Saturday, November 29, 2008

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!

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Debi! They are wonderful! Thank you for such a great design and for sharing it with us.

Laura said...

I am still just finishing up the socks, but wanted to let you know that you did a terrific job. The socks are coming out great. I loved the whole having to wait a week to see what they turned out like. I hope you consider something like this again in the future. I think it is wonderful that you put that much consideration in to a pattern, often times it is not. I wouldn't want to start counting how many socks I had to stop because of sheer frustration with a poorly written pattern.

Thanks, once again.
Laura from Ravelry (Emeraldcutie)

Kris said...

Those look wonderful. What a fun pattern.

Carole Knits said...

Those are fantastic! I actually really like the purple ones.

Alison said...

I'm here!

Beautiful socks! I'm going to have to find my sock mojo sometime soon to try those! I've been fascinated by plaids lately as I've begun weaving.

Wonderful job!

Leslie said...

Very, Very neat. Thanks for the mitts pattern for those of us who are sock impaired :)

Holly said...

Thanks, Debi....Love the plaid. You are so clever!

Dorothy said...

I love all the versions! Hmm - I guess I'd better go stash diving to cast on today or tomorrow!!

KSee said...

What a wonderful design. Plus all the different color combinations. Kudos to you. You certainly designed plus with you additional pictures open up all kinds of ways to make these work. These will be in my to do list. Just bumped off the other pair down the list.

WandaWoman said...

I agree with Carole, the purple ones are my favorites. All of the socks look wonderful and love those mitts too. Thanks for sharing your designs!

La Cabeza Grande said...

Kudos to you for the pattern and many color combinations! Mitts, too? You have gone mad for plaid, but in a really good way :o)

Cookie said...

Guess what I just happen to be wearing today. :D

xo

Terri said...

All of the plaids are great, but the purples are super cute! Happy holidays.

Anonymous said...

You're very clever ! It's a fab design. I really like the mitts too.
Nice to see you posting. Hope you're o.k.

xxx

Agnes said...

I just finished my Booby Socks and was able to cast on your pattern! :D Seems like I am able to make the SKA ... yay!

Anonymous said...

I love them. Especially in the purple/pink/yellow shades and I'm so not a purple/pink/yellow person. Thanks so much for the pattern. I'll have to search in my stash for appropriate yarn.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm still enjoying making them (moving down the foot of the second one) and I'm sure I'll enjoy wearing them once I finally get to grafting the toe!

YarnThrower said...

Those socks are FABULOUS! I love the plaid -- very creative idea! Thank you for making the pattern available to us!

Anonymous said...

Very Cool!!! Thank you for sharing your talents.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful job!!!! I've queued the socks and the mitts; I love them! Thanks for sharing :)

p.s. my word verification is "fateni" - hmph!

Bridget said...

Congratulations - they are beautiful! I'll definitely have to give the pattern a try one of these days.

Nana Sadie said...

I love plaid! They're really cool.
(((hugs)))

Beatriz said...

What a great pattern! thanks for sharing.

kaykatrn said...

Not only am I fond of plaid (No Catholic school for this girl), but I have been trying to find a pattern that I could learn colorwork with. Thanks. Oh and thanks for the free part.

Beverly said...

I'm in mad love with these socks and mitts! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

OMG, Deb! They're wonderful!!!!!!

Fabulous, fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Those are really, really cute.

Rhonda the Stitchingnut said...

Thanks for the pattern. I love the way these socks look. Especially the purple & pink. Cute!

KnottyLa said...

That is SUCH a cute sock pattern. You really did an awesome job designing it! And just as soon as I weed through my pile of designs I must do, I'm casting on for my own pair.

Hugs to you and my favorite Florida Orange!

Anonymous said...

beautiful! I love the different versions of the pattern in completely different forms! Thanks for sharing your pattern! =)

Madge said...

Grrl, you rock the plaid hard. Congrats on your successful sock designing/knitting/patterning!

*scampering off to see all the lovelies on Rav*

Jessica said...

Wowsa!!! Those are fantastic!! What an interesting and versatile pattern. You did a great job and I'm off to add them to my queue!

Batty said...

Love the purple ones, but the fingerless mitts are awesome too. Way to have feet and hands match.

Bianca said...

These are cute! I'll look up the patterns on Ravelry

madonnaearth said...

Those are awesome!

Laurel said...

Motivating article. I am practically satisfied with your great work.

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