress with her Kanoko Socks and a pair of black Doc Martens boots, and nobody has ever looked cooler tromping around the woods of New Hampshire. (I couldn’t take a photo that did the outfit justice.) This adorable spotted socks pattern of hers had been among my favorites of the many stunning projects in the third issue of Making, the Dots issue, from the moment it arrived, but that was the day I went from admiring them to coveting them, and I may have to knit them, even if I’ll never be as cool as MJM.

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Summer sweaters

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KTFO-2016.20 : Simple house slippers

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FO: Simple House Slippers

Kathy’s been here this week working with me on the holiday photo shoot for Fringe Supply Co. (can’t wait to show you!) and while we were at it, she was kind enough to take these pictures of my latest finished object: a quickly knitted pair of slippers. I needed to be wearing slippers in one of the photos and mine are all a shabby mess — with my big toe having just recently broken through the end of my favorite pair. I’ll come up with a good patch for that when I have a minute to think about it, but since I also needed a break from the endless stockinette of my knitalong sweater, I thought these little quickies seemed like a good idea on multiple levels.

They are the Simple House Slippers from Temple of Knit, which are sort of a relative of the Tootsie Toasters, but much cuter. Going back through those Tootsie Toasters posts (from five years ago!) I was amused to see myself noting that Meg had cleverly converted the vintage flat pattern to in-the-round, and here I am now — as noted last week — converting Simone’s in-the-round rendition back to flat! In addition to that little mod, I also knitted the garter rows to 4.5″ instead of 32 rows, since at my row gauge that reached about to my ankles instead of the front of my foot. I wish I knew what Simone’s gauge is, or what dimension her 32 rows amounts to, in order to know how my version compares in that regard. (Note to self: then knitted to a total length of 8″ before toe shaping.) And on the last row of garter, I increased one stitch at each end to give myself selvage stitches. Since I was really just thinking of these as photo shoot props, I did the seaming pretty hastily and also had knitted them in Shelter, because I had it handy, which is not really a suitable yarn for a slipper. But I really like these little guys, so I’ll either wear them as socks inside my boiled wool scuffs, or maybe put leather slipper bottoms on them. And I’ll definitely be knitting more. Really fun, quick, satisfying and useful.

Pattern: Simple House Slippers by Simone A
Yarn: Shelter by Brooklyn Tweed, in Soot
Cost: Free pattern + one skein of Shelter = $13.25

(Nitty-gritty details on Ravelry)

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PREVIOUSLY in 2016 FOs: Black linen-wool cardigan of my dreams