Dottie Socks

The last dottie socks I had were a purchase from H&M. I loved them but they just kind of gave up. The heel is worn out and so I decided to knit some new ones. I found a pattern on Ravelry but couldn’t download the pattern. After reading other knitters notes I realized that I wasn’t the only one. And the lucky ones were not satisfied with the pattern. So I quickly wrote one myself. Well, not so quickly, since it was my very first sock pattern. But I enjoyed it and I am happy with the result. In case you also wanna knit some of those for the cold winter days, I am happy to share the pattern: dots dos dots.

Hand puppet – Paul Anchor

I got the pattern for Paul to my birthday from my aunt. A few month before she became a grandmother. Nobody in my family is able to knit or crochet, so it is pretty obvious why I got this present, he?
However, I felt sad for Paul. He was supposed to be a Panda, but these two patches in his face didn’t really make him look like a Panda. So I decided to make some changes and instead of those two eyepatches he got two safety eyes (Of course, they weren’t part of the set as well as the filling). Without the ears he reminded me of a seal, but I wasn`t sure if a kid would like a doll without ears so I added some. But I changed them as well. The ones described in the pattern were just too huge (in my opinion). I followed the instructions of supergurumi instead and finished after the second row. Now Paul is a little polar bear instead of a panda.

I don’t think I would buy such a set. It is so expensive! Especially since you have the eyes and the filling yourself. Sure, they deliver a crochet needle and a tapestry needle, but the latter is of a very low quality. It was bent immediately!

 

Musketeer socks

My second pair of the musketeer socks! This one is for my mom so I had to change some things in order to make them smaller. Instead of 72 stitches I started with 66. Obviously the cuff doesn’t work with a p2 k2 pattern than. I just did it anyway since I don’t mind that the last to stitches will repeat. But for those who care I would advise a p1 k1 pattern. Also the turn heel pattern doesn’t work and so I decided to go for an easy stockinette solution. Everthing else was knitted like in the original pattern. For my mums size I repeated the chart for the leg 4 times and for the foot 4 times plus additionally 4 rows (4 more woulnd’t have hurt, I guess).

knitted red head

Actually I bought this wool to knit the Nine Maidens . This pattern is just so beautiful that I wanted to knit it. But ugh. First I started with another wool which looked terrible with the pattern. My second attempt not successful either. The wool works much better but I just miscounted so often that I was not in the mood to finish the project. You have to concentrate so hard and count every single stitch….nothing for me. Very unfortunate, since I really like the look of the finished examples.

After so much frustration with the Nine Maidens I needed a quick an easy project. The spring beanie is exactly that! Very satisfying! I could have done it within a few hours if it wasn’t for work 😉
I planned it for me since I just love the wool and this dark red color! But after finishing it I just realized that this would be a perfect Christmas gift for one of my friends – it’s just a perfect match for her long black hair.
Luckily I have enough wool left to make another one 🙂

Athos Socks

Finding the musketeer patterns was a lucky hit – I was looking for the perfect christmas gifts for my parents. And there it is! Now I can knit some socks for my parents and me that show that we are a family, without knitting the same socks over and over again.
The Athos socks are for my dad. Therefore I chose some yarn with a little less color than I usually prefer. The pattern is quite simple and so the socks are actually knitted quite fast. I repeated the pattern for the leg three times and for the foot 3 1/2 times.
However, there are two things I would change.
First of all, I would choose smaller needles for the cuff. The pattern is very similar to the rest of the socks. Thus, it is not as tight at the cuffs as I hoped it would be. So please use needles that are one or two number smaller.
Second of all, I would choose another yarn. Usually I love the African Expression Soul Yarns even with quite textured patterns. But here the contrast ist just to big and so gets all the attention. I am a little sad, that you cannot see the pattern immiedately but have to look realy closely to identify it. Hence, a unicolor yarn would have been the wiser choice.
By the way: didn´t need all of the yarn. Still have 22 grams left.