Tag Archives: Socks

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Self-striping socks, I never tire of you.

Say what? More self-striping socks? What a shock. I bought this yarn back in December, intending to make Matt another pair of socks. They’ve been hiding out on the needles, moving at a glacial pace for a few months. I keep putting them down for something more interesting, but I thought I should haul them out and make note of them so they don’t fall into a UFO (unfinished object) black hole in my closet. I don’t consider something a true UFO in hiding until it’s been stuck in a drawer for about 6 months or more without me remembering that it exists. The blog keeps me accountable.

matt opal socks

The yarn is Opal Sport in color 5103. It’s 60% wool, 15% nylon, and 25% polypropylene. The polypropylene is supposed to provide temperature and moisture control. I thought it might be a nice feature.

This time I did make the socks match. After winding the skein into two balls I only had to remove about a yard of yarn to make the repeats match up. Too easy to resist.

I knit a LOT of plain stockinette socks from the toe-up. I have so many self-striping or patterned yarns in my stash (or I go looking for them) that I usually have one or more pairs going at a time. I know there are patterns that work with variegated yarns pretty well, but I have to have some project going that I could work on without looking at all times. I’ll save the patterns for some luscious Malabrigo I have hiding in my stash.

I don’t get to the movies as often as I would like, but I try to make sure I have at least one stockinette project going in case I need to take it to the movies. Optimistic, right? Really, I will fidget like a maniac and be antsy for the end of the movie, no matter how brilliant it is, unless I am able to knit on something while I watch it. I know I’m not the only one out there that feels this way.

If you want to know the basic recipe for my stockinette socks, take any of my sock patterns, subtract the lace or cables, and knit away. My Earlybird socks on Knitty even have the heel short rows written out line-by-line, which is something I don’t typically do on my sock patterns. You can do them both at once, or one at a time. Most of my patterns are written to do both at once. The trickiest part is the heel turn and gusset pickup, where I urge you to read, and reread, and then read carefully as you knit. That’s also the most interesting part of a plain sock, in my opinion.

I really want to finish this pair or these  before I start new socks. I never used to hesitate to have four or five pairs of socks on the needles at a time, but realistically, neither pair are getting worked on because they’re too simple, they’re both for other people, and I’d rather finish up my Citron or Matt’s sweater. Casting on another pair right now won’t move these any faster. I probably need a break from vanilla socks. I think when I get myself to finish one pair, I’ll cast on some Ivy Trellis Socks. At least I’m doing these pairs two at a time, because I’d definitely be experiencing some second sock syndrome otherwise.

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Fraternal twins.

I have had these socks on the needles since the beginning of December. I was perusing WEBS for some hard-wearing self-striping yarn for another pair of socks for Matt, and I stumbled upon (or went looking, rather) for more yarns for me, since the yarn I found for him was half price. That’s a reason to buy more, right?

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This hasty phone pic doesn’t do the colors justice.

I had never knitted with Zauberball Crazy yarn before, but I’ve seen it in a few yarn stores and I’ve been tempted. When you see a whole page of gorgeous colors staring you in the face, it’s really hard not to resist. I got the skein for this pair of socks, and color 1660 (Brown, Green, Blue) as well.

This yarn has long stripe repeats. I intended on trying to make them match up when I wound the skein into two balls, but it seemed like I would have to cut out a large chunk to be able to do so. You can see from the picture that it would have been about 2 inches of knitting lost. The yarn has generous yardage (460 yds), but I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it down.

The socks are fraternal, rather than identical, twins. In a way, this is relieving and allows me to only think about the knitting (or not have to think about the knitting). Sometimes when I get really matchy matchy with the socks, like on this pair, I end up getting a wee bit obsessed about making them match perfectly and I end up thinking about the matching on almost every round, trying to knit a little looser or tighter on one sock to even out the colors. Yeah, I’m a little bit obsessive-compulsive sometimes.

I also decided that these should go to my mom, because I found out over Christmas break that she wore a hole in the heel of the first socks I ever gave her. They were out of some delicious Koigu yarn and had a short row heel. That was my first and last time to use a short row heel. I just don’t believe they will be strong enough. She repaired the socks, but I still felt like she ought to have another pair, so these will be hers. We are both size 9′s, so it’s easy to turn a pair for me into a pair for her. I’m mostly knitting these on the bus or in movie theaters, so it’s a bit slow going, but I’ll make her model them when I finish. That’s my price for gifted socks.

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The softest socks he has.

Which is softer, the socks or Seymour?

Which is softer, the socks or Seymour?

I finished my fourth pair of socks for Matt. I’d like him to be as spoiled as I am one day and be able to use hand knit socks daily in the colder months because he loves them so much.

matt stripe socks-3

He says this is the softest pair yet! I made him this pair out of some Opal and this pair out of some Knit One Crochet Too, both nice hard-wearing yarns, but definitely less supple than this pair. Maybe I’ll whip up some socks out of Malabrigo or Koigu for him one of these days. That’s the softest my feet have known yet, but they require more delicate care. I think of those as my sometimes socks and often wear my Regia socks because those can take a beating and come out perfectly in the washer and dryer.

matt stripe socks

I also made these faux-argyle socks. That yarn (Cosmo Linie 33)  had the softest hand, but they already have a hole in the toe, so that yarn is now filed away in my never again brain folder for sock yarns. I think he only wore those for about a month. I haven’t darned the toe because that seems like more of a pain than knitting another pair and the socks had other issues too.

This yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in the colorway Roadside Gerry. I like working with it, and I really like how it striped. I originally tried to use this yarn for myself, but there was some massive pooling at 64 stitches. It looked better at 60 stitches per round, but I thought that might be a bit narrow for my foot, so they were frogged a second time and they became socks for Matt.

matt stripe socks-4

These were sort of a surprise Christmas gift (ahem, now very belated). They went by the wayside as I became enchanted with a number of sweaters and they were relegated to bus knitting when I got to the ribbing. Well it’s nearing then end of the chilliest part of the year, but they are finished and ready for regular wear.

I’m already starting another pair for him.

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A good man deserves good socks.

matt stripe sock-2

Here is a quick update on another project I’ve had on the needles for awhile. I started these back in November with some Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock in the Roadside Gerry colorway I’ve had in my stash since at least 2008. The stripes look really good in Matt’s size sock (72 stitches). I tried them in my size with 64 stitches and there was some icky pooling of the stripes. They worked well at 60 stitches, but I thought I might not like the narrowness of them. I turned them into a belated Christmas gift for Matt and tried to work on them secretly until just a couple of days before Christmas. Then I let the cat out of the bag, because I’m horrible with waiting to give people good surprises.

matt stripe sock

I love the colors. I am getting ready to be done with these though. With the stockinette socks, once I turn the heel and get through the gusset decreases I get antsy while working on the leg. I love having at least one pair of the socks on the needles for easy project portability.

I just remembered I have another pair languishing somewhere… Maybe I have more things on the needles than I think…

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Birthday Bell Flower Boogies

The Bell Flower Boogie socks for my aunt are finished! Today is her birthday and she has received them in the mail already, so I can freely post about the finished project. Happy Birthday to my Aunt Susi!

I used some Regia Silk and followed most of the instructions diligently except for using my customary heel flap. I stopped the socks at the number of repeats described in the pattern because I had to get them in the mail the next day to make sure they got to my aunt on time. They got there a day early, despite Columbus Day. Hooray for mail efficiency!

I liked this pattern quite a bit. It was well written and written to go toe-up (always a bonus in my opinion). The lace is simple enough for a first lace project. I think it would be a beautiful application to a hat or shawl as well.

Aside from these socks…I decided to do Tern for my Socktober socks. I’m loving the simplicity and elegance of this little cable pattern, but I’m second guessing my sizing a lot. I’ll post a pic in the next couple of days.

And the Featherweight is being bound off today! It’s much more of a challenge to get pictures away from the house with the bebe, since Matt is the one that usually takes my pictures, so I’ll probably just pose in the living room.

If you’re wondering about the mermaid tail, it has not been forgotten and has grown up quite a bit since those Ravelry pics. I’m still debating how long to make it. It seems really wide for her, but I’m going to put elastic in the top and she wears cloth diapers, which make her booty huge, so I think it will work out.

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The magic of lace

Lace knitters out there know this already, but it feels like sweet sweet victory when you take that rumpled and wrinkled mess of yarn you’ve been working on and stretch it out with blocking. In my case I can just stick a foot in it.

These socks are Bell Flower Boogie by Julie Nandorfy. I’m making this with Regia Silk in color 55 “Artikblau”. I’ve had this in my stash for a couple of years. It’s really soft, but I’ve made so many things this color lately. I’m giving this away as a present soon, so it won’t be just aqua, turquoise, and seafoam TAKING OVER MY KNITTED WARDROBE, I swear.

I’m doing them both at once, of course. The lace is pretty easy to do sans chart after about one repeat. The pattern is free and actually written to be toe-up so I didn’t even have to transform it.

I think I’m going to have to do some cuff-down socks soon because I purchased the Knit.Sock.Love e-book last night and those socks are worth changing my ways for. That woman (Cookie A) is a friggin’ genius! They all blow my mind. Those are the kinds of socks that could keep a girl up at night.

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Prufrock

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is one of my favorite poems. When reading it aloud, the rhythm is soothing, and the imagery ignites your senses at the same time. I named this pattern Prufrock because the stitch pattern reminds me of both scales and lapping waves from the final stanzas shown above.

I made these socks for my brother’s girlfriend and figured I might as well write up the pattern in the process. I used Madeline Tosh Sock in Baltic for the yarn. It is a hand dyed yarn, and the color varies starkly in some parts of the sock, but I think it adds to the wave/ocean effect. The yarn is lovely to knit.

I had about 15 grams left of the 100 gram ball, so I used about 335 yards for this size 8.5 women’s sock. I was previously totally obsessed with using up every scrap of sock yarn while knitting from the toe up, but now with tiny baby knits I can see how far a little bit of leftover yarn can go, so I don’t mind having a little left over.

The pattern is repeated over 9 rows, but it becomes easy to read after a couple of repeats. You can make the cuffs longer to use up all of your yarn. If you need to make the leg portion wider when making a longer cuff, you can go up a needle size or insert additional purl stitches at the edge of the stitch pattern. It is written for making the socks two at a time using the magic loop method, but it can be adapted to knit only one at once or using DPNs. Enjoy!

You can read more about the pattern here, or just purchase it:

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Baby feet!

Tiny baby limbs are a great canvas for leftover sock yarns. Even though these are teeny tiny, it still took me a good part of two days to do them in my free time. I think my free time is waning…but I guess that’s to be expected as Z grows.

These are an itty bitty bit to big in the toes, and she’ll probably outgrow them in five more seconds, but they’re cute anyway.

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Summer of socks

This is truly my summer of socks. This is the seventh pair I have worked on for the summer, and there is an eighth on the needles right now, but that pair is super secret for the time being. I feel sort of like a sock junkie since I can’t seem to go very long without one pair on my needles.

This pair will be for my brother’s girlfriend, Brenna. She already knows it’s happening, so I don’t have to be sneaky about it. The yarn is Madeline Tosh Sock. Many hand painted yarns have some variation within the ball. For this pair one foot is slightly darker since the outside of the ball is slightly darker. The yarn color is Baltic. It’s definitely hypnotizing. If you haven’t checked out the amazing dyeing of Madeline Tosh you might just start drooling.

The pattern is my own. It doesn’t have a name yet. I’m still brainstorming. I welcome any ideas. It reminds me of scales. I hope to get it out in the next couple of weeks, baby time permitting. Since I’m making these in a different foot size from my own, I will need some help from my friend Karen as a foot model.

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I coulda been a contender!

Oh, if only I had said I was competing in the Ravellenic Games! I started these on July 27th and I finished them this evening around 7 pm. I don’t know when exactly the Olympics ended, but I had to be close to making the timeline on both ends. I didn’t think I had a chance of competing because we were moving, I had summer school, and the baby came early.

These socks are for my baby brother (who’s actually 28 now). He and his girlfriend were visiting from Minnesota today and came to see the newest member of the family. I was about an inch or two from starting the heel flap last week and I decided I was comfortable enough with the baby routine to start knitting again. I flew as fast as I could, hoping to be able to finish them by the time he visited. I made it.

I cast off about a half an hour before they planned to leave. I made him put them on and go outside to model them. I did pretty well with the sizing for not asking his foot size until I was turning the heel about two days ago. I finally broke down and called him. It ruined the surprise, but they weren’t for any special occasion. I had it almost right on the sizing. I should have started the heel turn slightly before I did. I think he likes them, and they will serve him well in Minnesota.

I made him do all of the usual adorable foot poses. Ha. The yarn is Regia in the World Ball color series. The colorway is Argentina. This yarn is very durable and has a 10 year guarantee according to the label. That’s pretty promising for sock yarn. It’s not the softest sock yarn in the world, but I can vouch for the two pairs I’ve made for myself with this yarn–it’s hardwearing. It will always be in my sock knitting repertoire.

Oh, and did I mention these are size 13 feet?! Thank goodness for the generous yardage in the Regia (460 yds).