The Hairy Knitter

https://linktr.ee/jamiemccanless He/him. I publish knitting patterns of my designs and promote them here. Some are modeled by men. If you don’t want to see men’s bodies, don’t look.

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Hand-dyed Yarn

I confess. I bought yarn. Beautiful yarn.

2 Guys Yarn Company is shutting down, and I succumbed to Gene's sale and the chance to replace 2GYC yarn I bought long ago. From top to bottom, these fingering weight skeins are:

Tweedy Toes • OOAK 001-01 (red) • Frank's Tile (orange) • Focus Enhancement (golden) • OOAK 6 (soft pink) • You Lichen It (gray green)

Snowball • Guac (green)

To paraphrase Douglas Adams, "So long and thanks for all the yarn.

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Short Socks

There, that's done. Today was cool and a little rainy, a perfect day to finish the short sock I was knitting on the ferry yesterday. The finished pair is so comfortable, bright, and cheerful.

It'll be close, but I should be able to knit two more short socks from the rest of the ball of Universal Yarn's Filly cotton and wool fingering weight yarn in colorway 101 Bloom.

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Adventures in Ferry Knitting

It was really just a series of delays, and if you live here for very long you learn forbearance. Several ferries have run late all day, probably the result of crew availability. At Lopez Island, the last stop before returning to Friday Harbor, a collision on the car deck kept us there for a while. I don't think I've seen a ferry make that last leg as quickly as we did today.

Honestly, I didn’t mind. The sky was so clear you could see Mt. Baker, and the day was generally beautiful. I would have liked a little MORE time to finish the last round of my sock before starting toe decreases. As long as I have knitting with me, long lines, delays, and wait times barely affect me.

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Swatching at Sunset

This will be the largest size of my new sock design, and I’m checking some technical stuff before knitting the prototype.

Perhaps one day I’ll hear how it was a favorite gift or a knitter feels a sense of accomplishment or it’s the pair someone reaches for when they’re in a particular mood.

I’ll have named the design by then. 😋

[jamiemccanless]

Hand-dyed Yarn

Few things lift this knitter's spirits like new yarn. Today, this beautiful skein arrived from dyer Jeremy Kaiser!

Jeremy tells me that he adapted a culinary technique to dying yarn. I don't know what technique that is, but the results are spectacular. The neon pinks and greens in this yarn plus the smattering of blue and purple are perfect for summer.

It's fingering/sock weight, 75% extra fine superwash merino wool, and 25% recycled nylon.

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Serene Sunday Knitting

A little peaceful porch knitting on this soft sunny Sunday. From bottom to top, stacked the finished short sock, the ball of Universal Yarn's Filly, and the sock-in-progress.

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Scrappy Pirate Socks

Now it’s a saga. 🙄

A follower took comfort in what he thought was a gap where a heel flap and gusset intersect. 😮 I don’t pretend that my method for preventing those gaps is foolproof, but it’s been very reliable.

On close examination there was no gap, but there WAS a missing/dropped/lost stitch on the SSK side of the purple and pink sock that grew when I poked at it.

Sigh.

Couldn’t let that stand. I ripped back to the beginning of the gusset and found what happened. I know what I’ll change in the pattern, and I’m nearly ready to reknit the toe. I’ll be able to knit this design in my sleep! 😵‍💫

I do like my gussets.

[jamiemccanless]

Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

Worthwhile Wednesday

I really truly finished my scrappy pirate socks for Jen's Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026! (@every.thing.shapes.us on IG)

I didn't have much that I'd knit in stripes. Besides, I really like helical knitting in leftover yarn. I thought a pattern stitch would be more fun, too, then thought "what if the second sock was the pattern stitch reflected" and had to come up with that slipped-stitch right twist. Never mind the frustration of versions that didn't fit, these are two of the most comfortable socks I've ever knit!

The rules want six or more colors. I used these eight:

Froelich-Wolle Special Blauband 59 (orange)

Froelich-Wolle Special Blauband Multicolor 7279 (blues)

Knit Picks Essential 23696 (gray)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0184 (hot pink)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0198 (medium olive)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0246 (light lavendar)

SpaceCadet's Mini-Skein (a tonal purple)

Sugarplum Circus Sparkle Sock Rachel (variegated yellow)

As soon as I posted photos, people asked for the pattern. I hate when that happens. (No, I don't.) There isn't a pattern, though. Yet. If you followed this adventure, you've seen one of the messiest design processes I've ever muddled through. This pair fits my size ten-ish feet, and I want to include one larger size and two smaller, so this may take a while.

In the meantime, I need a name for the design (and thanks for reading this far). Grasslands, Wanderer, and Savannah are already used for sock patterns. What do you think would be a good name?

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

Tuesday Toe!

This "finishes" my pair of scrappy pirate socks for the Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026. Of course I tweaked it a bit since knitting the first sock's toe. Of course I'll reknit the first one.

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

I worked on my scrappy pirate sock today.

Translation: I contentedly knit for hours and hours.

True, I also did a lot of obsessive measuring and recording yardage.

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

Let there be gussets!

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Short Socks

Sometimes you just have to stop and breathe. We’ve had exceptionally pleasant weather for the beginning of July… breezy, misty 63° weather, even a little rain. I finished turning the heel on this short sock during ferry knitting, so I took an afternoon to continue with the gusset. This colorway of Filly is so cheerful!

Universal Yarn Filly, 101 Bloom (46/33/12/9 Cotton/Superwash Merino/Polymide/PBT)

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

Merrily I knit along. This second pirate sock is coming along very nicely. The heel flap is almost finished.

The most satisfying part isn't even visible. As made my way through the first sock, designing as I went, I constructed seven charts. They work great!

I don't publish any pattern I can't follow myself. ☺️️

[jamiemccanless]

Easy Recipes

Pickled mushrooms 😮

They won’t last long. Thanks to Jorey Tessier (@joreytessier on IG) my refrigerator will contain a murky jar of these for the foreseeable future.

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Ferry Knitting

Socks, always socks

Much as I enjoy ferry knitting, it's not good for documenting a new sock pattern. It IS a good (?) that I've only knit one of four short socks from a ball of Filly. I cast on a new sock last night so I could knit the heel flap and turn the heel on the ferry today.

The ferry itself, MV Tillikum, is the oldest in the Washington State Ferries system, older even than me. I took my camera around the passenger deck for a change. It's not luxurious, but there are jigsaw puzzles on some tables.

Universal Yarn Filly, 101 Bloom (46/33/12/9 Cotton/Superwash Merino/Polymide/PBT)

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

The second sock

Here comes the second pirate sock!

I’ve grown to love helical knitting with leftover yarn. Colors look different next to each other. Colorways show unexpected subtlety when they’re spread out a little. Ah, the magic of yarn and color.

The combination of these two subdued purples is better than I expected. It has a more sophisticated feel than the first sock. Even so, the battery-powered pink cuff and heel will keep them playful.

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Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026

Second Sock

I wasted no time casting on a second sock for the Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026. It'll be easier than the first one, but I'm still excited. See, the original pattern stitch uses a slipped stitch left twist. I thought including a right twist version would be fun, so I applied the LT approach to a RT. Ta dah!

Will pirate socks with left and right slanting designs in four sizes be too much for me? Stay tuned to find out.

In the meantime, I need a name for this design.