Popped

These were first. These were first, way back in 2009, when I absolutely did not know what I was doing. Back when sock patterns tended to come in one size and dictate what sort of needle you should use and assume you knew how to turn a heel and decrease for a toe. Back when I wrote patterns in word processing software and created charts as spreadsheets and took pictures with flash because I didn’t know any better. And of course I got better with practice, because that’s what people do! And as I improved, I tucked all of those earliest patterns safely away so they couldn’t cause problems for anyone or make me feel bad about what I didn’t know when I started. But oh...oh I kind of missed them. Because the socks themselves were awfully fetching! And it hardly seemed fair to keep them locked away just because I didn’t know what I was doing when I was new. When I realized I was coming up on the fifteen year anniversary of my first pattern, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit old friends. So here they are again in a brand new iteration. They’re not exactly the same as that original pattern (so if you see a picture of the originals, don’t be alarmed by the differences). Instead they’re what I’d knit now having spent the last fifteen years knitting and writing patterns and answering sock questions. Now the socks come in lots of sizes and gauges, and the pattern has all sorts of little reminders to help with any potential sticky spots, and it gives you options for keeping that lovely bit of fancy business at the top of your foot or moving it down closer to your toes or even for working the whole foot in the same pattern as the leg. Because those are the sorts of things patterns should do! And now this one does. Here’s to fifteen more years!
March 11, 2024|

Xanthophyll

Anyone with any Patreon membership (including the free one) gets this pattern included free in their membership. They get a bunch of other patterns too! Here's a preview of the patterns you get at the Sheer Nonsense ($3), Utter Nonsense ($6), and Rampant Nonsense ($12) levels. Oh and there are a couple of other goodies for free members too! And of course, you can change or cancel your membership at any time, and you'll still have access to anything you got while you're a member, even if you cancel later.  Leaves are magic. They really are. But they’re one of those little everyday bits of magic that we’re surrounded by all the time, so sometimes we sort of stop noticing them. But if you pay attention, you’ll see leaves do all sorts of things. They grow, they change shape, they move around, and, maybe best of all, they change color. Xanthophyll is one of the things that helps with that color change. It’s a yellow pigment that is usually hidden behind the green pigment chlorophyll. For much of the year you can’t see it, but it’s protecting the leaf from the stress that can be caused by sudden bursts of bright sunlight. When the green chlorophyll fades away, the yellow xanthophyll becomes visible again, which is part of why leaves turn yellow in the fall. And I kind of love that. I kind of love the idea of something being there, quietly protecting you in the background, even if you can’t see it. And then when the circumstances are right, and you do get to see it, it’s beautiful! It seems like a lovely way to think about handknit socks. They’re there, quietly protecting you, even though you might not see much of them as you go about your day. But when you do catch sight of them, they’re so lovely they stop you in your tracks. And that feels like a sort of magic too!
May 15, 2024|
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