Mosaic Knitting - Kira K Designs Kalidoscopic Cowl

Being relatively new to knitting, I have to admit that I wasn't even sure WTF mosaic knitting was until I purchased this cute and colorful kit from Kira K Designs at Lambtown.  Certainly I've seen it and admired it but until I actually tried it, I suppose I just assumed that all stranded colorwork was knit in the Fair Isle fashion and I had no idea that the same motifs could also be knit simply using slip stitches and then knitting them with contrasting colors.  

 Now that I've done it, I'm like, "Duhhh!", but at the time it was a startling revelation.  Concept-wise, it's quite similar to tapestry or intarsia crochet and the motif charts are easily interchangeable. 

This pattern was extremely easy to follow.  It has charts and written options and striping sequence options for a 2-color or 8-color cowl.  The yarn included in this kit is from Knitted Wit.  It's worsted weight SWM and extremely soft and squishy.

As you can see, I opted for the 8-color version which leaves no shortage of ends to be woven in.  I knit this pattern with the US 6 and 9 needles recommended and it came out shorter than the finished dimensions on the pattern but since I had some extra yarn leftover, I just repeated the same color pattern on the bottom and the top.

Xena looks like some sort of extraterrestrial plant with her fashion star pose.

T pins offer endless (dangerous) hours of amusement for a toddler.

I always feel a bit ludicrous posing in a cowl indoors but it's too rainy and foggy (incidentally, it's perfect cowl weather) to take very fine photos outdoors this afternoon.  I am completely satisfied with this kit and I look forward to trying this pattern again with some yarn from my own stash and the 2-color option.

Tin Can Knits Rye Light Socks

Hooray!  I finally knit a different sock pattern.  I tried the free Rye Light pattern by Tin Can Knits which was simple enough but required significant modifications for my rather petite feet.  I used the Urban Girl Yarns SWM sock yarn in Nutmeg that I picked up at trunk show over the summer in RVA. 

I cast on (60 stitches for) the small adult size of the socks, working the 1x1 ribbing with size 1 needles and the rest of the sock on size 2 needles. 

The small adult size of the heel flap was WAY too big for my foot, so big that I actually reverted to the pattern's size length of a baby's heel flap (16 rows total).

I turned the heel to the small adult size but then worked the gusset and foot with a combo of mods.  I picked up 9 stitches on each side of the heel flap (baby size) for a total of 33 stitches on each side (66 stitches total) and then only knit of total of 3 decrease rounds (6 rounds total to get back down to 60 stitches in the round).

 

For the rest of the pattern, I followed the small adult instructions.  I'm very pleased with the results and quite proud of myself for successfully calculating my own modifications.

Next, I am going to try this pattern again, entirely on size 1 needles with different yarn.  I'm am curious to see what (if any) modifications will be required.