Socks from the Toe Up.

click to see all the patterns on Ravelry

Our sock knitting club starts this Sunday (January 15) from 1-3pm at the shop. The club is going to knit projects from Wendy Johnson's fabulously popular book, Socks from the Toe Up.

They've selected the Diagonal Lace Socks (page 52 ) for their first project.

Prolific sock knitter Jane Kelley has already finished one pair. She used Madelinetosh Pashmina in the magnolia leaf colorway. Pashmina is a sport weight blend of merino, cashmere and silk. I think her feet are going to be spoiled!

The club is meeting monthly on the third Sunday. Hope you're making plans to join in!

And the Winner Is....

a BIG thank you to everyone who voted!!

Here's a link to the pattern and to the Ravelry projects .  I'm still researching tutorials for the toe-up cast on and will follow-up with another blog post before Friday.

Remember - we're launching our KAL this Friday, August 6, at 2pm. If you can't be there in person, please do share your project with us on Ravelry. I've started a thread in our forum - start discussing!

Thinking about Socks.

Specifically about knitting them, toe-up. Have you done it? Want to give it a try? Please join us for our next KAL!

We're planning ahead - this KAL won't start until August (Friday, August 6 if you're keeping track). And that gives us an opportunity to try out a new poll feature - yep, we're going to vote on the pattern for the KAL. (and it's all anonymous - we only see the total number of votes, nothing about who voted). The poll is located in the blog sidebar, below the "where to find us" section.

Wanting to keep this as simple as possible - we're going to start with two patterns - both designed by Wendy Johnson, who is probably the queen of toe-up socks. She's written books and published dozens of patterns...many of which are free on Ravelry. Two that look especially fun and would work in a variety of yarns and colorways, solids or not, are the Nanner Socks and the Double Eyelet Rib Socks.

These are the Nanner Socks. You can check out the projects on Ravelry .

and these are the Double Eyelet Rib Socks - and the projects on Ravelry .

Voting will continue through Sunday August 1 and we'll announce the winner on Monday August 2. And if neither of these patterns appeal, please suggest an alternative in the Comments and we'll add your suggestion to the poll.

...and last but not least (in case you need some inspiration for voting!) a view of our sock yarn wall - including the dozens of colorways of Araucania Ranco, now 15% off!

P.S. We know there are a few Annis shawls out there ... some finished and some still works in progress. We love to see them all - please share! stop by the shop for a photo - or if you're a bit shy, simply share your project with our Ravelry group!