It's December so, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, it's going to be cold. Your feet will really appreciate being wrapped up in something thick to keep the cold out and these socks are just the trick. You can find out all about the ideas in the blog post I wrote way back in August.

This is the first of the winter projects from A Year of Techniques and the aim is to practise leaving waste yarn in your work so that you can come back to add an afterthought heel. You can find the video tutorial for how to do this on the Mason-Dixon Knitting website. Instructions in the pattern are both written and charted so that however you prefer to work cabled patterns you have everything you'll need.

As well as the afterthought heel, Hedera Helix uses Judy's Magic Cast On from June and also Cabling from Charts from November's pattern. If you've not seen the videos to accompany these techniques, you will find them on the A Year of Techniques Tutorial page. 

As ever, you can join in the fun of sharing your progress in our bustling Ravelry group. Post a photo and you could start 2018 as one of the lucky prize winers selected at random.

The Schoppel Wolle Admiral 6ply used in the pattern is slightly thicker than normal sock yarn, so will knit up quicker and give a thicker fabric. If you start today, you can easily get them finished by Christmas.

The sample socks were knitted up in the Mars Green colourway and we have a whole range of Admiral 6ply shades for you to choose from in our online shop. 

You could of course go the whole hog and buy a Winter Kit, containing yarns for Hedera Helix and the projects for January and February, to keep you busy through the dark evenings.

Today (6th December) is the penultimate day of our Advent Offers. Until 23.59 GMT you can claim a 10% discount on a Winter Kit. Just enter the code WINTER10 at the checkout.