I have a new free pattern out from the lovely folks at Classic Elite.  A perfect quick knit for the last days of summer. Ok, I know, summer is going to last for 2-3 more months here in sunny Florida, but for the rest of you normal seasonal people, this is nice and quick. If you live in Florida, take your time.

It’s made out of Classic Silk by Classic Elite which is a very yummy blend of silk and cotton with a bit of nylon. It works up into a nice lightweight summer fabric and even stockinette fabric in this yarn has character.

The camisole has reinforced garter stitch straps (to prevent stretching) and is edged in a lovely Plantation Lace pattern. Hence the name of a camisole – the Mayfaire Plantation is prominent in a series of Anne Rice books I read when I was younger and didn’t have children to tend and knitting design work to do!

The pattern is free and comes in sizes from a 30″ to 50″ bust.  I think it would work best with zero to negative ease – as there is full fashioned shaping on the waist. Go and grab your free Classic Silk Mayfaire Camisole pattern from the Classic Elite Webletter site. Better yet, sign up for the webletter. It’s a new pattern e-mailed to you every single week!

It’s interesting to me to watch how life goes. Somedays I get nothing done, and other days I am so productive it’s ridiculous. Sometimes designs fly off the needles, and sometimes the patterns write themselves. But rarely both. Most times, as is the case in Cordelle, it’s one or the other. This shawl practically made itself and for some reason I could never make myself just sit down and write it. But my procrastination is your gain.

Because I waited so long to get it done and edited, it’s now debuting right smack in the middle of the half-price sale. So you get an introductory price as it were.

It’s lovely and soft, worked up in Baby Twist 100% Alpaca. Even though it’s a larger shawl, it goes quickly because it’s made in a DK weight. It’s cozy and lightweight at the same time. And the Baby Twist comes in some really beautiful colors.

It’s reversible, because although both sides are not the same, they are both very similar and very lovely. And it’s designed in the same way as many of my shawls in that you can totally adjust it to make it as large or as small as you’d like. Plus the fabric at the neckline wants to fold over into a lovely sort of shawl collar.

Needles: Size 8 needles (5.0 mm)

Yarn: Alpaca With A Twist Baby Twist Jumbo Hank, 549 yards to 250g in the colorway Lemon

Size: Sample blocked to 76″ wide and 28″ deep

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked garter

Notes: Worked from side to side. Offered in charted and written format. The shawl is on sale for half-price ($2.75) until midnight on Friday July 2nd.

The Cordelle Shawl on Ravelry – $5.50 USD

Sometimes it all just comes together. I had a good idea, and Petite Purls had an upcoming submission deadline. And just to make it sweeter, a photographer friend of mine has the cutest little girl ever.  It was meant to be. See how cute?

Wait. She gets cuter. Look at those adorable little toes!

And just in case you have not yet succumbed to the cuteness…

What? You say that’s not cute. You don’t have a heart. Well even if you are heartless and the word “awww” never passes over your lips… this one will get you.

If you don’t think that’s cute, you might be dead. Have someone check your pulse.

Want to hear the best part of the cuteness parade? The kid is not for sale, but the pattern is FREE! Yes, free! So head on over to Petite Purls and make a Sourpatch top for your own cutie!

And if you’re local, and you need an amazing photographer you should check out Cayden Lane Photography. Lori Robinson is nothing short of fabulous!

This one has been a long time coming. I’ve known I wanted to do it for at least six months. And the actual pattern has been finished for nearly a month. Finally today, I got some photographs so I can show it to you!

It’s reversible – totally. The lace pattern is fabulous and blocks out beautifully. It’s worked side to side (as all my favorites are) with a cast-on of 2 stitches and the same number for cast-off.

It does a perfect job of highlighting some of the really gorgeous semi-solid sock yarns out there – like this Ink colored Madeline Tosh Sock. It shows all the lovely little highlights and lowlights.

The pattern is provided in charted and written form just like always!

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm)

Yarn: Madeline Tosh Sock, 395 yards in the colorway Ink

Size: Sample blocked to 64″ wide and 28″ deep

Gauge: 26 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches in blocked lace pattern (yes, the gauge is basically square!)

Notes: Worked from side to side. Offered in charted and written format.

The Kyveli Shawlette on Ravelry –  $6.00 USD

Designing inspiration comes in many forms. One of the most fun is when the yarn just tells you what it wants to be. While I’m working at my LYS I have to rearrange the yarn. Make it look pretty. Re-twist it if it has come undone. Yarn is a tactile thing. So everyone touches it and well, they just mess it up. It’s no problem. I don’t want folks to stop touching the yarn. Because if they stop touching the yarn, they stop buying the yarn. And if they stop buying the yarn, I won’t have my (albeit very part-time) job anymore.

So about a month ago I spotted a very lonely skein of Claudia Handpainted Fingering Yarn in Copper Penny. And right there next to it was a lonely skein of Chocolate. They looked really pretty together. But I knew a good size shawlette would need more yardage. Fortunately I had a second skein of Chocolate at home. And that’s how this….

Became this…

It’s worked from the top down with only five stitches being cast on. You work striping sequence until you have the just right number of stitches and then you add a nice little lace border.

And the pattern is now available for sale.

Needles: Size 6 needles (4.0 mm)

Yarn: Claudia Handpainted Fingering, 175 yards per 50g, 2 skeins of main color, 1 skein of contrast

Size: Sample blocked to 60″ wide and 28″ deep

Gauge: 19 stitches and 32rows = 4 inches in blocked stockinette

Notes: Worked from the top down. Lace edging is offered in charted and written format.

The Pierrette Shawlette on Ravelry – only $5.50 USD

And apparently I know the right people. Sugarbee stepped up to the plate and got pictures for me again with her gorgeous daughter as the model. So here it is, for sale and everything.

Just to let you know, I was never this pretty.  And she also got an even better picture on the details of the cowl.

Needles: Size 7 needles (4.5 mm) – 16 inch circulars

Yarn: 2 skeins Plymouth Mulberry Merino, 50g, 99 yards, 48% Merino, 52% silk in the color Eggplant

Sizes: 20″ circumference

Gauge: 20 stitches and 30 rows = 4 inches in stockinette

Notes: This cowl is worked in the round. The instructions are offered in written and charted form.

For sale on Ravelry. Only $4.50.

Well not today exactly. But a year ago, I blogged about Treaty Oak. It’s one of my favorite places in all of Jacksonville.

This year I’ve published a bag that was inspired by the tree – the aptly named Treaty Oak Bag. See how the swirls echo the patterning in the wood?

It’s a perfect beginner Fair Isle project. Some of the floats are long, but any mistakes you make will be covered up by felting. Plus with the big needles and bulky yarn the project goes fast. And for blocking, it fits perfectly over a gallon vinegar jug, so no worries there!

Treaty Oak is 250 plus year old oak tree that sits in a beautiful park in Jacksonville, Florida. Everything that is beautiful and right about old trees can be found in the benches that are built under its canopy. The knots and swirls of its mammoth branches are echoed in this felted bag worked up in three shades of woodsy brown. This is the perfect beginner fair-isle pattern. Although the floats are long, any mistakes you make will come out in the wash.

Needles: Size 13 (9.0 mm) 24″ circular and dpns (or size to get gauge

Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Bulky 113g, 125 yards – 1 ball each of Sable, Wild Oak, and Oatmeal.

Size: Finished bag measures approximately 10×5×11 inches

Gauge: 12 sts and 24 rows to 4 inches before felting, and 16 sts and 28 rows to 4 inches after felting

Ravelry Link

$4.75 USD

My brain is full. Anytime I learn something new, something old has got to go. But it’s always amusing the sorts of things that my brain chooses to hold onto. For example, I cannot remember the name of my first grade teacher, but I do remember this little ditty:

We will sing a song about women’s history
To learn about… great women in our past
We want to know the truth about the real herstory
Some knowledge that… we hope will last

I even remember the tune. I remember the older girl scout who taught it to me at camp while she strummed her guitar. I also remember the song about Stan the Lavatory Man, but it’s not quite as inspirational.

Like most things in knitting, I taught myself how to knit socks. I knit 2 pairs of socks on dpns. (I hate dpns.) One pair was superwash, but when the man accidentally machine washed them they shrank to teensy tiny. One pair the dog ate. (I’ve never forgiven the dog!) If you look at the picture below, it shows you all the socks currently in my possession. Of those there is only one pair – the pink and green ones. And they only reason there is a pair of those is because one sock was worked top-down, and one pair was worked toe-up. (Get the free pattern here!) The mauve sock in the lower left-hand corner is the Fancy Silk Sock by Nancy Bush, also knit on dpns. Every other sock on there I magic looped. I *lurve* magic loop. No, really. I would marry it if I could.

Every other single sock (and they are all singles) is my very own design. Three of the samples I knit in a size that would never fit me. But I’ve decided to stop doing that. I am going to knit my socks in my size. And even if I never knit two of the same sock ever again, at least I can wear my mismatched PicnicKnits originals with pride!

Broken Chocolate Bar Socks – A Sock Recipe

Once upon a time I tried to make some chocolate bar socks. I had the perfect yarn, and I actually measured a Hershey bar to make the blocks the right size and shape. (Yes I am that person). But it did not work out as I envisioned. I felt thwarted and dejected. But one fine day I was thumbing through one of those stitch-pattern-a-day type dealie-bobs and I saw it. It was perfect – it was simple, but interesting. And it looked like broken bars of chocolate.

The best part is that it’s only a 3-stitch pattern. So you can make socks of any size or shape. So I decided to do something different. Instead of telling you how many to cast-on and exactly when to do A, B, and C – you get to decide. This is a recipe, not a pattern.

I’m starting to think that free is like the most popular word on my blog nowadays. Free, free, free. Well it’s your lucky day. Because this pattern is free. Download now!!!

When life hands me lemons, I give you free shipping! From today until May 10th everything in my etsy shop qualifies for free shipping. So the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden charges, no shipping, no extra nothing. So…. come and buy stuff! Free shipping is good! Now is the time!