Pattern: Stardust

Finished Measurements:
Pattern is written for women's size 8 (US)

Materials:
Size 1 double pointed needles
1 skein Patons Kroy Socks FX in Cadet Colors (MC)
1 skein Patons Kroy Socks FX in Clover Colors (CC)

Abbreviations:
K - knit
P - purl
Sl - slip unworked stitch from left needle to right needle
SSK - slip unworked stitch from left needle to right needle knitwise. Slip a second unworked stitch from the left needle to the right needle knitwise. Slip those two unworked stitches separately back to the left needle purlwise. Knit those two stitches together in the back of the  stitches (decrease).
K2tog - knit two stitches together (decrease).
P2tog - purl two stitches together (decrease).
Inc - knit into the front and back of the same stitch (increase).

Instructions:
Toe Shaping
Using provisional cast on method and MC, cast on 12 stitches
Round 1: P across
Round 2: K across
Round 3: P across
Round 4: K across

Remove live stitches from scrap yarn and place them on a double pointed needle. You should have 24 sts on two needles (12 sts per needle). Begin knitting in the round.

Round 5: *K2, Inc, K1 (add a needle) K1, Inc, K2.* Repeat from * to *
Round 6: Needle 1 - K2, Inc, K across needle
          Needle 2 - K across needle to last 3 sts, Inc, K2
          Needle 3 - K2, Inc, K across needle
          Needle 4 - K across needle to last 3 sts, Inc, K2

Repeat Round 6 until you have 40 sts total (10 sts per needle)

Round 7: K across
Round 8: Needle 1 - K2, Inc, K across needle
        Needle 2 - K across needle to last 3 sts, Inc, K2
        Needle 3 - K2, Inc, K across needle
        Needle 4 - K across needle to last 3 sts, Inc, K2

Repeat Round 7 and Round 8 until you have 64 sts total (16 sts per needle)

Foot:
For all foot rounds, work the Stardust Pattern below. The MC appears in white on the chart and the CC appears in black. Work until the sock is the length from the toe to the bend of your ankle at the top of your foot.

Heel Flap:

Turn so WS is facing and work across Needles 3 & 4 only (leave Needles 1 & 2 unworked and to the side) in CC only, meaning you do not work in the Stardust Pattern for the heel flap. 

Row 1: Sl 1, P across

Row 2: Sl 1, K across

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 nine more times (10 repeats total, or 20 rows).

Row 3: P16, P2tog, P1, turn (leave rem sts unworked)

Row 4: Sl 1, K3, K2tog, K1, turn (leave rem sts unworked)

Row 5: Sl 1, P4, P2tog, P1, turn

Row 6: Sl1, K5, K2tog, K1, turn. 
Row 7: Sl1, P6, P2tog, P1, turn. 
Row 8: Sl1, K7, K2tog, K1, turn. 
Row 9: Sl1, P8, P2tog, P1, turn. 
Row 10: Sl1, K9, K2tog, K1, turn. 
Row 11: Sl1, P10, P2tog, P1, turn. 
Row 12: Sl1, K11, K2tog, K1, turn. 
Row 13: Sl1, P12, P2tog, P1, turn. 
Row 14: Sl1, K13, K2tog, K1, turn. 
Row 15: Sl1, P14, P2tog, P1, turn. 

Row 16: Sl 1, K15, K2tog, turn

Row 17: Sl 1, P15, P2tog, turn

Split the remaining heel flap sts so there's 8 sts on Needle 4 and 9 sts on Needle 3. Begin working in the round again.

Round 9: K across Needle 3; K across Needle 4 and pick up and K 10 sts along heel flap edge on same Needle 4; K across Needles 1 & 2 in Stardust Pattern; pick up and K 10 sts along the other heel flap edge with Needle 3 and K remaining sts on Needle 3. (69 sts total). The spot between Needle 3 and Needle 4 will be the new starting point and Needle 4 now becomes Needle 1 and so on for the rest of the pattern.

Gusset Shaping: (decrease)

For the Gusset Shaping and the rest of the pattern until the end ribbing, work in the Stardust Pattern.

Round 10: Needle 1 - K across until last 3 sts, K2tog, K1.

       Needle 2 - K across.

       Needle 3 - K across.

       Needle 4 - K1, SSK, K across.

Round 11: K across.

Repeat Round 10 and Round 11 until there are 64 sts total (16 sts per needle). Note: Needle 4 has one more stitch on it than Needle 1, so on the last decrease row, decrease only on Needle 4.

Continue working in Stardust Pattern until you reach 1/4 inch less than your desired length.

Ribbing:
Using MC only, Work K1, P1 for five rows.
Cast off.

Stardust Pattern:
Here is what the pattern looks like in its entirety from far away:

It's not only great for socks, but would be wonderful with a scarf or even a sweater. I realize it's difficult to actually read the chart above, so I have separated it out into five different sections for ease of viewing and printing:

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Mysore 2016 - So much to do and see!

We have been home from India and our wonderful adventures in Mysore for a little over a week. It has been hard work getting over the jet lag and adjusting to life back at home, but we have incredibly fond memories of our trip and hope to return to the wonders of the Green Hotel again in a couple of years time.

While we were away we visited lots of incredible projects (see previous post), but also got to visit some lovely places of interest too. On the Sunday evening of our first weekend we visited Mysore Palace to see the lights come on. The palace and buildings within the grounds are lit up for half an hour in the evening and it is a real sight to behold and my images don't do it justice!

We returned to the Palace on the second Sunday morning to look around the inside. Unfortunately photography is prohibited inside so I didn't manage to get any images of the incredible pillars, ceiling and tile work, but you can find some by following this link. Below is an image taken from The History Hub to give you an idea of what the Place was like inside:

The Green Hotel was also once part of the Royal estate and belonged to the same Royal family as the main Mysore Palace before becoming part of Premier Film Studios and then the Hotel.

We also visited the Chamundi Temple which sits atop Chamundi Hill. We climbed over 1000 steps to the top of the Hill, passing monkeys and small Hindu temples along the way. We were pleased to get to the top and surprised to find a bustling market place and busy square after our pretty solitary walk up the steps - it seems most people get the bus or a tuc tuc!

While we were away it was Independence day so it was a National Holiday. The Green Hotel staff all gathered at the front of the Hotel and hoisted the National Flag (the Tiranga) and sang the National Anthem.

There is a beautiful lake within the grounds of the nearby University. Kukkarahalli Lake is open for a few hours each day for people to walk around. There are so many beautiful birds and it provides a lovely peaceful oasis within the noise and bustle of Mysore.

It goes without saying that we did a fair bit of shopping! We walked around the incredible Devaraja fruit, vegetable and flower market. There are a couple of good quality films about the Market that you can see on Youtube if you want to get an idea of what the market is like. The fruit and veg stalls are incredible and the market provides a feast of colours and I especially loved the flower stalls.

By the end of a our trip a huge amount of knitting had been done and the group had covered lots of techniques such as Fairisle, Intarsia, textural stitching, beading and making Dorset Buttons. Some of the group charted and knitted their own designs and I was so proud of everything they achieved.

Knit For Peace will be returning for another workshop at the Green Hotel next year and I can't recommend the trip highly enough. Staying at the Hotel, where all profits go to helping projects such as the supplementary schools and the orphanages, is a real treat and I feel like the whole experience has had an incredibly positive effect on both Andy and myself. We were so lucky to be amongst a fantastic group of knitters and are so grateful to all the staff at the Hotel for making sure we were so well looked after.

I am hopeful that we will return to the Hotel in 2018, especially as there are still many things left for us to visit and I would like to thank Dame Hilary and the team at Knit For Peace for all their generosity and hospitality. If you would like to find out more about the work of Knit For Peace and the workshops and events they run, please link through to their web site here.

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Mysore 2016 - Visiting Projects

Along with all the knitting and yarn related things we have been up to over the last 10 days we have also been visiting some of the projects funded by the Charities Advisory trust and in turn the Knit For Peace charity. On Thursday of last week the group visited a supplementary school and a slum area of Mysore.

The images below were taken by Jenny on her visit to both of the projects.

We have also had the opportunity to visit some of the local schools and one of the girls orphanages sponsored by the charity. All these visits were a real treat - the children were so excited to meet us and keen to speak to us. They are really inspirational with dreams of careers in medicine, engineering and computer science, as well as the usual wishes to become actresses, singers and dancers!

On Sunday the children came to the Green Hotel for afternoon tea and did a lovely performance to us which included yoga, dancing and singing. The boys dancing was especially energetic and they did some daredevil acrobatics too!

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