Lately, I’ve taken to welcoming new babies into my realm with socks. I was getting far too behind with blankies and socks really do feel more like Aunt Katie. In this case, Mom-to-be picked out some yarn and asked if I could knit something for Baby Girl.

I agreed and began to hunt for a hat pattern. They were considering naming her Penelope at the time and I ran across this hat and this one for a little Penelope. I took it as a sign and cast on.

Pattern: Kid at Any Age by Jenette Cross (free)
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Serena
Colorway: Sunrise
Needles: 2.5mm 8″ addi DPN’s

Note: You’re going to want to be careful with ladders on this hat. I used 8″ addi DPN’s and the weight of the needles caused some fairly significant laddering. (a better knitter would have noticed this sooner, but it happens to be best of us.) Luckily, the yarn allowed me to block most of it out. I was VERY lucky! or maybe the universe was smiling on her since she’s turned out to be one smiley little lady.

Pattern: Planum by Clare Devine
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Serena
Colorway: Sunrise
Needles: hmm. maybe 2.25mm circs?

Here she is thinking about her next pair of socks.

It’s come to my attention that I never blogged the pretty pink socks I knit for my SIL.


This pattern is lovely and delicate and immediately brought my pink-loving sister-in-law to mind. I made the 72sts size and was really pleased with them. I grafted the toes of sock 2 in June of 2014 and was able to take some glamour shots at Disneyland.

Pattern: Bea Socks, formerly known as Glass Slippers by Christina Wilkins
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk
Needles: magic looped with addi turbos…the size would be a handy thing to know, wouldn’t it…2.25mm maybe?
Mods: There’s a point where there’s 2 purls on one side of the top of the foot and one purl on the other side of the top of the foot. I moved the heel over a stitch on the second sock so that the two purls and one purl sides were mirrored from the first sock. I analyzed the chart and totally understood why this asymmetry had to happen, but the mirroring helped me sleep at night.

Let’s talk needles. I have a few. And I have favorites (my Signature Needle Arts DPN’s aka Sigs), but I’m a firm believer in the right tool for the job. When I’m using yarn that is splitty, I don’t want crazy pointy needles. I’ve also been known to choose needles that color coordinate with the yarn. When I’m using a pattern that is most easily halved, I grab circs and rock some magic loop…..but when I’m not in a hurry and the pattern is relaxing, I reach for bamboo dpn’s. I might even switch to bamboo mid-sock for no reason that I can recall. There’s just something about the feel of them in my hands that makes knitting feel like a journey. There’s nowhere to be; yarn is gliding around and around on my wooden sticks until Voila! Socks!

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal
Needles: 2.25mm bamboo dpn’s (first sock on metal hiya hiya dpn’s)
Pattern: Slant (coming soon) by Hunter Hammersen