Hand Knit Socks and a Free Cowl Pattern

My Friend Sally is a fabulous knitter, and is great about keeping her Ravelry projects updated, and sending inspirational pictures of her knitting to her friends.  Recently, she sent out a picture of her socks hanging to dry, asking if she had knit enough socks yet. . .my answer was, "NO!'  I say, there is no such thing as too many hand knit socks.

Around here, we wear hand knit socks just about every day.  At the end of the day, we throw the socks into a wicker basket, and when the basket is full, we do a full load of socks.  And I mean, a FULL LOAD!  Our house is somewhat modest, and our utility area is small, so we've purchased hangers from IKEA to clip our socks to and hang them to dry.  This is what wash day looked like yesterday.

On the knitting front, I feel  like it's been two steps forward and three steps back.  I've been working on a couple of designs to submit to magazines, as well as swatching for my Sneaky Sheep exchange for our guild.  The design work seems to have stalled a bit while I do some math to calculate for shaping, and I just can't seem to find the right project for my secret pal.  I thought I had the perfect pattern, but my yarn was a bit too heavy, so I frogged it.  I began working on yet another, and didn't like the color combo, and the pattern was a bit annoying.  I started to work on a second color way of the un-named hat (still taking suggestions, if you're feeling clever!) and didn't like the way the colors at the top of the hat were working together.  My net knitting for the week is a very small amount.

In rooting around for interesting things in my sewing room/craft studio, I found a couple of cowls I made this winter and haven't put together "official" patterns for. . .I thought I'd send them out to you.  They were made with one skein of luxury yarn, and intended as a quick gift.  I had them at the ready, and then decided to keep them for another year.  Often we think of Valentine's Day as a time to give chocolate and red hearts to those we love, I'll encourage you to knit one of these up quickly for a good friend who warms your heart. . .wrap some luxury yarn around their neck, and they'll love you even more!

I love this stitch pattern and have used it on a number of socks that I've knit.  The ribbing makes for cozy, cushy socks, and a quick knit.  I think you'll like it for a cowl too.

Garter Rib Cowl Pattern:

Using a size 9 needle and heavy worsted weight to aran weight yarn, cast on 88 stitches and join to knit in the round, placing a marker at the beginning of the round.

Round 1: *K2, P2, Repeat from * around
Round 2: Knit

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until you are nearly out of yarn, bind off in pattern.

Weave in ends, block and give to someone you love.

Mine measured about 20 inches around and 9 inches tall.  If you have more yarn, make it longer and cozier. . .smaller gauge?  Use smaller needles and cast on a multiple of four by taking the circumference you're shooting for, and multiplying that times the stitches per inch you get in your gauge swatch, and adjusting up or down to get a multiple of four.