I’ve been plotting this for ages, and I’ve finally decided that it’s time!
Say farewell to Shake Your Booties …
… and hello to Knifty Patterns!
Since I started designing sock and accessory patterns, it had been really bugging me that the shake your booties brand sounded so limiting. I really wanted to use some of the elements of the previous logo for continuity, so it has the same fonts and colours and even the same yarn ball. I’m really pleased with it and I’m somehow ridiculously pleased that it incorporates my initials!
I hope you’ll enjoy upcoming patterns – and yes, there will still be some booties. 🙂
Now, back to the black hole that is updating *everything* *everywhere* … is it too early for day drinking?
I’ve recently pushed myself out of my bootie designing comfort zone and I’m starting to design some accessory patterns. I’m particularly excited about working on some sock patterns as I love to knit socks and typically knit about a dozen pairs each year. Look for my Wavelength Socks pattern coming out in September 2022!
This new pattern has options for working cuff-down or toe-up. I really wanted the two styles to mirror each other pretty closely, so I opted for gussets and a flap heel for the toe-up version to match the cuff-down version. Magic loop is my preferred method for anything worked in the round, but sometimes there can be a few awkward sections where you feel like you have too many stitches on one needle to work comfortably. In the toe-up version of the pattern, when you reach the Heel Turn section, you have your heel stitches and all your gusset stitches on needle 2 (N2) which can make turning the heel hard to do. Here’s how I (temporarily) rearrange the gusset stitches to make it easier!
Step 1: Heel Turn Setup Round, part 1:
N1: work across (in pattern if applicable)
N2: knit your right hand (RH) gusset sts1 (the stitches increased on each side of your heel stitches)
Clip a lockable stitch marker onto the RH cable
Step 1
Step 2: Heel Turn Setup Round, part 2:
Slide the RH gusset stitches back down the RH needle to the cable
Pull the RH needle through, so the gusset stitches slip back onto the cable next to the instep stitches, separated by the stitch marker
Step 2
Step 3: Heel Turn Row 1
N2: knit across heel stitches (half your original total foot stitches)
Clip a lockable stitch marker onto the left hand (LH) cable
Step 3
Step 4: end of Heel Turn Row 1:
Slide the LH gusset stitches back down the LH needle to the cable
Pull the LH needle through, so the gusset stitches slip back onto the cable next to the instep stitches, separated by the stitch marker
Turn your work, ready to work flat doing German short rows for turning the heel
Step 4
The Step 4 picture above shows the instep (patterned) stitches with the gusset stitches either side, sitting on the cable, waiting while you work the Heel Turn as directed. Once it’s completed, rearrange your stitches again as follows:
Step 5: Heel Flap Row 1:
Make Double Stitch (DS) (this is the last one to even out the DS on each side of the center heel stitches), knit to last DS (making sure to work the DS through both legs as one stitch as you come to them)
Step 5
Step 6: end of Heel Flap Row 1:
Use your lockable stitch marker to gently pull the LH cable out between the instep stitches and the gusset stitches
Step 6
Step 7: end of Heel Flap Row 1:
Slide the gusset stitches back onto the LH needle
Complete Row 1 by working an ssk (with the last DS and the first gusset stitch)
Turn your work, ready for Row 2 of the Heel Flap
Step 7
Step 8: Heel Flap Row 2:
Slip 1, purl to last DS
Step 8
Step 9: end of Heel Flap Row 2:
Use your lockable stitch marker to gently pull the LH cable out between the instep stitches and the gusset stitches
Slide the gusset stitches back onto the LH needle
Complete Row 2 by working a p2tog (with the last DS and the first gusset stitch)
Turn your work, ready for Row 3 of the Heel Flap
Step 9
Now you should be all set to continue working the Heel Flap as the pattern directs, decreasing away one gusset stitch at the end of each row.
This sock in progress is in Republica Unicornia Merino Sock Superwash, in colourway Just a Jump to the Left.
1If this isn’t specified in your pattern, the formula to work it out is: (total # of sts after gusset increases minus original number of foot stitches) divided by 2
Several of my recent patterns have “floats.” Floats are traditionally the strands of yarn carried *behind* the fabric in knitted colourwork. The unused colour travels behind the currently worked stitches while not in use.
Sometimes floats are carried across the front of the work for a decorative effect. My Making Waves Booties have a simple, and easily memorizable, 4-row pattern with individual slipped stitches having the yarn floated in front of them.
If you tend to be a tight knitter, floating the yarn can cause your finished object to be a little snug. Sometimes this can be overcome by consciously not carrying the floats too tightly, but sometimes you need a little trick to help you out! I have a new pattern recently released: Gather Booties. This one has sets of two slipped stitches with the yarn floated in front. One of my clever test knitters came up with a brilliant solution for this potential issue: adding in a yarn over after the float:
sl2 pwise wyif, yo (up over needle to the back, then under needle back in position to purl) …. Next round, just drop that yo off the needle when you come to it.
Thanks for the brilliant and simple tip Jodi! (Find Jodi on Instagram and Ravelry)
So, sometimes I design slightly wacky things. Sometimes the things I design are a bit wacky to actually knit. My Flower Shop Booties have a few *really* fiddly sections which can be a little awkward to work. Let me show you how I tackle some of these sections …
Final round of the cuff: this is where you’re attaching the top of the cuff to the base of the cuff after folding it over halfway. I strongly recommend using dpns for this section, even if you’re a diehard magic loop fan like me. Below, you can see 5 stitches already picked up on one dpn and the tip of that needle is inserted up and through the next CC1 (purple) stitch from the first (purl) round of the cuff:
I’ll then knit the next stitch on the left-hand needle (which has the remaining stitches from the final seed stitch round of the cuff), and pass the picked-up stitch over that stitch. This method joins the top of the cuff neatly to the bottom of the cuff, ready to work your Petal Base.
If you’re making booties with the Multi Petals, after you’ve worked the Petal Base, consider transferring your stitches, in pairs, from your needles onto lockable stitch markers. It will be much easier to wrangle each petal without dpns sticking out everywhere (and sticking into you, lol). You can just work the stitches straight off the stitch markers for each petal. I also like that I can easily see how many more petals I need to work, just by counting the remaining stitch markers. 🙂
If you’ve decided to make flower booties with the Multi Petals in two layers, you’ve probably chosen the fiddliest of the bunch! When you have finished that first layer, you have to pick up stitches for the second layer. You can see, on this Star Magnolia bootie, that I’m inserting the needle up and through the next MC (green) stitch from the last round of the instep section, directly below the first layer of petals:
Definitely use lockable stitch markers again to wrangle your stitches, if you found that this trick worked for you on the first layer!
All the petal types use the same edging format (the sl1 pwise wyif, yb …… k1 tbl). This creates a nice line of elongated chain-like stitches along each side of the petal. When you “puk” (pick up and knit) and CO down the side of each petal, you’re picking up into these elongated stitches and creating a matching edge over the top of those. Here’s what it looks like when I have one stitch left on the needle at the top of a petal and I’m about to pick up the first stitch along the side:
I hope these tips and tricks help you make your Flower Shop Booties! Aren’t you glad you persisted?
I’m often asked why so many of my bootie patterns (and some of my sock patterns) have you knit the Outer Cuff inside out. There are several reasons …
Firstly, I’m lazy *and* I much prefer to knit instead of purl. If the majority of the Outer Cuff of a given pattern is worked in knit rounds, then I’m highly likely to have you turn the bootie or sock inside out to work the entirety of the cuff.
Secondly, because the Outer Cuff, when it’s finished, is typically turned down over the Inner (ribbed) Cuff in most of my patterns. If you work the entire Inner and Outer Cuff with the bootie or sock right side out, you’re working on the wrong side of the Outer Cuff and any colour changes are a little more awkward to achieve (at least for me they are!). Take my Fair Isle Booties pattern for example … you’d have to do all the stranded colourwork with the yarn carried in front of the work (on the purl, or wrong, side).
Thirdly, and this is related to my second reason, above, some of my patterns have you pick up stitches worked earlier to create extra layers or welts to create the quirky design. These would be even more awkward to work on the wrong side of the work. My Mushroom Booties pattern is a perfect example of this.
There are a couple of drawbacks to working the cuff inside out. One is that it can be hard to visualize exactly what you’re doing – ask me how many times I’ve worked something the wrong way around while designing! Another is that turning your bootie or sock inside out when it’s worked in the round means that the first round you work after turning it through is effectively worked flat; your working yarn is still attached to the last stitch of the last round which has now instantly become the first stitch of your next round. This can cause a tiny little gap which is ordinarily hidden when the Outer Cuff is completed and folded down over the Inner Cuff.
If this little gap bothers you, there’s a quick and easy trick to fix it! At the end of the final round of the Instep section, just slip and wrap the first stitch of the next round, then slip it back. Then turn your bootie or sock inside out to work the Inner and Outer Cuff sections and your tiny gap is gone! Here are a few pictures from a wip (this is my Cappuccino Booties pattern):
Instep finished, bootie is still right way out, with working yarn at the back.Slip the 1st stitch of the next round and wrap it by bringing the working yarn in front of it, then around to the back.Slip the wrapped stitch back to the front needle.Turn the bootie inside out to work the Inner Cuff. You can see the working yarn coming from where it’s been wrapped around that stitch (previously the 1st stitch of the next round, now, effectively, the last stitch of the previous round after turning the work inside out).
No, not running. That’s not a thing I do. At all. If I can help it.
I’m talking about the dreaded “jog” or “stair step” when working stripes in the round. If you don’t employ any one of a number of strategies, your colour changes from one stripe to the next will look something like this:
Not too pretty is it?
This is my newest pattern design that I’m working on – Crayon Booties. Lots and lots of tiny stripes in both garter stitch (on the sides of the feet) and stockinette stitch (on the cuff). Which also means lots and lots of yarn tails – another issue, but one that can be dealt with in tandem with reducing the jog – see below!
I’ve tried many different methods for achieving jogless stripes in the round and I’ve had varying degrees of success. There’s the “knit below” method – see this video from VeryPink Knits for a great demonstration. Like many people, I really like this technique, but, as she explains, as part of the process the beginning of round (BOR) effectively shifts to the left by one stitch every time you do it. For a deep dive into jogless stripes, the TechKnitter covers the “slip the 1st stitch of the 2nd round of your new colour” method, among other tips and tricks. This technique also shifts the BOR one stitch to the left. Then there’s the “yo jogless jog” technique, which is a fairly new one to me, but it’s now the one I prefer, especially for booties where there’s a definite “center back” and I don’t want the BOR to shift between rounds. This video, from Roxanne Richardson, covers this “yo” method, as well as the “knit below” method.
What I actually do is utilize the yo method from above for reducing the jogs in combination with this technique, as demonstrated by heyBrownBerry, for “knitting in” both the beginning and ending tails of yarn (incidentally, in this video, she does the “slip stitch” method when changing colours in stripes). Anchoring the beginning tail during the last round of your “old” colour means that the yo in the “new” colour is much easier to do. Plus, you’ve already dealt with one of those pesky tails! When you are ready to start a new stripe in a repeat colour, as in my Crayon Booties, your “new” colour is already neatly anchored at the end of the previous round you worked in it. If you do both these things in tandem, you will have woven in *all* your tails and reduced the jog as you work the stripes. Win, win!
Not perfect, by any means, but much better!
It looks like I could do a little more to even out the tension when transitioning from one colour to the next (I’m looking right at you, little one-round high pink stripe in the middle!), but overall, I think it’s much improved from the green bootie pictured above. It worked surprisingly well in the garter stitch stripes on the foot.
I’ll be testing the Crayon Booties very soon, and I hope to release the pattern by the middle of May!
… eyestrain brought about by working 2- and 3-stitch cables on US 1 needles (2.25mm) in black fingering weight yarn. Yep, tiny, tiny, black cables on tiny, tiny needles. Am I crazy?
Well, yes, probably. But I really wanted the cuffs on my newest design, Taxi! Booties, to look like little car tires/tyres (tomayto/tomahto all over again). The only way to achieve that was by suffering for my art and working out just which little cables, in which sequence, gave me the look I wanted.
I think it was worth the eyestrain, don’t you?
The solution? An OttLite, of course! These wonderful daylight bright, adjustable lamps make all the difference when you need to *really* see what you’re doing. Mine is a floor model with dual shade and a USB charging station. I must admit, I don’t often use the charger, but the little iPad/tablet stand is handy for keeping my pattern notes. Mine looks a lot like this one:
It also doubles as an excellent reading light. I keep mine right next to a comfy Ikea Poang chair and I can plonk myself down anytime for some knitting or reading. They’re not cheap, but I think one of these is a worthwhile investment no matter what kind of crafting you do!
Taxi Booties will be published on April 22nd, 2021. Watch my social media feeds for details!
I’ve made and designed quite a few things where you work an edging sideways onto live stitches. Sometimes it’s as simple as an attached i-cord edging, other times it’s a bit more of a challenge.
For my Sunny Day Booties pattern, I really wanted the effect of the narrow stripes of bright, contrasting colours, but I had absolutely no desire to achieve those stripes with colourwork. It seemed like it would be much easier to knit the outer cuff of the bootie sideways, joining it to the live stitches at the top of the inner cuff as it’s worked.
Of course, to finish it off neatly and (hopefully!) invisibly, grafting is required. So, that means a provisional cast-on. There are a lot of different methods of casting on provisionally, like the crochet chain method, the needle & hook method (which is really just the crochet chain method worked directly on to your knitting needle), using Judy’s Magic Cast-On (JMCO) as a provisional cast-on, the long tail provisional cast-on, and this one, which I really like for the easy way you can retrieve your provisionally cast-on stitches.
Here’s how I do it in my Sunny Day Booties pattern …
Here’s the bootie with the Inner Cuff finished in the main colour (MC: yellow). I’ll use the MC tail as my waste yarn and use it and my first contrast colour (CC1: pink) to provisionally cast on (PCO) the stitches I need for the Outer Cuff. I’ll use the last method I linked to above. I’m working the PCO onto the needle with the MC tail attached.
Here, I’ve completed my provisional cast-on. The MC Inner Cuff stitches are on the right and the CC1 provisional stitches are to the left of those. Don’t forget to use the MC tail as your waste yarn to save on ends to weave in! When you work this PCO, your working yarn – the one you want to continue using, in this case the CC1, will form the stitches on the needle, and your waste yarn will run neatly through the bottom of them.
I’ve turned the needle around and I have my CC1 PCO ready to work row 1 of the Outer Cuff, with the MC Inner Cuff sts also on the needle. I work my booties using the magic loop method, so you can see half the Inner cuff sts on one needle and the other half on the other (the cable is out of shot here, to the left).
Here, I’ve worked row 1 of the Outer Cuff in CC1 and CC2 (turquoise). The Outer Cuff will be joined to the Inner Cuff by working together 1 Inner Cuff stitch and one Outer Cuff stitch in a decrease at the end of every even-numbered (right side) row. You can see the nice straight line of the MC waste yarn sitting under the CC1 PCO stitches.
When it comes time to undo your PCO, just gently ease the waste yarn out of the PCO sts. I like to use a much smaller diameter double-pointed needle to do this, then I transfer them to my working needle. You may have to realign some of the stitches as you transfer them over. Then you’re ready to graft your live stitches from the last row of the Outer Cuff together with the PCO stitches. Grafting, (commonly known as Kitchener stitch), is a method of joining two sets of stitches together so that the join is invisible (it looks just like another row of knitting). It’s most commonly used to finish the toes in socks knitted from the cuff down.
The finished booties have a nifty little striped cuff, with the stripes going sideways (perpendicular) to the rest of the bootie.
See these swatches and single mis-matched booties? They don’t look like much, do they? The good thing about designing mostly booties is that I can actually knit a whole bootie as a “swatch.” Usually, though, I start with some sketches and my coloured pencils, then I start creating tiny swatches that represent a section of the cuff (if that’s the part of the bootie that makes up a new design element). After that, I work my way up to a whole bootie.
For most patterns, even if I have a specific yarn in mind, I usually start with some kind of “workhorse” yarn from stash. I have a *lot* of Dale Baby Ull, so I often start swatching with that. Sometimes I frog my swatches to start over, sometimes I just bind them off then start the next one. I don’t really want to keep knitting, ripping back, and frogging with the yarn that I’ve bought specifically for a pattern concept, so it’s easier to use something I don’t find too “precious.” I typically make a fresh page of notes for each swatch. That way I can refer back to the earlier versions to check changes & adjustments. Most of the rest of the design process happens digitally. I use Google Sheets to track and grade bootie directions, dimensions, and sizes.
With this pattern and the first swatch, I realized that I really wanted 2-row stripes, not 4. The next few were much closer to what I had in mind, but still needed a few little tweaks. The first single bootie showed me that the i-cord edge I was using wasn’t going to work at all. The second single bootie was almost there, it just needed a tiny adjustment to the beginning and ending rows of the Outer Cuff section.
The idea for these booties came from looking at logos and colours when I was working with a graphic designer on a new logo for shake your booties! It also stemmed from feeling like a gloomy, wet winter after a *really* hard year might never end. They are a little ray of sunshine! The final booties will be knitted in three colours of Mountain Sock by Teton Yarn Company. I ordered half a dozen mini-skeins for this pattern, but, unfortunately, they are in some kind of USPS black hole somewhere between the west coast and me. 😦 If they’re not here by the end of this week, I’ll knit up a pair in the yarn I have so that I can get testing started. I want to release the pattern on March 20th, so I don’t have long.
I have a love/hate relationship with sewing. I learned as a child, on my mother’s Singer Featherweight, and quite enjoyed messing around making doll’s clothes. At school, sewing was mandatory in in 1st and 2nd form (year/grade 7 & 8) at Canterbury Girls’ High School (now CGSC). Our teacher, Mrs. DeTarsinszky (sp?), was, um, let’s just say, demanding. Because they weren’t perfectly straight, I ripped out the seams on the nightgown I made in 2nd form so many times that when I finally wore it, the material shredded away to nothing all along the seam lines. We worked on old Singers, both treadle and knee-lever types. I’m pretty sure I’m still traumatized by trying to sew smoothly on the knee-lever machines. The treadles were a little less daunting.
When my kids were little, I bought a cheapish Kenmore machine and made some curtains for the house and a few bits of costumes here and there and did some mending. That machine now resides with my daughter, and I’ve been happily not sewing for quite a few years. But recently, I’ve been thinking that I’d like to have a machine again. For one thing, I *hate* the roman blinds in the kitchen of the house we bought. I’d love to make some to replace them and use some fabric I’ve found on etsy with Australian flora.
So …. recently, I started idly looking at Craigslist from time to time. There were plenty of treadle machines in the Atlanta area, but most were a little pricier than my budget would allow. Last week, I found a listing for a Singer 66 in an art deco-ish cabinet local to us at a good price. Yesterday we went for drive and ended up buying it from a nice lady who has 21 sewing machines and is out of space. It’s currently in quarantine in the garage for a few days.
The cabinet is a little rough on the top and around the edges but is sound. Mr. Booties will be doing some work on it in the coming weeks to tidy it up a bit for me. I think it’s a knock-off of the original Singer desk model cabinet in the ad image below. The trim is a little different (and doesn’t look like it replaced any other original trim). Every other picture I can find on Google image search matches this one:
The machine is in working order (the seller gave me a demo) and looks pretty clean. It probably needs a new power supply as the cord is alarmingly frayed and I’d like to get a new foot pedal for it too. That will all have to wait until it’s out of the cabinet temporarily and we can assess just what it needs.
It came with a huge amount of accessories. I’ll post about them in part two!
Knifty Patterns 