Knitzi

There have been a lot of comments about the Nutkin sock twisting uncontrollably. I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out why some twist and some do not. Thanks to Trish fromThe Tangled Arts, the mystery has been solved.

Behold the lovely Nutkin on the left. It has a minor amount of twisting, which is a natural effect caused by all of the left-leaning decreases. On the right, you see Nutkin’s evil twin.

You must take care to keep your stitches straight when you fold the cuff over and knit the cast on row with the live stitches. The first cast on stitch must be knit together with the first stitch in the round. If you are off just a stitch or two, you end up with the evil twisted twin.

To ensure you get the right stitch, it may help to put a split ring stitch marker or safety pin on the first cast on stitch before knitting the first round.

That is Reynolds Soft Sea Wool, by the way, and I don’t like it very much.

I’ve had an overwhelming response to my Noro Kureyon sock. The pattern is now available at Knitzi.com.

I was lucky enough to have a fabulous test knitter, Donyale. She did a terrific job and helped to perfect the pattern. Check out her awesome red socks, too. The socks look great is the red semi-solid, don’t they!

Get Jenny Wren here!

I added 3 new Knitzi bags to the shop today. These are some great prints - I especially love the blue one.

Many people have been asking about the carved Knitzis. The Skully Bones have been quite a success. We also have an new design forthcoming. Have a look at the beautiful Bundled Reeds.

Above, you can see some other developments: a new carved cap and an exotic wood Knitzi. The exotic wood is called Wenge, from Africa. This was a Christmas present for me! You can look forward to these being available, in limited quantity, in the future.

Knitzi.com was offline for a couple of days but the problem has been resolved. We are as good as new and serving customers again. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please feel free to contact us at info@knitzi.com with any questions.

It has been in the works for a while, but today I bring you my Nutkin sock pattern. A bit of an early Christmas present.

This is quite an easy pattern to memorize and is fun to knit. It is also quite flexible in sizing. The pattern can easily be altered to fit a smaller or larger foot, just by adding additional stitches and rows and continuing the pattern. The sock features:

A turned down cuff.

A short row heel.

A short row toe and 3 needle bind off.

A special thanks goes to Manda (KnitPsycho in Ravelry) who was kind enough to test knit the pattern for me. You can see hers here and here on Flickr and here on Ravelry.

I added a new pattern to the site today - actually 3 patterns. Hunca Munca is a collection of 3 baby socks, all based on the same simple pattern.

These are so adorable, they’ll surely please any baby feet they end up on. They would be great for decorations, too! Let me know if you try them out, I’d love to see your variations.

We’ve been taking volunteers for to help us test products and knitting patterns. In the few short months that we’ve been open, about 100(!!) testers have signed up. Since we are not putting new products out frequently yet, I’ve closed the sign ups. I want to be fair to the people have already offered their services and give them a fighting chance to be selected!

As an update, I have one pattern out being test knitted right now - Nutkin.

Please check back for updates, it should be posted soon!

We’ve sold out of the first batch of Knitzi bags. After putting my own bag through a lot of use, I decided to improve the design. I really love the simplicity and versatility of the Knitzi bag but thought it could be a little more roomy inside.

Each bag now has a gusset in the bottom and can accommodate larger balls of yarn and hold more stuff. There are also some new prints available:

I’ll have more available soon.

Well, not really - the name won’t be changed, but there are now more uses for the Knitzi. A crocheter recently sent in an email to ask about using the Knitzi for crochet. Although I can crochet (and do, periodically) I’m primarily a knitter and didn’t think of this possibility. Now that I’ve tried it out, I can say for sure, that it works.

When you are ready to put your crochet away, you just slip the crochet hook through a couple of stitches then slide the hook into the Knitzi with the work hanging out. This is very secure and your hook won’t fall out!

As for sizing, I was using one of the Boye hooks that I inherited from my mom. It is approximately 6 inches and fits perfectly in the 6″ Knitzi. I’m sure there is quite a range in lengths for crochet hooks so be sure to check the product descriptions to see what length is right for your hooks.

Just a quick message to say that ou 6″ and 8″ Original Knitzis are currently out of stock. We are working hard to get our stock back up and will be able to ship them on or before November 17.

I’m so pleased to know that the Knitzi is this popular! And thanks to all of the many volunteers for knitting and product testing. I have to get going on my patterns now.