Holiday Gift Eye Candy :)

In my last post, I mentioned I was going to be the designer of the November Mystery Sock for the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group on Ravelry.

Well the month is almost over and I'm happy to say the design was a great success! Have a look at all these gorgeous socks! (Ravelry link)

Now I couldn't forget my faithful blog readers, could I? (hello, is anyone out there, heheh)

So if you're not on Ravelry or Groups just aren't your thing, have a peek at these......

This pair was my "prototype". The name of the sock is Mad About Plaid which, when I considered taking on this challenge is what came to me before anything else....you see I've never even knit a mosaic/slipped stitch design before so designing one was a real challenge!

The name Mad About Plaid came to me so I set out to figure how I could replicate "plaid" in a sock. I think I came pretty close, huh? :)

It was also important to me that the sock have appeal for a man or a woman.

When I swatched the designs I actually purposely chose colors that I would never use together (try camo, pink/orange striped and a navy/green variegate - yuck!), yet they worked!

I discovered as long as the three colors have very different values and strong contrast, they worked! So I decided to test my theory with my "prototype socks" you see above. Not for the shy and retiring sock wearer, right? (as an aside, I was going to give them to my 20-something cousin until my hot and groovy WAY older than 20-something Mom decided these socks were HERS. PERIOD. In fact, she can't wait to show them off to her canasta group! hehe)

Next, I wanted to make sure they were appealing to the Y chromosome set too....

Mad About Plaid, Manly version

Hey, big boy....new in town?
Lastly, I wanted to try a "negative" version, reversing the light and dark values....

Nothing "negative" about these babies!
I'm really proud of these and the experience has been mostly wonderful! And while I recognize that, yes, I am far too thin-skinned to put myself out there as a "designer" full time, it's nice to reach for the stars every now and again!

So if you have a hankering for some plaid, there's a non-Ravelry link on my sidebar here or you can find my pattern on Ravelry here.

It's a simple pattern so don't fear the colorwork! If you can slip a stitch, you can knit these patterns - there is no stranding or floats so it's easy peasy and quite fun to knit!

Oh and in case you have a hankerin' for plaid but not into socks so much right now.....

I designed some matching Mad About Plaid Mitts too :)

Whether you knit em for yourself or someone on your holiday list, I hope y'all enjoy my gifts to you!

So many socks!!

Anyone who knows me even a little, knows I am a pretty monogamous knitter.

For me it's one "big" project and one smaller/portable project, usually socks. Any more than that and I get nervous and jerky - I'm just not a knitter who does well with multiple WIP's.

Since the Vest from Hades has been my "big" project since February (February!!! GAH that makes me shudder just to put in writing how long it took me to force myself to finally finish the heinous beast!) I've knit a lot of socks :)

I'm also almost finished with the Fugly Sock Yarn Blanket of Doom v2 but I'll save that for another post.

I've been holding out on my FKD fans and have not shown you all the socks cropping up around Chez Blog de Fluffy so I made y'all a little mosaic.....

1. Quilted Lava Socks, 2. SKA July Mystery Sock, 3. Little Pumpkin Socks,
4. Cheetos Redux, 5. Fluffy Fowards, 6. Blue Komets


All the Deets are here on my Rav project page if you're interested.

These were a fun group of socks.....the upper middle ones were a Microgauge Mystery Sock designed by Rebecca Hatcher for the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group. The microgauge (10 or more stitches per inch) almost killed my wrists but they have the coolest toe up heel construction ever! Plus they were a truly gorgeous sock!

The socks in the upper right corner were a prize I donated for Claudia's MS Ride last spring. Imagine my freak out chagrin when I found out said prize winner was none other than prolific sock designer, Anne Hanson! But I did my best and I think she really liked them cause she gave them a rave review!

Speaking of mosaics and Mystery socks....(smooth segue, huh?) you may not know that along with SKA's monthly technique and designer challenges (as well as being the fouth largest group on Ravelry!!) every other month we have a Mystery Sock that reflects the technique of that month's challenge.

November's challenge will be mosiac/slip stitch knitting and the Mystery Sock is being designed by an eager yet humble (and terrified!) designer....ME!!

I'm always encouraging the members to challenge themselves and grow as knitter's and I figured I needed to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. So despite never having ever knit a mosaic pattern, I designed one :)

i'm too thin skinned to be "a designer" but I am very proud of the pattern. It's a clean, classic design that in the right colors, could be for a woman or a man. Plus I had a really cool test knitter who gave the pattern two thumbs up! So if you want more info or care to join us :::quiver::: the more the merrier!



The P-Man says peek on in, you'll have a good time! See ya there!

Mystery - Revealed!

Apropos of the symbolic newness a New Year brings knitting the January Mystery Sock was a new and very rewarding experience for me!

When I joined the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group on Ravelry, to further expand my knitting horizons I volunteered to be a test knitter for one of the months with a Mystery Sock.

Now anyone who's read this here Blog de Fluffy for more than about 3 minutes knows I've got a bit of an *ahem* controlling compulsive personality :)

Knitting a sock blindly without knowing what the final product would be was definitely a step outside my knitting comfort zone plus said sock included the dreaded intarsia!! EEK!!

But I joined the SKA to spread my sock knitting wings and I am so glad I did!!

Sara, aka Fyberduck, designer extraordinaire and Grand Poobah ( founder and administrator) of the SKA group chose a Valentine-ish theme and came up with a really clever and adorable sock. Every week during the month of January a new clue was released....

Here's clue #1

This was my first experience with Shibui and I totally ♥ this yarn! It's super soft with a nice firm twist and delicious, rich color!

Next, clues # 2 and #3

Despite my fear of the dreaded intarsia, I ADORE this part of the sock!! I got myself all bunched up needlessly cause intarsia is easy!!! Yep, I said it, it's easy! :)

I don't think there will be tons of intarsia in my knitting future cause it does interrupt the "flow" of the knitting but I definitely see some argyles down the road in juicy bright colors!

What I love best about the design is that the pair isn't complete unless it's together. Now if that isn't all mushy and valentine-y, I don't know what is!

Finally the last clue brings this charming design together...

Aren't they adorable?

Mine will be a gift for a special friend, I hope she likes them as much as I do!

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to knit these wonderful socks despite my unfounded fears and to work with Sara...it's also been beyond cool to see the other members of SKA knit the very same sock but interpret it in their own way and make it their own.

Plus there's still a bit of Mystery to come...since January has five weeks, Sara won't be revealing the design name and significance until next Tuesday and it will be a surprise, even to me!

There's plenty of room in the SKA for those that want to join us and even plenty of time to knit a January sock, whether you choose your own Mystery or our other January option, a Cookie A design. Come on, you know you wanna...we have so much fun! :)

Of course it no mystery that a certain someone is a bit of a ham...

Here he is doing his "Aren't I beyond cute?" interpretive wiggle dance which actually means Happy Tuesday, see ya soon! (he told me to tell y'all that!)