There’s nothing like the post-holidays for crafters: a time to take a deep breath, shift gears, and pick up a project you’ll truly & thoroughly enjoy. No more Christmas deadlines, no more second-guessing sweater sizes... It’s just you & your yarn! So, in honor of your newfound freedom, we’re spotlighting a perennial favorite “process project”: socks!

Especially for those of us in chilly climates (there’s a blizzard warning here in Idaho!), socks represent instant comfort, for both the wearer and the knitter. Just imagine yourself snuggled under your favorite blanket, smiling warmly as a ribbed cuff becomes a stripy leg, or as a stockinette toe braids itself into a cable motif across the foot. Socks are as simple or as challenging as you want them to be-- a rare treasure in the world of fibercrafts.

We’re celebrating socks all month long at our store in Idaho, culminating in our first-ever Sock Night on February 7. Knitters & crocheters all around the world are invited to celebrate along with us on our exclusive knitting community, KnitIdeas.com, on our Facebook page, on our Ravelry group, or right here on our blog. Share your best tip for smooth joins & turned heels, show off your masterpieces, or simply bask in the glory of all that sock yarn!

Ready to start your own pair? You’ll need 3 things: a pattern, a set of needles, and some irresistible yarn.

Pick a pattern... any pattern...

The first step to fab socks is finding a pattern you love (both for the design & for the construction!). Here are some of our very favorites: 

• Knitted Socks book-- An absolutely wild collection of top-down creations, featuring Fair Isles, cables, lace, and even beads
• Pirouette Socks pattern-- Instant gratification knitters MUST try these! Great under slip-on clogs. 
• Knitting Korner Sock I DVD-- Your own sock knitting teacher, on demand 24-7! Nenah guides you through knitting socks on 2 circular needles, one at a time
• The Magic Loop booklet-- An indispensable reference for knitting socks on 1 circular needle, one at a time
• Anna’s Basic Socks-- A great free basic pattern to use as a template for your own custom creations

We’re on pins & needles!

Most sock patterns can be worked in several ways: on double-pointed needles, on a small circular needle, on a long circular needle, or on two circular needles. No matter which style you prefer, we’ve got you covered!

• Magic Loop knitters rave about our Addi needles! Flexible cables & silky-smooth joins will make your project a breeze
• Simplify your sock knitting with these sturdy 9” Hiya Hiya circular needles! They’re one of our best-reviewed products-- 28 perfect scores from customers like you
• Great value & eco-friendly to boot: Brittany double point needles, made in California from sustainably-harvested birch
• DPN lovers, look no further. Treat yourself to these gorgeous rosewood Sox Stix from Lantern Moon! Slicker than traditional wooden needles, but with more grip than metal, these are truly the Rolls Royce of double pointed needles!

And don’t forget, drool-worthy socks start with yummy yarn!

Alpaca Direct carries 12 devoted sock yarn product lines & dozens more multi-purpose yarns, so it’s easy to find the perfect color & fiber for whatever your imagination holds. Best sellers & sure-to-please picks:

• Obscenely soft Misti Alpaca sock yarn in vibrant Hand Paint colorways & deep Tonos Carnaval colorways
• Self-patterning Austermann Step yarn does the hard work for you-- no cumbersome floats or loose ends to tame
• A rainbow of softness & durability: our Cascade Heritage sock yarn. Available in 25 solid colors & 10 handpainted colorways
• Wildly popular Trekking XXL sock yarn has gorgeous self-striping colorways like Mimosa & Margarita Nights
• Treat your feet to luxury with every step: our Unisono yarn is infused with aloe vera & jojoba to pamper your hands as you work & your feet as you wear the finished sock!

Happy knitting, and be sure to show us how they turn out!

If you’re planning an outdoor adventure this winter, don’t forget to take care of your feet! Cold temperatures, dry air & stiff boots work together to wreak havoc on your heels & toes this time of year. Protect your feet from cold, discomfort & blistering with a pair of carefully constructed Dahlgren socks from Alpaca Direct! We stock 3 types of socks designed specifically for cold weather: the Sno sock, the Sno Comp sock, and the Expedition sock. 

For an all-purpose winter sock, the Dahlgren Sno sock can’t be beat. It is a well-balanced sock with padding & insulation right where you want them: under the foot & around the shin. They're available in 3 colors for women and 1 for men.

Serious skiers have got to try the Sno Comp line for pro-level performance. All-over compression promotes blood flow to keep your feet warm without adding any bulk inside your ski boot-- great for progressive stance! And that gorgeous pattern down the side of your calf? They're actually wicking "super highways" to channel moisture up & out of the boot. Plus, they look wicked cool. Two colors for men & six choices for ladies!

On the other end of the thickness spectrum is the Expedition sock, our thickest & warmest Dahlgren sock. It’s an extra tough, extra tall boot sock with added alpaca for maximum insulation. It's your favorite blanket, foot-shaped! Check out the Men's Expedition socks & the Women's Expedition socks from Alpaca Direct.

All three of these socks have Dahlgren’s patented wicking technology, which channels moisture up the sock & away from your foot, keeping blisters at bay. Come feel the difference at Alpaca Direct, your online source for alpaca socks & more!
  

These cute & studious little cabled owls will keep your hands toasty & the textbook pages turning! 

Materials:

• 1 hank Cascade Chunky Baby Alpaca (or 100 yd similar yarn)
• Five US 10 double-pointed needles
• stitch marker
• cable needle
• Four 1/4″ buttons, plus sewing needle & thread

Stitches & Abbreviations:

• dpns— double-pointed needles
• m1— make 1 new stitch by picking up the running thread from the back & knitting it
• c4b— slip 2 stitches to cable needle & bring to back of your work, knit 2 regular stitches, then knit 2 stitches from cable needle
• c4f— slip 2 stitches to cable needle & bring to front of your work, knit 2 regular stitches, then knit 2 stitches from cable needle
• k2tog— knit 2 stitches together
• [instructions]— brackets don’t need any special treatment; they are just to help keep instructions organized

Directions:

Left glove:

Cast on 20 stitches & divide evenly between 4 dpns, being careful not to twist the cast-on. Place marker & join.

• Rounds 1-12: *k2, p2* repeat around (2 x 2 ribbing)
• Round 13:  knit around
• Round 14: *k4, m1* repeat around— 25 stitches in round
• Round 15: knit around

Now, you’ll rearrange the stitches on your dpns to make the counting easier. From the marker, leave 2 stitches on the first dpn. Place the next 12 stitches on the second dpn. Place the next 9 stitches on the third dpn & leave the last 2 stitches on the fourth dpn. The brackets will help you see what happens on each dpn.

• Round 16: [k1, m1, k1], [k2, p8, k2], [k9], [k1, m1, k1]— 27 stitches in round
• Round 17: [k3], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k3]
• Round 18: [k1, m1, k2], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k2, m1, k1]— 29 stitches in round
• Round 19: [k4], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k9], [k4]
• Round 20: [k1, m1, k3], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k3, m1, k1]— 31 stitches in round
• Rounds 21-24: [k5], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 25: [k5], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 26: [k5], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Rounds 27 & 28: [k5,], [p2, k1, p2, k2, p2, k1, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 29: [k5], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 30: [k5], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 31: [k5], [p2, k8, p2], [k9], [k5]
• Round 32: knit around
• Round 33: [k5], [k12], [k9], but don’t work the last 5 stitches on the fourth dpn

Slip the first 5 stitches  of the round & the last 5 stitches of the round onto a piece of scrap yarn & set aside— these will become your glove’s thumb later (10 stitches total). Cast on 1 extra stitch across the gap to connect the remaining stitches in a round, and rearrange evenly on your dpns (22 stitches total).

• Rounds 34 & 35: knit around
• Round 36: purl around
• Round 37: *k2tog, yo* repeat around
• Round 38: purl around
• Round 39: knit around

Loosely bind off the 22 stitches from your dpns.

Slip the thumb stitches back onto your dpns & distribute evenly (you may only want to use 3 dpns here). Pick up & knit 1 stitch in the gap where the thumb meets the body of the glove (11 stitches total).

Rounds 1-3: knit around

Loosely bind off all thumb stitches.

Right glove:

Cast on 20 stitches & divide evenly between 4 dpns, being careful not to twist the cast-on. Place marker & join.

• Rounds 1-12: *k2, p2* repeat around (2 x 2 ribbing)
• Round 13:  knit around
• Round 14: *k4, m1* repeat around— 25 stitches in round
• Round 15: knit around

Now, you’ll rearrange the stitches on your dpns to make the counting easier. From the marker, leave 2 stitches on the first dpn. Place the next 9 stitches on the second dpn. Place the next 12 stitches on the third dpn & leave the last 2 stitches on the fourth dpn. The brackets will help you see what happens on each dpn.

• Round 16: [k1, m1, k1], [k9], [k2, p8, k2], [k1, m1, k1]— 27 stitches in round
• Round 17: [k3], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k3]
• Round 18: [k1, m1, k2], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k2, m1, k1]— 29 stitches in round
• Round 19: [k4], [k9], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k4]
• Round 20: [k1, m1, k3], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k3, m1, k1]— 31 stitches in round
• Rounds 21-24: [k5], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k5]
• Round 25: [k5], [k9], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k4]
• Round 26: [k5], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k5]
• Rounds 27 & 28: [k5,], [k9], [p2, k1, p2, k2, p2, k1], [k5]
• Round 29: [k5], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k5]
• Round 30: [k5], [k9], [p2, c4b, c4f, p2], [k4]
• Round 31: [k5], [k9], [p2, k8, p2], [k5]
• Round 32: knit around
• Round 33: [k5], [k9], [k12], but don’t work the last 5 stitches on the fourth dpn

Slip the first 5 stitches  of the round & the last 5 stitches of the round onto a piece of scrap yarn & set aside— these will become your glove’s thumb later (10 stitches total). Cast on 1 extra stitch across the gap to connect the remaining stitches in a round, and rearrange evenly on your dpns (22 stitches total).

• Rounds 34 & 35: knit around
• Round 36: purl around
• Round 37: *k2tog, yo* repeat around
• Round 38: purl around
• Round 39: knit around

Loosely bind off the 22 stitches from your dpns.

Slip the thumb stitches back onto your dpns & distribute evenly (you may only want to use 3 dpns here). Pick up & knit 1 stitch in the gap where the thumb meets the body of the glove (11 stitches total).

Rounds 1-3: knit around

Loosely bind off all thumb stitches.

Diving in Deeper:

What is with all the brackets?

Yeah, I know… knitting patterns aren’t supposed to look like math textbooks, right? But bear with me here for a minute. If you haven’t started a pair of these gloves, this probably looks super threatening & you can’t imagine how such ugliness could ever be helpful. Here’s the dealio, though: when you reach that part of the pattern, you have your 25 stitches split very strategically across 4 double-pointed needles. The brackets help you see what is happening on each of the 4 needles— they’re just a way to visually break up the round into bite-size chunks!

“Split very strategically?” Want to elaborate a little there?

In my Holly Holiday voice: I thought you’d never ask! While the gunk inside the brackets looks like word soup at first glance, there really is a pattern from round to round. Take a look at the left glove, for example.

• The first & last brackets correspond to the stitches on your first & last dpns. They start off with only 2 stitches each, but increase every other round until they hold 5 stitches each. Then, they sit tight & get knit until it’s time to turn those stitches into the thumb of your glove.
• The second bracket is where your owl will take shape. The written-out directions are hard to visualize, but the chart below might help you see what’s really going on under all that purling & cabling.

• The third bracket is plain-Jane knit stitches, every single round! This chunk of stitches will become the palm of your glove.
• Then, to make your right glove, it’s the same process, just with the 2nd & 3rd brackets switched!

Why the floopy yarn-overs at the end of the glove?

This is a purely stylistic choice that you are, of course, welcome to modify or leave out altogether. From round 37 onward, you’re creating some raised eyelets for the top edge of your gloves. They are there for two reasons: first, to combat the rolling tendency of plain old stockinette stitch, and second, to look classy as hell. Who wants ribbing at the top of fingerless gloves, right?

Finishing:

Weave in ends & trim. Sew buttons into place as the owls’ eyes— the little square of purled stitches marks where they belong. Now slip them on & never choose between cute & smart again!

Ready to turn your screen off & start knitting?

Download Owl Reading Mitts tutorial for a printable version of this post, or

Download Owl Reading Mitts pattern for a no-nonsense printable pattern.

XOXOXOXO, Meg :)

These pretty little gloves were knitted with Cascade Yarns Chunky Baby Alpaca in Cafe Au Lait.

© 2011 Meghan Bosanko

Stuck in a fiber funk?

Join one of our weekly classes to revitalize your knitting & crocheting, practice the tough stuff or learn a brand new craft! All classes are held at our storefront in Hayden, Idaho.

Patisserie Hat series – September 6 & 13 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $18

Nibble a madeleine & sip a latte in style with this slouchy hat.

Skills required: knit & purl in the round

Skills you'll learn: k2tog decrease, yarn overs

The Rena Cowl – September 20 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $10

A customer recommended this lovely cowl & we can't stop making them! Stay warm this fall & stock up for the holidays.

Skills required: knitting, k2tog, yarn overs

Skills you'll learn: knitting in the round on circulars

Learn to Knit – September 27 or November 29 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $10

Ready to take up the needles? Let us be your guides! You'll learn the building blocks of knitting & make a small coin purse.

Skills you'll learn: casting on, knitting, purling, binding off

Leafy Dream clutch series – October 4, 11 & 18 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $18

Combine 3 fibercraft techniques– knitting, felting, & embroidery– to produce a beautiful autumn clutch that's all your own.

Skills required: knit & purl, working in the round

Skills you'll learn: cable cast-on, felting, simple embroidery

Learn to Crochet – October 25 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $10

Learn the basics of crochet & bring home a cute stuffed star!

Skills you'll learn: chains, single crochet, working in a ring, increases & decreases

Magic Loop Workshop – November 1 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $10

Double-pointed needles driving you batty? Don't give up on sock knitting until you've tried the magic loop!

Skills required: knit & purl, basic sock shaping

Skills you'll learn: magic loop method

Beginning Entrelac class – November 8 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $10

Let us guide you through the building blocks of entrelac– the fabulous art of knitting to create a breathtaking woven effect.

Skills required: knit & purl, k2tog & p2tog, ssk, kfb

Skills you'll learn: building entrelac triangles & diamonds

Skating Rink Mitten series – November 15 & 22 – 6 pm - 9 pm – $18

These simple, cute mittens will take you from snowball fights to romantic winter nights!

Skills required: knit & purl, k2tog, kfb

Skills you'll learn: working in the round on double-points

For all classes:

• To ensure your spot, please register for classes at least 5 days in advance by calling or visiting Alpaca Direct at 208-209-7079.  However, drop-ins are welcome if the class is not already full!
• Classes may be cancelled if too few students register. Those who have already registered will be notified of cancellation at least 3 days before the first class session
• Upon registration, you'll receive a list of the materials you'll need to complete the class, including yarn, needles and/or hooks, sewing notions, etc.
• Registered students receive a 10% discount on recommended class materials purchased at Alpaca Direct
• Tuition is refundable up to 5 days before the first class session, but you may only receive a partial refund if you have already used your class materials discount

Visit us at 1016 W Hayden Avenue or call (208) 209-7079 to learn more!

What do you get when you cross a lakeside community, bright sunshine yellow & ocean green yarn, and a Calvin & Hobbes-style sense of silliness? Why, the Dead Fish Hat, of course!

 
You can get 2 balls of Cascade Pacific in select colors-- enough to create a fishy friend to call your own-- for only $8.80 during the month of August (which is kinda nuts, considering Pacific is regularly $6.95 for just 1 ball!).

The moment I saw Thelma Egberts' rather unexpected creation on Ravelry (available for free on Thelma's Dead Fish Hat site & through Knitty magazine), I immediately knew I had to make one. It seems like just the thing to commemorate a joyful summer by the lake (and to make my knitting cohorts cackle with delight).

Perhaps my favorite design element of this truly original hat is the curvy fish lips. The shape somehow manages to evoke the distinctive shape of an actual fish's mouth while still maintaining the cartoonish charm of the hat as a whole. To achieve this effect, Thelma's pattern employs two important elements: stockinette stitch to encourage the edge to roll, and short rows to lengthen the top & bottom of the mouth area (that's what makes the lips curve like a rainbow). I suspect the stockinette element isn't going to blow anyone's mind, but those darn short rows have a reputation for being cumbersome. But fear not, dear crafters; whether you're new to short rows or a seasoned veteran, this hat is well within your grasp!

Short rows are often classed with ordinary increases like make 1 or knit front & back, but I think that it's a mistake to store the idea of a short row in the same mental category as these techniques. Where a regular increase selectively widens your work (turning a row of 12 stitches into a row of 13 stitches, for example), short rows selectively lengthen it.

If you can keep this in mind conceptually, short rows start to feel like exactly what they are: just another way to play with the shape of your knitted work. That said, if this is your first try at short rows or you simply don't feel inclined to think about the "big picture" today, you can really just step through the Dead Fish Hat line by line & do just great.

Take a look at the "Shape Mouth" section of the pattern, and I'll show you what I mean. You've just finished several rounds of stockinette to form the lip, and now it's time to work your first short row. To work row 1, just keep on knitting for 27 stitches like nothing's happened at all, as if you're working another ordinary round. Once you knit that 27th stitch, though, you're going to turn your work over as if it were flat (like a scarf or a dishcloth), and purl back in the direction you came from. Do you see why they're called short rows? They're just like regular rows of knitting, except that they don't extend across the entire width of your work.

To prevent unattractive little holes in your work, the pattern says to W&T at the end of each row, which stands for "Wrap & Turn." This is possibly the only truly new move that short rows will demand of you, but in the immortal words of Douglas Adams, don't panic! Once you've done all the knitting or purling the row calls for, slip one additional stitch from the left needle to the right.

Bring the working yarn around the stitch (if it started in the back, bring it to the front, or vice versa), and then put that slipped stitch back where you found it. See what you did? There's now a cute little yarn lasso connecting your short row to the rest of your knitting! How slick are you?

Very slick indeed.

Now just keep on working, stepping through the rows one by one. On your first pass at rows 1-16, you're making one lip on one side of the fish. Then, row 17 brings you to the other side of the fish, and you repeat rows 2-16 to build the second lip on the other side. Here's a row-by-row chart of what you're doing, starting with the red row at the bottom & working upward in order of rainbow colors:

However, you'll notice that as your work progresses, those nice straight rows of stockinette you started with (the curly lip part) will actually begin to curve to meet the edges of your short rows! Shape-wise, it'll look more like this:

Basically a birds-eye-view of Madonna, circa 1989

Nifty, eh? In fact, if you were to change colors on every row (which I emphatically discourage-- So. Many. Tails...), you'd see something pretty darn similar to the grid above. Remember that the bottom red edge represents a formerly straight row of stockinette stitches from the beginning of the pattern. See how they curve?

A note to those already familiar with short rows, or to those who plan to apply this method in other circumstances: this pattern is unique in that you don't have to do anything special to work the wraps. Very unique, as a matter of fact. That's usually the part that knitters dread the most, but on the Fish Hat, it's quite unnecessary (hooray!). Normally, when you knit across one of those stitches you lassoed previously, you must take special measures to push the wrap to the back of your work. It's a nice way to keep your work connected without that telltale bar across your stitches. But since the Fishy has such cute curly lips, you'll find that all your immaculately-worked wraps never even see the light of day, so my vote is to not stress about it!

Well, folks, there you have it-- a quick introduction to the ever-so-clever use of short rows! Once you've worked the mouth of this hat, you're ready to plug short rows into all kinds of other pieces-- in fact, the great Elizabeth Zimmermann swears by a few of them at the back of a sweater neckline to prevent the bottom from riding up. You're also through the toughest part of your Fishy, too, so double congratulations! If your sense of accomplishment makes you feel ambitious, scoot on over to Thelma's Dead Fish Hat site & look at all the cool things you can do with color in this pattern!

Until next time, blub blub blub (that's fish-speak for "Happy knitting!")!

Visit Alpaca Direct this month to get a swell deal on enough soft, machine-washable Cascade Pacific to create your own funny fishy friend!

"I'll see your merino wool & raise you some alpaca!"

From colorful poker metaphors to colorful polka-dot knee-highs, our conversation yesterday with Kris Dahlgren, President of Dahlgren Footwear certainly stoked my curiosity!

Anyone who's seen (or, better yet, worn) a pair of Dahlgren socks knows they need a bit of introduction & explanation. Why?

Because they look a bit like socks that took fashion advice from microchips.

What I learned from Kris, however, is that not one square centimeter of a Dahlgren sock is arbitrary; every piece is carefully crafted to serve a very specific purpose. Ultimately, each type of sock represents an interlocking web of mechanisms engineered to provide two things: comfort & dryness.

Of the two, it sounds like comfort is much simpler to achieve. As a knitter, I feel like most of this fight can be won with the right fiber & some strategic construction choices. Dryness, on the other hand, takes a little fancier footwork (to use a particularly germane turn of phrase). Think of a soggy bath towel. If you are my neat, tidy husband, your wet bath towel is returned to the towel bar not long after you've finished drying off. Yet, even a few hours later (or, for those in moister climates, perhaps the next day), you can still feel residual moisture hovering inside the towel, even with air actively circulating around. (Worse still, if you are me, your towel tends to land in a dishevelled heap somewhere near the dresser & takes even longer to dry.)

Now imagine how much harder the dryness equation gets when we talk about socks, which are, more often than not, trying to dry off while inside shoes. This conundrum is what much of Dahlgren's construction seeks to remedy.

For example, a Dahlgren sock uses strips of merino/alpaca to absorb moisture around the foot, in tandem with rings of ECO-Dri to transfer that moisture up the sock & out of your shoe. The funky maze pattern maximizes the surface area of each section, boosting the wicking effect by 40% over a traditional build. Our intestines absorb nutrients using a similar principle-- they're long & snaky because that makes for a bigger surface than a more blobby organ like the stomach.

All in all, this extremely thoughtful construction process results in a superior performance sock that outshines even the highest quality straight-merino, which absorbs until it's saturated but no further. Good moisture control improves comfort, prevents blisters, & protects against frostbite. So, if you're ready to sink your tootsies into some gorgeous little portable Rube Goldberg machines for your feet (and if you don't recall what a Rube Goldberg machine is, or even if you secretly do, trust me & brush up with the video below), pay us a visit!

Here at Alpaca Direct, we carry a huge assortment of Dahlgren socks for every occasion: Casual Dress for the businessman on the go, the heavy duty Backpacking line for men or women, the fabulously popular Ultra Light Trail collection for men or women, & many, many more!

Pictured above: Dahlgren Sno Sports Socks for Men or Women. These & many more available at Alpaca Direct!

Named for a pearl mussel that produces freshwater pearls, the Cristaria shrug is a quick, pretty knit shrug that complements formal summer ensembles or casual looks alike. Add beads or pearls for a piece that is truly your own! 

Materials:

• 100 g Cascade Ultra Pima or similar
• US 10 circular needles, 20˝ or longer
• About 25 freshwater pearls (optional)
• About 25 head pins (optional)

Stitch abbreviations:

• yo— yarn over
• k2tog— knit 2 stitches together

Directions &  Hints:

Cast on 108 stitches, leaving at least a 12˝ tail. This will seem longer than it needs to be, but don’t fret! Take a look at the picture to the right. Imagine taking your straight cast-on edge & bending it into the wavy bottom edge of the shrug. That’s why your finished piece won’t be anywhere near as wide as it seems now.

• Row 1: knit across
• Row 2: purl across

Here comes the exciting part: the lace row. This sequence of increases & decreases is what turns a fairly ordinary stitch pattern into something visually interesting (and, in this case, wavy!). During each repeat, you are going to decrease a total of 6 times (the k2tog stitches) and increase a total of 6 times (the yarn overs). So, even though you’re subtracting stitches in some places & adding them in others, your total stitch count at the end of each row should always be the same (108, to be precise).

• Row 3: k2tog 3 times, *k1, yo* 6 times, k2tog 3 times. Place stitch marker. Repeat across row 5 more times.

Phew! Take a step back & congratulate yourself— you just finished the tricky part & I bet it looks like a rat’s nest, doesn’t it? Just remember: you’re taking a wavy row & straightening it out onto your needle, so it really should look a bit confused.

• Row 4: knit across

And that’s really all there is to it! You’ll repeat those 4 rows about 14 more times, depending on how big around you’d like your armholes. To finish, bind off & break yarn, leaving at least a 12˝ tail.

Don't panic when your work-in-progress looks bunchy!

Diving in Deeper:

The lace row sure does have a lot of counting— wouldn’t it be a lot easier to use more markers?

A tempting proposition, no? Normally, I prefer to use markers like big red flags to remind me when it’s time to change stitches. In this pattern, though, the markers are smack dab in the middle of a bunch of k2togs! There is method to my madness (well, this time, at least…). This is an atypical lace pattern in that the increases are all bundled together & the decreases are all bundled together. A more regular (rectangular) pattern usually peppers them across the row in pairs. Because of this, if you plunk down markers willy-nilly, they will actually migrate across the row & mess you up! So, the short answer is that markers are only useful to a point on this pattern. Think of them more as error correction tools— if you end up with anything other than 18 stitches between markers, you know something has gone wrong in that section.

The “short answer?” That didn’t seem very short at all. Out of morbid curiosity, what was the long answer?

Plate tectonics!

Excuse me?

No, really! The stitch markers show you the center of a double-sided stitch “subduction” zone— basically a stitch gobbler. It’s like the stitch markers are hovering over very aggressive black holes that pull stitches in & make them disappear. Conversely, in the middle of each increase section (right after the 3rd yarn over, to be precise) is a “mid-ocean ridge” of stitches— a place where new stitches bubble up to the surface & spread out. If you placed a stitch marker at each of these spots,  you could imagine them hovering over tiny stitch factories, creating new stitches & pumping them outward. The whole row would look something like this:

Which, to me, looks a whole lot like this:

Wow, this is really getting out of hand. Anything else you’ve been dying to get off your chest?

Well, since you asked… The idea for how & where to use stitch markers (as a way to catch & isolate mistakes instead of to tell you when to change stitches) came from the mathematical basis for error-correcting code. Also, the function y(x) = 2.5 cos (2π x/13), with x & y in centimeters, describes each row of this pattern. Whee!

Finishing:

String a single freshwater pearl onto each of about 25 head pins. Trim pin ends & bend into loops. Attach pins at the bottom of the soft U-shaped rows of the center 3 columns of stitches (see picture), or use whatever arrangement strikes your fancy.

Use reserved yarn tails to attach corners of finished piece to create armholes. Weave in ends & trim.

Now throw it over a sundress & go put Audrey Hepburn to shame.

Ready to turn your screen off & start knitting?

Download Cristaria Shrug tutorial  for a printable version of this post, or

Download Cristaria Shrug pattern for a no-nonsense, 1-page printable pattern.

XOXOXOXO, Meg :)

This shrug was knitted with Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima in Heathered Pansy #3705.

© 2011 Meghan Bosanko

May I begin my yarn store blogging career with a confession?

When our general manager, Roxanne, approached me about constructing our summer class schedule, I drove home with eyes wide as saucers, eyelashes fluttering uncontrollably & shoulders tensed up so far I believe I lost sight of my neck. I panicked. Three whole months of summer class projects, you say? By next week, you say?

You see, I, like many other local fiber fiends, had fallen prey to a most pernicious rumor: that, when all's said & done, there's only so much knitting one can do in the blistering heat of an Idaho summer. Brainstorming eight projects anyone might even feel compelled to knit this time of year felt like a task bordering on Herculean.

But the next day, as if the clouds parted and the angel choirs started to sing, appeared my yarn hero of the summer: a shipment of brand spanking new Cascade Ultra Pima, fresh off a mail truck I'm really about ready to canonize. Helping Kristin unpack that box of yarn felt more like unpacking a bottomless box of new ideas, shipped direct from a benevolent gaggle of inspiration sprites.

That's not to say I ended up making every summer sample from Ultra Pima-- actually, only one pima shrug made the cut. What turned out to be best about the pima, for me, was that it catalyzed this flood of ideas about warm weather knitting. Have you ever heard the saying that a single pebble in the right place can divert a whole river? Ultra Pima was my pebble!

Suddenly, the ideas started to flow. Headbands to wear at the Farmer's Market. Bright tie-dye colored beach totes. Something pretty to keep me warm when the wind is blowing off the lake. Crocheted creatures from my summer adventures as a child. And all I needed was a soft, cottony nudge in the right direction.

Ready for a nudge of your own? Alpaca Direct stocks 51 colorways of Cascade Ultra Pima, each one satiny smooth, light as a feather, and machine washable.

Come join us for some great summer projects to get a head start on the upcoming fall and winter holidays! 

We have weekly classes for all skill levels!

Here's a links to our class schedule and montly flyer for you to download:

http://bit.ly/mh5z8v

http://bit.ly/lmTi6z

We hope to see you soon!

The signs are hung, the yarn is unpacked, and the alpacas are looking for new friends-- it must be time for Alpaca Direct's Grand Opening Celebration!

We hope you'll join us between 10 am & 5 pm on Saturday, June 18 at our new Hayden store! Come enjoy free coffee & hors d'oeurves, enter to win fabulous raffle prizes, and meet three of our alpacas. You'll get an exclusive first chance to pre-register for our summer classes, too!

And in case free treats, fuzzy alpacas, and incredible raffle prizes still aren't enough, we're sweetening the deal: all customers at our Hayden, Idaho store will get 10% off their purchases on Grand Opening day! Don't miss this chance to save on your favorite luxury yarn from Cascade, Plymouth, Araucania, Debbie Bliss & more.

Hope we'll see you there!