I designed this little pattern for a swap over on Ravelry’s OTF group. We’re making stockings, popping in a few little treats and posting them off to each other for some festive cheer.

They’re just a very simplified, easily adaptable sock pattern. I wouldn’t suggest using this heel on a real pair of socks, but it works very well for something decorative.

This pattern looks great in a variety of sizes, from the smallest lace weight stocking to put on a gift to the larger sizes to hang on the foot of a bed with something nice tucked inside.

You will need the yarn of your choice and a circular needle or DPNs in the size recommended on the label, plus a tapestry needle to close the toe..

For my sample knits, I used the following:

2 g of Dream in Color Baby and 2 mm / US0 needles (green)

89g of Cleckheaton Gusto 10 and 10mm / US15 needles (black and aqua)

10g of Malabrigo Worsted and 5mm / US8 needles (red)

4 g of Tempted Good Grrl and 2.25mm / US1 needles (navy and purple)

Using long tail cast on, and leaving a foot or two of yarn in the tail, co 24 stitches.

Join in the round, being careful not to twist your stitches. Mark beginning of round.

Knit 20 rows.

Make a basic short row heel as follows:

Row 1: k6, turn work, slip 1 purlwise, purl 11, turn work
Row 2: slip 1, k10, turn
Row 3: slip 1 purlwise, p9, turn
Row 4: slip 1, k8, turn
Row 5: slip 1 purlwise, p7, turn
Row 6: slip 1, k7, turn
Row 7: slip 1 purlwise, p8, turn
Row 8: slip 1, k9, turn
Row 9: slip 1 purlwise, p10, turn
Row 10: slip 1, k11

Return to working in the round. Don’t worry too much if you have small holes in your heel, it won’t see too much wear and tear and you can sew up the holes later.

Knit 15 rows. Your round will end in line with the middle of the heel.

Make toe as follows, with twelve stitches on each needle, N1 will have the round marker in the centre.

Row 1: knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k1
Row 2: k1, ssk, knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k
Row 3: k1, ssk, knit to end
Row 4: knit

Repeat rows 1 – 4 twice and rows 1 – 3 once more.

You will have 12 stitches in total remaining.

Graft stitches together using kitchener stitch, or simply bind off and sew the two sides together.

There are two ways to make the hanging loop:

1. Pick up two stitches beside the cast on tail and knit an inch or so of icord (length dependant on the size of your stocking), loop it around and secure it to the inside of the stocking.
2. Cut a length of yarn twice the length of the cast on tail, thread it through the stocking beside the tail and braid an inch or so (length dependant on the size of your stocking), loop it around and secure it to the inside of the stocking.

Notes on personalising your stocking:

• You can use any yarn you fancy, just use the recommended needle size.
• Try striping two different colours of the same yarn.
• Try knitting the first few rows with a novelty yarn before switching to your main yarn.
• Knit two rows, purl two rows for an interesting effect.
• Use it as a small canvas to try a new technique, like intarsia or duplicate stitch.
• Try a small cable on the leg of the stocking. Remember that the cable will draw in the rows, so you may want to shorten the leg and foot by a few rows.

Enjoy!

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.

I’m a soap maker, and sometimes things just don’t go according to plan. Take these beer soaps, for example. They’re beautiful to use (if I do say so myself), Beer Castile, 100% olive oil made with Tooheys Old, but, well, they’re kind of fug.

I poured them at too thick a trace and they’re lumpy and cragy and too small to sell.

How to fix these naked beer soaps? Crank out some soap socks on my little vintage toy knitting machine.

It’s kind of impossible to find directions for this thing online, so hopefully this will help anyone googling vintage toy circular knitting machine instructions.

So, what follows is my pattern for soaps in socks. I sell these, so please only use this pattern and tutorial for personal use, charity crafting and gifts. It is not for commercial use.

I love these little soaps, they’re made of a 100% wool single that is really drifty and felts really nicely. I used Sean Sheep Armytage for these, but it’s very much like Brown Sheep Lambs’s Pride Worsted in feeling (not in content, though).

This is my machine, which I believe is from the early 70s. To start a tube, all you do is thread a few inches of yarn through the centre of the machine, then, starting with the coloured needle (which is really kind of a hook, but they’re called needles) wrap the yarn under the first needle and behind the second, continuing until you’re back before the coloured needle.

It’s really important that you do this first step loosely, because otherwise, the machine will get stuck and make a terrible grinding noise.

Now, with the yarn threaded under the hook of each needle, crank 20 rounds of the machine. The handle turns more than once for each revolution of the barrel, so count the number of times the coloured needle passes.

Once you have gone around 20 times, stop and cut the yarn tail to about six inches (more or less, depending on your preference and your adeptness with a darning needle).

Thread your darning needle with the yarn tail and use it to catch each loop as it comes off each needle, as you crank slowly around. Once they are all on the darning needle, slip them onto the yarn tail and tighten the loop as far as you can, then secure it. Because these are being felted and will lose some of the stitch definition, I thread the yarn through the knitting and tie a knot, weave the end for an inch or so and then clip.

Place your soap into the soap sock and tighten the beginning tail of the yarn to snug, and secure as for the other end. Lovely Zephyrama suggested that you crochet the yarn end into a chain to make a soap rope. Nice!

Your soap is now ready to use. Because you’ve used a feltable wool, the sock will tighten with use and create a nice, scrubby surface.

Enjoy!

It should possibly be noted that there are modern toy knitting machines on the market, I believe there is a Barbie branded one. I haven’t used one of these, but my research has indicated that they’re pretty crap, the tension is impossible and they break after a few revolutions. I guess they don’t make them like they used to.

If you ever see one of these old machines around, pick it up, there are some fun things to be made, from toys to knit suffolk puffs (yoyos) and scarves.

We’ve a few more patterns in our repertoir that use this machine, we’ll post them as we get projects photographed.

Soaps in Socks by Spiraling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

This second, cheats version of Necking is for those of us lucky to have a vintage toy knitting machine in their possession. Those without, the original version is here.

This is an early 70s toy circular knitting machine.

You will need one of these
approx 40g sock wool
4.5mm/ US 7 circular needle or DPNs, as preferred
blunt needle for finishing

Cast onto your sock knitting machine using your sock wool, leaving a small tail.

Knit 25 rounds, then remove work from machine onto your circular needle or dpns.

Knit your favourite heel, or work a short row heel as follows:

At beginning of round, knit five stitches.
Turn, purl 10, turn
Slip 1, knit 8, turn
Slip 1, purl 7, turn
S1, knit 6, turn
S1, purl 5, turn
S1, knit 4, turn
S1, purl 3, turn

Turn the heel as follows:

S1, knit 3, turn
S1, purl 4, turn
S1, knit 5, turn
S1, purl 6, turn
S1, knit 7, turn
S1, purl 8, turn
S1, knit 9

Return work to knitting machine and knit until scarf measures a approximately six inches less than desired length.

Remove work from machine again, repeat heel, then replace work on machine.

Knit 25 rows.

Cut yarn approximately one foot from end of work, thread through loops on machine as you remove the work. Pull yarn taught, tie off and weave in end.

Thread beginning tail through cast on stitches, pull taught, tie off and weave in end.

For a Second Sock Syndrome version, omit second heel and simply crank until scarf reaches desired length, then bind off.

Wear with pride.

Necking by Spiraling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

You will need:

approx 40g sock yarn
7mm / US size 10 3/4 circular needle or dpns, as preferred
4.5mm / US 7 circular needle or dpns, as preffered

Using your preferred cast-on method (I like to use long-tail, so I can skip a row) and 7mm / US 10 ¾ needles, cast on 16 stitches.

Being careful not to twist, join in the round, mark beginning of round and knit 25 rows.

Change to smaller needles.

Knit your favourite heel, or work a short row heel as follows:

At beginning of round, knit five stitches.
Turn, purl 10, turn
Slip 1, knit 8, turn
Slip 1, purl 7, turn
S1, knit 6, turn
S1, purl 5, turn
S1, knit 4, turn
S1, purl 3, turn

Turn the heel as follows:

S1, knit 3, turn
S1, purl 4, turn
S1, knit 5, turn
S1, purl 6, turn
S1, knit 7, turn
S1, purl 8, turn
S1, knit 9

Return to working in the round, change to larger needle/s and knit until scarf measures around five inches shorter than desired length.

Work another heel, as per the directions above.

Knit another 25 rows once you return to working in the round.

To finish, cut about six inches of yarn, thread onto blunt needle and thread through working stitches.

Pull tight and secure. Weave in ends.

Thread cast on tail onto blunt needle. Thread through cast on stitches.

Pull tight and secure. Weave in ends.

For a Second Sock Syndrome version, omit second heel and simply crank until scarf reaches desired legnth, then bind off.

Wear with pride.

Necking by Spiraling is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Some of our patterns are going to be rereleased on this site, and two new ones are coming soon.

Soaps in Socks

Ralph

Zara

Popcorn

Necking