Free Pattern!

What is this curious object??

It is a Marina's Soap Sock, of course! This idea comes to you courtesy of wonderful knittergal Marina, who took my Double-Knitted Felted Clutch Class and then went home and ran with the whole concept of double-knitting. Double-Knitting is a super-cool technique that allows you to knit a tube on straight needles. It's great for small diameter objects (like a Soap Sock!) that wouldn't fit around a circular needle. Marina made Soap Socks for her husband and one for me.

Here she is, displaying her handiwork:


That was the nicest thing a student's ever done for me! It works wonderfully! How did I live my life without Soap Socks for so long? Anyway, serendipitously, my husband suddenly mentioned the other day that he needed something to corral his soap and I immediately thought, Marina's Soap Sock! So I purchased some lovely lime green Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarn (which was surprisingly nice to knit with!) and knocked out a Soap Sock for him. I added a little I-cord loop so he could hang it up thusly:



You probably need to make a bunch of them - one for yourself, of course and then one for every loved one you can think of. You'll be very popular. It took me about a half an hour to knit this. And hey, here's a thought! A couple of years ago, Gus and I made soap. It's so easy you can't believe it - you can buy glycerin in solid form at your local craft store, plus molds and fragrance and dye. You just melt the glycerin in the microwave, stir in some dye and fragrance (if you want) and then pour it into the mold. Voila! You've made soap! Wouldn't some handmade soap and a handknit Soap Sock make a nice gift??!!! You know it would!


Marina's Soap Sock
(fits most bars of soap)

25 yards of worsted weight cotton
#7 needle
spare circular needle size #7 (or any size close)

Gauge: approximately 4.5 sts/1"

Cast on 20 sts. You will now be double-knitting the Sock as follows:
*Knit 1, bring yarn forward between needles, slip next stitch as if to purl, bring yarn to back between needles; repeat from * across the row.

Repeat this row until Sock measures approximately 4" long (or a smidgeon longer than your particular bar of soap). Now you are ready to bind off. Take your spare circular needle and slip the first stitch on the #7 off onto one point of the circular needle (Point A). Slip the next stitch from the #7 needle onto the other point of the circular needle (Point B). Slip the next stitch onto Point A, then the next one onto Point B, etc. Continue this until all of the stitches are now on the circular needle. Bind off until there are 2 stitches left. Work a 4" I-cord, knit last 2 stitches together, leaving a 6" tail. Fold I-Cord in half and sew or knot onto Sock at the base of the I-Cord. Insert soap, give to loved one.

One Ball Wonder? Or not...

I've been trying to come up with a one ball Kureyon scarf. If you are anything like me, you will succumb to the siren song of Kureyon's colory goodness every time it crosses your path. I have an unfortunate tendency to buy only one ball, which isn't good for much. I thought if I came up with the ultimate one-ball scarf, knitters everywhere would shout my name from the rooftops. Not much luck, though.

I wanted to do a lengthwise scarf that would take advantage of Kureyon's stripey goodness. This was my first attempt.

It actually looks better in the photo than it does in real life. The pattern is Seafoam from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury. It's a little narrow, only about 3" wide after blocking, but the length is right, about 60". I may have to sacrifice some length to make it a little more substantial and wider. The pattern is great for a horizontal scarf, but it needs more than one repeat to really look effective and I just can't squeeze that out of one ball. It was a fun process though. Back to the drawing board.