Vermeer Colorways, and let's go for a spin...

This week I found my inspiration in Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring painting.
The yellows and blues were a true inspiration as well as the rich browns.



I am also really excited because for the first time this week I am offering rovings in the Vermeer colorways. I cannot wait to see the beautiful yarns you will spin with them.



Enjoy the Vermeer Collection!

A New SockPixie Group on Ravelry

There is a new SockPixie Group on Ravelry. It is called SockPixie Circle .

This will be a great place for us to meet and talk, see eachothers' projects, and discuss SockPixie patterns. Maybe we could add a little knit along too!

I hope you will join the group. See you in the circle!

Inspiration of the Week

It is time for my weekly update. The SockPixie colorways are ready and up on the site.

This week my inspiration came from one of my favorite paintings by Hopper. The colors are among my favorites: teals, greens, oranges, and ochres...



For this week, I decided to dye "almost" solids, using a salt resist to create subtle monochromatric shadings. The results are glorious, the colors seem to be illuminated from within.



This week is also special because I created special little project pouches that coordinate with the yarns. From now until Christmas, for every 3 skeins you order, your will receive a project pouch in a coordinating color!
These little pouches are lined with the softest satin fabrics and are just perfect for a center pull ball, and a sock or lace in progress. They are so cute... I will let the pictures speak for themselves...



When opened they are almost flower like!



Enjoy!

Andy Warhol Colorways

The days have been grey and short out here. I needed color, so here we go. Andy Warhol's Marilyn Collection gave me plenty to play with for this week's SockPixie Colorways. Enjoy...

The Pdf Link for the Pixie Warmers is Fixed

Thank you to all of you who emailed me to let me know that the link was not working. It is working now. See last night I did what you should never do when you are tired. I tested the link, and everything worked, and then I saw a little thing I could change in the post, and instead of leaving this very minor thing till later, I "fixed"it. In the process... well you kow the rest!

Enjoy the gloves, and the pattern!

Pixie Warmers FREE Pattern

This is a perfect night. The new fingerless gloves, the Pixie Warmers, are finished and I love them! The pictures are done. The pattern is typed , the soundtrack from Vicky Cristina Barcelona is playing in the background...

I had intended the Pixie Warmers to be a Christmas present for Miss. A., but as always, I let them be claimed by the recipient ahead of schedule!
Her verdict: she loves them. Isn't that the best feeling on earth when the person you knit for loves what you made?


The gloves as I said in an earlier post were the result of an obsession with EZ and her work. They are loosely based on the February Baby Sweater, in that they combine
gull lace and garter stitch. I like the simplicity of the garter, and how it really sets off the lace. I inserted only one 7 stitch repeat of the lace, thus letting it make its full impact.

For this project, I picked one of my own SockPixie hand-dyeds,a sport weight merino in a solid colorway. I like that the coloway is a soft plum color, and does not overpower the stitches. The slight natural variation in the dyeing only adds dimension to the gloves.

I gave a lot of thought to the construction of the gloves. I wanted the garter and lace to appear understated. I did not want any heavy borders. This is why the gloves start and end with the actual gull lace and garter, and are only delicately finished by a discrete picot edging. The underside of the hands is all garter.


For the first time I created a pdf file for the pattern instead of posting the pattern directly into the body of my post. I think it really adds to the clarity of the pattern. As always, the pattern is free. Click on the thumbnail below to download the pdf file.

I hope you will enjoy the pattern. Feel free to send comments if you have questions or to give me your feedback. I will do my best to answer your questions. Enjoy your Pixie Warmers!

Norman Rockwell Colorways

This week I found my inspirations if the works of Norman Rockwell. The Christmas spirirt is already there. I was listening to the radio as I was dyeing the yarn, and they were playing Christmas songs!
I hope you enjoy this week's SockPixie Norman Rockwell Colorways. AS a little preview here is Christmas Rush!

Not Quite Two Left Feet!

My last pattern was the February Beret, a beret inspired by EZ's February Baby Sweater. It seems that I am so in love with the look of the baby sweater that I have not been able to knit anything without some garter, and the lovely gull lace pattern.

I chose a skein of SockPixie Merino Sport, in a beautiful muted solid plum color. It is my first pattern using this yarn. It is very soft and lofty. I love the stitch definition.

Over the last few weeks, I have been getting emails from you asking for a fingerless glove pattern, so I decided to design a pair of fingerless gloves.




So there we are, a long circular needle, some soft yarn, a spoonful of garter stitch, a pinch of gull lace, a great Doris Day movie, a warm blanket, and what do you get? 2 right gloves!

The sad thing is that I was almot done with the second one when I finally realized my mistake.
The upside is that the pattern for the right glove is perfect! The other upside is that I can't seem to get tired of knitting the gloves as I love the pattern so much!

If all goes well, and I don't end up with a fingerless glove with two thumbs, the pattern should be ready this week!

On the Eve of a Presidential Election...

Voting has always been a special moment for me. In particular since I became an American citizen. Voting, as a woman is also very meaningful to me. I became familiar with the vibrant suffrage movement in the US while studying at Smith College. I became so engrossed in the history of this incredible grass root movement, that I made it the topic of my PhD dissertation. So today, as we approach the presidential election, it only seemed natural that I should remember the great women whose tireless work gave me, as a woman, the right to vote. Each SockPixie colorway this week commemorates the work of a woman reformer. There are so many great women that I could not create a colorway for each, but I am grateful to all of them. I created colorways that reflected their personalities. The colorways range from soft variegates, to monochromatic variegates, and all involve an overdye process over a natural base dyed with acorns. I really like the glow that the acorns give each color.
I hope that you will enjoy tonight's colorways, and I want to wish you a happy voting on Tuesday.