Toe-Up Socks Done!

I started these socks last week as I was teaching a Toe-Up Socks class at The Tangled Web. I love toe-up socks. And this yarn (Indulgence by KFI) is smoochy - very enjoyable experience. Here's the pattern: Easy Toe-Up Socks.

And now, some thoughts on how matchy-matchy these are. Whenever I used self-striping yarn in the past, I seemed to be able to just start the 2nd sock at wherever the yarn from the first sock left off. I (silently and gently) tsk-tsked students of mine who insisted on making the stripes line up. But of course as always happens when you mock someone or something, you end up doing exactly that thing. My last few pairs of self-striping socks are identical twins. I wind off yarn at the beginning of the 2nd sock so I'm starting at the same place. Like a crazy person!!

And then, look what happened to these socks. I had them all lined up and as I was nearing the end of the 2nd sock, there was a knot! The color pattern was broken up and so the cuffs of these socks are, GASP, different!!! Let it go, Diana!!


I've started a 2nd pair in this yarn and I shall grit my teeth and make the 2nd sock a fraternal twin. I shall not wind off until I come to the same starting point. It will be good for me.

Summer Shell Patterns on Sale!

Whoa, where did I go?! Sorry everyone, local community baseball (my husband's a coach, my son's a player) completely overwhelmed me for the last month. BUT, baseball's done, and now it's back to knitting!

I'm usually gearing up for the TNNA (National Needle Arts) Show this time of year, but we're staying home this year because my son has an important graduation ceremony (from Lower to Middle School - gulp!) that we don't want to miss. BUT as a nod to TNNA, I'm putting all three of my Easy Summer Shell patterns on sale (20% off) for the month of June. Click on the titles to go straight to the website to buy yours now!

V-Neck:

Scoopneck:

Boatneck:

These are the definition of easy summer knitting - knit in the round up to the armholes, easy edging, simple shaping. These shell patterns are written for worsted or dk weight, have a choice of seed stitch or ribbed edging, and have optional waist shaping instructions. And they're all 20% off for the month of June. Go here (they're at the bottom of the page.)

Crafty Monday - Make Your Own Sea Glass Suncatcher!

This is a very particular Crafty Monday post, maybe not applicable to many people, but I think it'll be helpful in showing that you don't need a million tools and a million dollars to make some fun pretty things for your house or for gifts.

Every winter we spend a week out at the end of Long Island, housesitting for my beloved Aunt Jane. We wander on the deserted beach - my husband and son skip stones and play football and I look for sea glass and interesting shells. A typical vacation can produce this:

Until now, I've collected the sea glass in a jar, which I also found on the beach, and it sits in a window of my kitchen.


But I was in a gift store the other day and saw sea glass made into Christmas ornaments. I was going to buy one, but my sensible husband reminded me that we had that jar of sea glass at home, and we should not be spending $15 on something that I could make.

So I went to my local craft store (in the jewelry-making aisle) and bought this:

Red wire for $2.99! This is 8 yards of 20 gauge copper wire. It's fairly substantial but was easily bendable by hand and by pliers. I took a piece of green sea glass, cut a piece of wire about 8" long and simply wrapped it by hand around the glass, leaving about 4" for a hanger and hook. I needed the pliers to crimp up the end and bend the hook. I like a sort of organic, informal look, so I didn't try for any particular pattern, but you could easily manipulate the wire into a more formal pattern:

Done and done! It's hanging in a window in the living room, reminding me of wonderful times on Long Island. At Christmas, I'll hang it on the tree.

If you don't have a beach handy, you can buy sea glass by the bag at most craft stores. And you don't have to use sea glass - you could use a beautiful smooth stone that you picked up on a hike or a family vacation. (We are always picking up stones and rocks on vacation - is that crazy? I hope other people do this too....)

Welcome New Stores!

A hearty Momogus Knits welcome to the following new members of our family: The Yarn Gourmet in South Bend, IN, The Blue Purl in Madison, NJ, Motif Needle Arts in Lynchburg, VA, The Yarn Farm in Findlay, OH, Apple Tree Lane in Clare, MI, Clever Ewe in Ada, MI, A Grand Skein in Grand Rapids, MI, Uncommon Threads in York, PA, Knit N Purl in Marquette, MI, and Knitting Basket in Richmond, VA.

If you're ever in the vicinity of any of these fine shops, please take the opportunity to give them your business. Local yarn stores have been hit hard by the economy and need our business! Big box stores will never be able to replace the selection, atmosphere and incredible customer service that your local yarn store can give you.

(Also, yooooo hoooo, Kathleen Ramseyer! You're a winner! Please email me at info@momogusknits.com!)

Contest Winners!

As always, I was so moved and thrilled by the response I got from you all! Great thoughtful answers, suggestions, tips - you guys rock!

Our winners, who will each receive a fold-up reusable shopping bag and a PDF of the Momogus Knits pattern of their choice, are (drumroll please): Lisa, David (who very graciously asked that his reusable bag prize be reused for another contestant - more recycling!), Debi, Kathleen (Ramseyer - Kathleen - please email me at info@momogusknits.com - I couldn't get a message to you on FB!), Cathie, and Julie.

Here are some of the great tips: Save our Beach has some great recycling and earth-friendly tips at the bottom of their home page.

Composting raw veggies, dumping coffee grounds on your plants, leaving yarn ends out for the birds to use for their nests (love that tip!), using old canning and peanut butter jars to hold craft supplies, decorating old Pringles jars as knitting needle holders (another knitter-friendly tip!) or using them as part of a game, using wax paper instead of plastic wrap - so many great, easy-to-implement ideas! You can review them in more detail on the Facebook page or in the comments in the previous post here on the blog.

Congrats and thank you so much for your (and everyone else's) participation!

Happy Earth Day! Giveaway! (Bags and Free Patterns!)

No sermons here. If you're a breathing human adult, you're aware of the importance of taking care of our dear planet. To push things along a bit, though, I'm having a giveaway! Some details.....

My personal pet peeve is plastic bags. For the past couple of years I've tried to train myself to say, "I don't need a bag," as often as I can. It's difficult at first to remember, but it's amazing how often you don't need a bag. Of course, I live in the suburbs and drive a car, so it's easy to carry things from the store to the car and just plop them on the seat. When I lived in the city and walked everywhere, then you do need a bag, which brings me to.....Giveaway!

I'll pick 5 people at random and they will each get this bag:

AND the Momogus Knits pattern of their choice emailed to them in PDF form (we'll save some trees!) I have a lot of reusable shopping bags, but these ChicoBags are my favorite - they fold up small into their attached pouch and have a clip to hold them to your purse.

Leave a comment here (make sure you add your email address in your comment) or on the Facebook page. Share an Earth Day thought, recycling tip, or nature appreciation, and also which pattern you'd like.

Here's mine: I'm pretty sure I was a tree in my last life. This big old tree in my backyard is like a soulmate for me:

I love looking at it in all seasons, I worry about it in windstorms, I pat it with my hand when I walk by it. Happy Earth Day, tree!

Our Friend, Duplicate Stitch.

As you may or may not know, there are many many ways to introduce colorwork into your knitting. There's Fair Isle or stranded knitting, which I discussed here. There's mosaic knitting, which you can try with this pattern:


There's intarsia, my Lex Luther:


And then there's my dear, dear friend, mighty duplicate stitch.


Duplicate stitch allows you to create one section of colorwork that you would have to knit in intarsia otherwise. No bobbins, no trillion strands of yarn tangling everywhere. It's essentially an embroidery stitch that mimics the look of the knit stitch. Here's how you do it. Start with a graph. You can make your own with graph paper [note: knitter's graph paper is available, but I just use regular graph paper] or use the colorwork chart that comes with your pattern. Cross-stitch and needlepoint charts will work as well, but keep in mind that they do not compensate for the size of the knitted stitch as a chart written specifically for knitting will.

(that's a smiling face, folks). Notice that the design is slightly elongated top to bottom, as compared to the finished result below. That's because regular graph paper is composed of squares, where the knit stitch is more of a rectangle.


Finished result, much shorter vertically than the graphed design.

Here we go. Each block of the graph represents one stitch. Thread some yarn onto a yarn needle. I usually use 12" lengths of yarn. Bring the yarn up at the bottom of the "V" of the stitch you want to cover:


Next, bring the needle through the tops of the V of the stitch ABOVE the one you want to cover:


Bring the yarn through. Don't pull tight. You need very little tension on the stitches. You want the duplicate stitch thread to cover the stitch.


Now bring the needle back into the bottom of the V where you first came up.


Done and done.


It's easy! You can add designs or embellishment after you're finished your garment. It's great for putting initials on kids' sweaters.

Or make up your own motifs - this was for my train-loving son. Please note awesome smoke, which I am very proud of: