Things have been busy since Christmas but during the last week I've finally found some time to sit down and work on a new pattern. I've had the idea for a Star Trek tribute sock for a while. Designing one was a bit terrifying though. I've never knit a sock, let alone designed one so I've made this as easy as I can for fellow sock beginners. It's knit from the toe up with a Turkish cast on and a short row heel. You can knit it in blue for Medical/Sci, like the example in the photo, red for Engineering or gold for Command. The silver stripes denote your rank and are based on the insignia from the 2009 movie. Instructions include the insignia for Captain, Commander, Chief Medical and Engineering Officers, Lieutenant and Ensign. There are also two sizes, ladies and mens.

The pattern includes a couple of yarn ideas and all the instructions you should need to make a pair of socks to fit you. The pattern is free to download. Just click on the link below and please let me know how you get on.

Ridley had taken possession of one of my favourite fairisle sweaters. He insisted on sleeping on it every night. In order to get my sweater back I decided to make him something to cuddle up to. I spotted Anastasia Roeszler's pattern for a cat crescent on Ravelry and decided it was perfect. All the cats who already have one seem to love it. There was just one problem. The original is knit as 14 separate triangles which are then sewn together. I hate sewing. So I decided to modify the pattern to knit the cushion as a single piece.

If you're a fellow sewing-phobe you can click on the icon below to download my pattern notes.WARNING:If you’ve ever knit a shawl you know what it’s like knitting long rows. At its widest point this cushion contains over 300 stitches per row. Great for TV knitting but hard on the arms. If you find the stitch count a bit daunting you might want to stick to the original pattern. It's available for free from Orange Fish Knits.

I finished Ridley's cushion yesterday and he slept on it all night. Finally, I managed to reclaim that sweater.

I wanted to make myself an off the shoulder sweater but I couldnt find a design I liked so I improvised one. This is a yoked raglan with hems and side panels in 1x1 rib. The central panel of staggered lace fern leaves is framed by stocking stitch. Waist and bust shaping has been done by decreasing and increasing the number of stocking stitches. The body was knit in the round and the sleeves knit flat then joined at the armholes to form the yoke.

This is a very fitted sweater and the pattern notes should be fine for a 32-34 inch bust. If you want to make a large size you will need to add extra stitches either to the ribbed side panels or the stocking stitch panels. If you add them to the ribbed side panels remember to increase by an even number of stitches to accomodate the 1x1 rib pattern. If you have the skills I have also been told you can add short rows to the bust if you just need more room on top. If you're tall or long waisted extra length can be added either side of the waist or bust increases by knitting extra pattern repeats. Extra length can be added to the sleeves by increasing the number of rows between each increase.

What you'll need:

Yarn: between 900 and 1200 meters of DK weight yarn. I used Stylecraft Life DK in burgundy. The sweater itself only used 3 x 298 meter balls but I had to break into a fourth ball for the seams. :-(
Guage: 22 sts x 32 rows per 10cms
Needles: 1 x 3.75mm, 60cms circular needle for the body. 1 Pair of 3.75mm straight needles for the sleeves.
Extras: Stitch markers. Use different colours to mark the lace panel and the raglan decs, row counter, tapestry needle, scissors, scrap yarn, stitch holder.

You can download the pattern notes by clicking on the thumbnail below.