A Very Festive Cast-On
A Very Festive Cast-On
We just love a colourwork sock – satisfying, quick and surprisingly simple, but add a jolly seasonal character and we’re sold. Are you knitting some festive socks this December?
It’s safe to say that Charlotte Stone is the queen of colourwork socks. Her signature style is playful, colourful and irresistible, and we’ve been thrilled to bits that over the last few years she has used some of our trusty Exmoor Sock 4ply in her designs. In her latest book ‘Joyful Colourwork Socks’, which has released in the UK this December, we might have found our favourite sock pattern yet…
Gnome Place Like Home
‘The Gnome Place Like Home’ socks are the perfect project to get yourself in the Christmas spirit. Charlotte’s sample uses our Exmoor Sock 4ply in ‘Whortleberries’ as the main background shade, then ‘Drumble’ for the gnome’s body, ‘Peggles’ for his little hat and shoes, ‘Mizzle’ for his beard, and a dash of ‘Fairy Thimble’ for his nose.
You know what we’re like, we couldn’t resist making some kits to celebrate this beauty of a pattern, so we have recreated Charlotte’s sample shades and included a few other options we think will look ace (including a very Christmassy mix of forest green, bright red, bright blue and light, natural grey) We can’t wait to see some Gnome Socks out in the wild.
A Christmas Eve Cast-On
Many in the sock-knitting community love to set themselves up for a proper festive Christmas with a Christmas Eve cast-on. They’ll pick a very special pattern and some delicious yarn to save until the 24th December and celebrate the festive period with a new and beautiful sock WIP.
We think the ‘Gnome Place Like Home’ socks could be the perfect project for a Christmas Eve cast-on, (that is, if you can wait until then!) either in traditional festive shades, or something a little different.
Magical Mycelium
Charlotte’s colourwork has had our hearts in a chokehold for a while now, starting with the Magical Mycelium Socks Charlotte released a little while ago. Aren’t they adorable? Charlotte picked our Exmoor Sock 4ply to make her sample and we love how the sweet little mushrooms look knit up in our yarn.
For a limited time, we’ve bought back kits for these stunners too, including a Christmas colourway if that’s your jam.
Our Other Stone Knits Favourites…
The Starry Night socks are definitely in-keeping with the current season. Long in length, they’ll keep your feet and legs perfectly cosy in the winter, and we can just imagine the colorwork stars joyfully peeking out over your snow boots. We love the look of ‘Blooth’ and ‘Bell Heather’ striped together too.
Subtle, but oh so beautiful, we think the Forget Me Knot socks are just the perfect year-round project. ‘Mizzle’ makes for a lovely background in Charlotte’s sample, and the contrast of ‘Whortleberries’ and ‘Drumble’ is perfect, but can easily be swapped out to make any flower your heart desires. Maybe a spot of ‘Hemel’ and ‘Peggles’ for a festive poinsettia?
Lush Lemonade socks combine colourwork, with stripes and simple construction – they are stunning and we can imagine how delicious a festive pair might look. Swap ‘Drumble’ with ‘Quick Beam’ for an orange rather than a lemon effect and you’ll be splendidly seasonal.
Jolly Jellyfish socks are just the most fun! At least one of our mill folk have these on the needles as we speak and we can’t wait to see how they look.
We hope that however you celebrate at this time of year, you have a peaceful and relaxing time, with plenty of time to craft and maybe even cast on a festive sock or two…