51 posts tagged “sock”
Currently I am knitting J another pair of Orange Socks - I am using the Saxony Pattern (72 stitches on 2.5mm needles) and some great merino cashmere sock yarn from Cariad Yarns in this fabulous bright colour. I am getting a bit of laddering on the needles which is annoying but I think I can block it out in the final product. I have made the heels unusual wide because a) J has strangely high arches and b) I was very worried that the intense cable pattern would make these very hard to get on over the instep. So far they fit him like a dream but the extra yarn has left me panicking I don't have enough to finish them. I am persevering and if the worst comes to it I have some other orange yarn which will have to finish a toe or something.
I am also knitting some red socks for R. I have never knitted socks for R before but I am confident she is someone who truly appreciates knitted gifts and she has dropped several hints over the last couple of years that she would like more knitted socks (I am not her only source of them you see!) I realised that knitting her a pair of socks was probably well overdue and so last Sunday I cast on for a pair of Kai Mai socks from Cookie A's Sock Innovation book (66 stitches on 2.5mm needles). I started out with some Lisa Souza Yarn but the gauge was totally wrong and I ripped out half a sock and then picked another yarn instead. This time I got out the red yarn of Unknown Origin. This is the yarn that Triskellian and I bought together about 3 years ago at Ally Pally. We bought 500g of it for £5! And then eventually split it in half. I already used some of it on the "push me pull me" socks in stripes with plain black yarn (and I happen to think that the PMPM socks are probably some of the most gorgeous and striking I have ever knit for myself) It is lovely stuff and really well dyed and doesn't seem to have lost its colour at all in the PMPM socks. I have now completed 1.5 Kai Mai socks in the red yarn (after having ripped out 3/4 of a foot for getting the second pattern repeat spiralling the wrong way and only realising far too late) and they look great. I will be giving them to R but only because I have a will of iron!
I finished the Komet Socks for a friend for Christmas and I am so pleased with the way they turned out. I think that they look gorgeous and they were great fun to knit. I shall definitely be knitting more of Stephanie Van Der Linden's patterns, free and paid since it was interesting and really well written. It looks really complicated and yet I was still able to memorise the pattern quickly which was precisely the sort of knit I was looking for. I think that the mixture of cables and lace makes the cables pop out even more.
I realised very late that Indigo Moon, the yarn I used, which whilst absolutely beautiful in terms of colour is probably the louet gems base yarn which is just not my favourite really and that was a shame. On the up side these are a gift so I won't be wearing them if that is a problem for me.
I also completed them during the blue phase of Project Spectrum. I haven't been following Project Spectrum much in my knitting this year. I think I got put off because it started with a colour I really didn't like and my knitting never got back in sync after that.
Wow - it is so long since I have posted. I did lose some mojo for a while and coupled with the dodgy typing on my laptop it has curtailed my desire to blog so much but I am going to try and make up for that now.
The first project I completed is the nearly fated Titania socks. I started these in some Natural Dye Studio yarn in rosebud which pooled in a very ugly way and didn't work at all. Then I lost the patter for about 2 years then I found the pattern and eventually tried it out with some Blue Moon Fibre Arts Socks that Rock in Thraven from the raven series of yarns overdyed in black. It was dark and gothic and gorgeous (despite it being nearly 10 years I am still a recovering goth!) and became the Dark Titania's Revenge socks. They are a little bit big for me (but my other pair of STR have felted a little bit so I am figuring that this might just reduce them to a perfect fit over time) and because of warm(ish) weather I have only been able to wear them a couple of times since finishing them. But I love them and I can't wait to wear them lots in Winter.
The pattern was lots of fun but it was hard to decrease the lace part over the top of the foot and make it look nice. There aren't great instructions for this so it was sort of a case of making it up as you go along which is fine but they haven't come out quite as well as I would have liked. Only I will ever know that though so I am not too worried but I would probably try and fix this if I was knitting these socks a second time in a lighter yarn where it would be more obvious.
Socks that Rock Mediumweight yarn is ok but a little bit on the thick side for my preference. I have 2 skeins of mediumweight left though and I like it, just in future will probably prefer to buy lightweight.
So far I am doing well on the Christmas Knitting. I have 3 pairs of socks finished, 1 pair almost finished and a 2nd pair in progress and 1 cowl of my own design finished.
This means there is only 2.5 pairs of socks (ish) left to knit and I am done for Christmas Yay!
But I wanted to do a little post with some of the work in progress for that.
Firstly the completed socks from my father out-law now named A Sky full of Bees for obvious reasons (although J insists they are called a sky full of bananas).
Secondly I am working on some Komet socks for T. This is a free pattern by Stephanie Van Der Linden from her Sockenkreativliste. There were several amazing patterns put out on this list which I was dying to try and this is the first time I have finally managed to cast one on. The pattern is interesting and intricate but not horribly complicated (although it looks it to people who don't knit!). I am knitting it in Indigo Moon merino yarn which is nice. The yarn is in a blue semi solid which is perfect for the pattern and it sort of plumps up during the knitting process which is great. It has a nice sheen and twist on it and is soft. This was part of the haul I bought at Socktopus back in the spring. I would probably buy more of this yarn if the right colour came along but since I am trying to save money these days that won't be for a while.
I shall definitely be trying out more of Stephanie's patterns in the future!
I have now completed my first pair of socks from my Cat Bordhi Book New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I have decided that this is the perfect book for variegated yarn because it is mostly about structure not fancy patterns that will get lost in fancy colours. To this end I picked my Hazel Knits yarn in a green and blue combination and set about trying Bartholomew's socks. This book is all about putting the instep increases in strange and wonderful knew places and this pattern puts them in a V shape starting at about the anklebone point on the front of the ankle and running them down either side of the foot to the sole. It also incorporates a great linen stitch which I love. This is like offset slip one knit one but on the slip stitch you carry the yarn in front. This creates a sort of woven look which breaks up variegated yarns in amazing and interesting ways. The fabric created can be quite stiff but this didn't create an issue in this pattern.
I decided that these socks would be for J and followed his measurements in the pattern. There is a master numbers thing going on here to help you customise any pattern to fit. I have quite worked this out yet so that is my next thing to do with this book.
Here are the finished socks.
NB - J says that the heel is a little
bit loose on these. I haven't yet work out why though. I shall need
to consider this before I make them again though and I wonder if it
because of the placement of the increases? Being opposite the heel
where normally they are not?
The second item I finished early in the holiday was the Heath's socks for J. This was a nice simple pattern which I could knit happily in the car or watching movies etc. The final fit is good and I knit them using Artyarns in Turquiose and Brown. I think that the pattern works well with the varigated yarn and both stand out on their own. I can't believe how fast I knit these up though, they took about a week when they should have taken two!
The yarn was fun to knit with and I hope that it wears well. I don't think it is nicer than other high end yarns and annoyingly it comes in 50g skeins which I dislike since those skeins always seem to end up more expensive somehow. I bought this yarn on sale from purlescence and I might get it again if it was on sale but the other colours didn't really float my boat in the same way as Easyknits or Socks that Rock do.
Knitting so many socks from Favourite Socks and Knitting on the Road has helped me really refine the way I knit them and now there are several tips and tricks I do as standard whenever I knit I am adding to these all the time and I have recently discovered another tip from Techknitting to eliminate the holes which appear when you knit a heel flap or a short row heel and then rejoin the heel knitting with the main knitting after picking up all the wraps or picking up stitches down the edge of a heel flap.
So now my list of tips runs as follows:
Toe up
Use Judy’s magic cast on to start the sock but knit the second half of the cast on stitches through the back loop to eliminate the twist.
Knit a heel flap where possible rather than short rows as this give a much better fit.
If you do knit a short row heel then rewrap all the stitches as you pick up and knit/purl the stitch and the two picked up wraps through the back loop to eliminate the holes you normally get
Cast off using the sewn bind off by Elizabeth Zimmerman for maximum stretchiness.
Cuff Down
Cast on over 2 needles to make the first set of stitches as loose as possible.
Cross over the first and last stitch of the cast on stitches passing one through the other to make it easier to start knitting in the round.
Tips for both types.
Knit a little over half the leg from the cuff down or ankle up ending with the cuff on 3.0m needle and the foot and ankle on 2.5m needles. This means that the part of the sock circling the wider part of your leg will be slightly looser and bigger and this means it will fit better without disturbing whatever pattern you are doing.
Use the technique recommended by Technknitter of crossing over the first and last instep stitches with the first and last heel stitches when you have finished knitting the heel and are starting the round on the foot/leg. This will eliminate the hole you normally get.
I am increasingly tempted to buy both the Eclectic Sole and New Pathways for Socks Knitters from the Knitting and Crochet Guild. They are a little on the steep side for price but the Eclectic has two stunning stand alone patterns in it and New Pathways would be a step into doing my own stock design which is becoming very appealing. Once I get back from the holiday in the Lake District I might make a final decision.
A knitter on Rav has posted a free pattern to commemorate the life and work of Heath Ledger. It is a very simple sock with a single subtle cable down the side and it looks very elegant and plain but with a bit of interest. Now I am not a huge fangirl but I have always enjoyed Heath Ledger’s films – like Johnny Depp he seemed to flit easily between Hollywood Blockbusters like A Knight’s Tale and Batman to more unusual film projects like Brother Grimm. A few people were knitting these socks and I decided to join in, at least in part because the relatively plain design means that this is a good pattern for variegated yarn and I have some very loud Artyarns sock yarn in turquoise and brown (bought in the Purlescence sale) which I got for J when he asked for a pair of blue socks.
This pattern has been very quick to knit it took only four days to finish the first sock, I went back to knitting with my Brittany needles and I had forgotten how lovely they are after so long knitting with the Harmony’s. Unfortunately I had also forgotten how fragile they are and snapped one but I can knit a sock on four dpns so it is not a disaster. These are pretty good mindless knitting for watching the West Wing to as well.
Here is the first sock modelled by J, hopefully the second sock won’t be too far behind!
I wrote a exhuberant and lyrical post last weekend all about the joys of spring to celebrate the Vernal Equinox and Vox ate it - boo! So this is round two with some added extras after J and I completed another day of serious gardening to prepare for the growing season.
The Spring Equinox came calling in several ways for me this year.
Firstly I have been growing seedlings for the garden - here are my coriander seeds.
Now every year there is always one batch of seeds I fear won't make it and this year it was the aubergines. I knew that they took 10-14 days to germinate so it shouldn't have been a surprise that at day 11 I had no seedlings. I had 3 more days to wait. However I started to assume for various reasons that this meant the seeds had failed (largely due to my own fears about using the *wrong sort of compost*). My first aubergine shoots arrived on the Equinox and I felt stupidly relieved. By day 14 of the cycle it looked like I had 10 aubergine plants. So far so good.
Lastly I cast on (and have even finished one whole sock of a pair) the Absinthe pattern from the Spring Knitty. This seasons Knitty has been my favourite for a long time. Some great socks and two shawls I would love to knit. These socks caught my eye because the bright green was so perfectly seasonal and because I too love Art Nouveau design. I have had a skein of Wollmeise in Frosch in my stash for a very long time. I was bought for me before Wollmeise got so popular that it became a scrum trying to get hold of her yarns. I had been saving it for a special pattern as I doubt I will be able to get any more for some time (I do like Wollmeise and it is exceptionally well dyed with an interesting and unusual base. But I just can't be bothered with the contest for getting hold of it and the nastiness which can come with that - I am going to happily wait until updates are less crazy and if they never get less crazy I will enjoy all the other great yarns which are just as good). Anyway. This was clearly the perfect pattern for Frosch. The semi-solid aspect of the colourway wasn't going to swamp the pattern and the green colour (which some have called Chartreuse) looked really good as an Absinthe.
Now I have knitted a fair amount of this up I am enjoying it incredibly. The colour palette is sophisticated and subtle and the base is still unusual and interesting. It is a great shame that this is my last skein but I am determined to enjoy every single inch of it and knit up all my leftovers.
A very little bit at the moment but with more to come later.
So far I have stalled a bit on the Mystic Star Shawl - when the last clue came out it was huge twice as big as the bit I had already knitted and I just got frightened. I will pick it up again but want to complete some other projects first to get my mojo back.
Enter the test knitting I am doing for triskellian I don't want to mention too much and spoil any surprises but I can say that it is socks and it is fiendish.
I have also bought one more skein of yarn. In my defence it was the ever elusive Socks that Rock again in a colourway I really liked (I only but colourways I like - I am not so mad on STR to get any old thing). There may be a chance to get some more later on but for now I do not feel too bad about it, I am comfortable with my stash at the moment.
I do want to share some picture of it though as I really like the colour gradations in it. When it arrived I realised my mum would love this colour and wondered about whether to make her a pair of Nutkin socks with it. Then I looked at it again and I just wasn't sure I could give it away...
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