This past week I finally got around to working on my patterns page at Ravelry.  I rarely visit Ravelry any more, and never got much traffic from there even when I was diligent about posting and participating there.  Once or twice a year someone writes to ask about this or that pattern.  A couple times I was unable to provide the pattern, but with the recent computer SNAFU and rebuilding my collection of files (and combining everything onto an external hard drive that will travel with me to any new computer), I found all but two of the patterns listed at Ravelry.  Unfortunately I have not found a way to delete a pattern listing, so those two I had to simply mark that they were no longer available.  Bummer for those two, but all the rest have been edited to show that people need to write to me to request a pattern that is listed there on my patterns page at Ravelry.

Meanwhile, as I was sifting and sorting through my files, I also found this Shell Stitch technique from 2016.  I’m not sure it was ever actually published and distributed (maybe it was, but I’ve slept since then, so I’m just not sure).  It looks fancy and complicate but it is just knitted back and forth in very easy short-row technique.  All you need to know is how to cast-on, knit, purl, and bind-off.   NO wrap-and-turn or other fussiness!  🙂

This was originally found as a machine knitting technique, but I re-wrote it for hand-knitting.  It is in chart form, with every row neatly marked for knitting forward, purling back. I’ve included directional arrows as well as stitch count for every row.  I’ve written it for the sample shown below, but once you understand the pattern, you can work as many repeats wide and long as you wish.  This is a stitch technique not a project pattern.

The best part is that you can have this stitch technique for FREE when you purchase any of this week’s new Blog Reader Specials.  Most of this week’s dye jobs are ideal for this technique.  It also works with nearly all of the available yarns from the Blog Reader Specials page. The sample shown here was knit on a skein of Phydlbitz Sock dyed in a Turquoise Fade with Navy Tip, but it will work with virtually any color combination or a monochrome fade.  The beauty of it is that you just knit or purl and let the yarn do all the magic of making it look complicated!

Onward to the yarns!

There is more Phydlbitz Sock arriving this week, but I had a short batch of Merino DK to use up, so that’s what I dyed for you.   These are all 100% Superwash Merino DK, 280 yards, and $28.00 each.  For Monday and Tuesday, you can get Preview Pricing — $26.00 for each skein.

These will be ready to ship on or before Thursday.

Most of the colors are self-explanatory;  the Twinset #254-255 are deep rich gold and purple (depending on your monitor it may be appear as a dark brown or even navy or black).   I have rotated one skein of each Twinset so you can see the color sequencing on both skeins.  They were all dyed as Twinsets, but you don’t have to request both skeins of a Twinset.  In fact, depending on your choices, if you want to knit the shell stitch, you might want to get two different colorways and alternate your shells by rows.  🙂

To claim the ones you want, just send me an email with your numbered requests.  I will honor requests based on the time-stamp of your email, and will mark off the tally just below so you can see which ones are available at the time of your visit.

eta:  The unclaimed yarns have now been posted to the Blog Reader Specials page; click through to see which yarns are available at the time of your visit. 

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