Happy New Year Handknit Socks

Handknit socks are a real luxury. They are super warm, fit well, and are infused with positive thoughts. These babies are my newest gift to myself for Christmas. I cast them on a week ago and am now running around the house with them on.




I have always used the following formula for socks:

Step 1: Figure 8 cast-on (learned at knitty.com), increase to desired number of stitches for circumference (these are 56 sts)

Step 2: Knit up foot until time to add the heel. Work short row heel. (Lots of ways to do this, but I learned this new method thanks to reading my friend Alex's blog)

Step 3: Knit up leg to desired length, rib for a few inches, then sewn bind off (found here on Knittinghelp.com called "Knit One Purl One Bind Off").

Step 4: Repeat for second (maybe take some notes while making the first)


Ta Da! Handknit socks. Sometimes I get adventurous and add a pattern to the top of the foot and the whole leg part, making sure that the pattern is divisible by 4 or 2, or some other multiple of the number of stitches I am using.

Oh, and those cute shoes you ask? $95 Borns at the flea market for $5. Score! And good for my poor little feet that have been shoved into tall shoes for the better part of the last decade. Ah, the short girl complex!

My Knitting New Years Resolutions are to finish what I start, make more socks, and get Penelope Craft a home.

Till Next Year!
xo
Malia

Crafty Christmas Gifts

My friend Wendel gave our family these darling Kerstboom (Christmas Tree) decorations at our Christmas party on Saturday, and I absolutely adore them.



Wendel is poly-crafty. This means she is not monogamous with any one craft. She fools around with many different ones with a varied level of commitment to any given one.


I fancy myself poly-crafty, but I really lean heavily on knitting as my primary craft. I dabble in others, but my passion is for the yarn-related arts.

What about you? Are you poly-crafty?

xo
Malia

Tiny Jumpers

I have been making these super cute little ornaments over the past few days. The pattern is called Cheers! and is by a designer named Cheryl Niamath. For you knitter types, it is free and can be found here. They are really quick and satisfying and great for Christmas gifts.



Here in Europe these go by the name jumpers as opposed to sweaters, as we say in the USofA. Another interesting European English vocabulary item: all yarn goes by the name wool. Doesn't matter if it is cotton, bamboo, acrylic (shudder), goat hair or actual sheep's wool; all these are wool.

Happy Holidays everyone. Get out your wool and knit up some tiny jumpers!

xo
Malia

Yarn Tasting

We had a yarn tasting at Katie's Cozy Craft Corner this past Thursday at De Nieuwe Anita. It was super fun, very cool vibe as always. Here is a yummy photo of some yarncakes.


xo
Malia

We got Noro!

Dagmar and I got a few colorways of the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn. It's really striking. I have to say that I'm not a huge fan of some of the sweaters I have seen from Noro. I think it makes great accessories, but no one looks good in horizontal stripes.

But this yarn is beautiful and tempting. It's all I can do to keep myself from casting on yet another project. This is the one I am lusting after: