Tag Archive | handknit socks

Happy Socks

This might be the fastest pair of socks I’ve ever made: a week from start to finish! These were the project I worked on 90% of the time last week, and there were concerts and other things where I could sit and knit while listening. Plus they were totally mindless knitting, which is perfect for me right now.

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I did my usual 64 stitches, a 1″ ribbed cuff, then 3 plain rows before going into a simple slipped-stitch heel. I was using up two scrap balls of sock yarn and the only tricky part was trying to use the variegated (Hedgehog Fibres in Medusa) evenly between the two socks.

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I failed, because I wasn’t clever enough to weigh the ball before I started. Next time I’ll definitely do that. These aren’t evenly balanced; there’s a bigger green (Madtosh in Sea Glass) toe on one than the other. But that doesn’t bother me too much. I think I’ll still love wearing these. I especially like having the bright colored accents, which makes me think I need more solid colors in sock yarn.

Today will be spent on a brand-new lace shawl project and then I’ll pull out a sock WIP that’s been languishing (poor sock monkey socks) for this week’s travel knitting. Happy Sunday, friends!

Mother’s Day Recap

May17

This is very belated, but that seems to be the norm for me lately: did all you moms out there have a lovely Mother’s Day on Sunday? I hope so! Mine was quite nice, I have to say. The kids got up early to have breakfast with me (waffles and bacon cooked by the husband, yum!) and we hung out at the table and talked for a while after. It’s funny; when my kids were very little I just wanted alone time for Mother’s Day. Now that they’re older and don’t see me/need me very much, I do want that time with them. And then some alone time, right? Anyway, then we opened gifts (yes, I got yarn, which I’d picked out, but I also got chocolate and some fun colors of ink cartridges for my fountain pens). I even got gifts and cards from both kids! I felt very loved and appreciated and it was the perfect morning.

But the highlight of the day came in the afternoon: the girl’s graduation from high school!!! Everything went well: we got decent seats and I managed to save enough for everybody and I got good photos and I cried a little (I think the husband even teared up a bit). The girl was calm and composed and gorgeous and I’m so proud. And relieved, to be honest. Relieved to be past all the end-of-year concerts and meetings and deadlines and this and that and the other thing and ohyesdon’tforgetthat! Relieved that now we can focus on the exciting going off to college bit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I did have knitting time over the weekend, especially while waiting for graduation to start. I finished my Nebraska Roller socks and cast on a new pair of socks immediately. I know I said I was going to do some skimmer socks next but I lied. I cast on for another pair of shorties, this time with a ribbed cuff, and I pulled out some gorgeous little leftover balls that coordinate perfectly. The green is the Madtosh in Sea Glass and the blue/green variegated is Hedgehog Fibres in Medusa. Fingers crossed I have enough Medusa for two sock bodies.

Finally, I also had a good chunk of time to devote to my Supernatural Kindness shawl. I bound it off last night, sooner than I anticipated…mostly because I ran out of yarn too soon to do the three rows of garter stitch. I thought about having a solid colored edge, since the garter would help prevent curling, but mostly was too lazy to find the right yarn. I was ready to be done! I think blocking will help immensely. With any luck I can get it washed and pinned out tonight, and then I can take pictures to share over the weekend!

One Sock, Two Sock, Bright Sock, Blue Sock

Apr28

Two socks have come off my needles recently. Sadly, they’re both first socks so I don’t have a new pair to wear, but at least both second socks have already been cast on. First to get done was my Rose City Roller, only I called it my Nebraska Roller since this yarn came from our college visit road trip.

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I’ve slipped it on and can already tell I’m going to love how short it is! I’m kind of hoping I can get two pairs of socks out of one skein. The yarn is Indigo Boulevards 2-ply sock in color Lost Diadem.

The second sock is my Girl Power sock, which FLEW off the needles. I could not stop knitting this sock!

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I love everything about this sock. Everything. The yarn is perfect. The pattern is simple and fits well and is perfect. The gray is the perfect accent to the bright colors. LOVE. Yarn is Show Me Yarn Boot Heel in color Girl Power, pattern is Vanilla Latte.

And then somehow I managed to buy another skein of yarn. I know! It’s crazy. Even crazier? The husband was right there with me when I bought it! We went on a little day trip to downtown Lawrence, Kansas and had to stop at the Yarn Barn of course, and this skein of Malabrigo Sock called my name big time.

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I decided that rather than feel guilty for buying more yarn, I would celebrate the fact that I only bought one skein!

Girl Power Socks

Apr22

It didn’t take me long to cast on some of my brand-new yarn from Knitting in the Heartland. I wound three skeins and cast on two yesterday. Two will be socks, and one I quickly set aside for lunch-break knitting this week. One will be a shawl but I haven’t decided on a pattern yet. And the last will be my new favorite socks, I’m pretty sure.

The Show Me Yarn booth was full of self-striping sock yarn, and they had wonderful samples out so you could see how they worked up. It was brilliant, because then I wanted all of them. One of them had a gray border on either end, and I knew instantly I needed to make socks like that, with gray cuff/heel/toes. I bought a skein of gray, but then decided it needed to go with the set of neon rainbow mini skeins for a fabulous striped shawl. (You can see them all in this post here.) However, luck was on my side because I had most of a skein of Knit Picks Stroll Glimmer in Chrome, and it would be the perfect accent yarn for this skein of Girl Power!

No big dilemma on pattern with these: they’d be my favorite Vanilla Latte socks, only this time I’d follow the pattern as written. I had to push myself through the gray cuff because I was so excited to get to the rainbow, but once I did? WHEEE! It started zooming along and I just wanted to keep knitting to see each color come up. I’ve got a good chunk of the leg done and I’m sure I’ll get down to the heel today because that’s all I want to knit right now.

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The yarn is fabulous, richly colored and soft, and I’m so glad I have three more skeins of their sock yarn in my stash!

Knitting in Fits and Spurts

Apr15

I’m in my new role at work full-time now, acting just as a temporary back-up for my former teams for a little bit longer, so both the work and my brain have settled down a little bit. I’m not feeling scattered and overwhelmed like I was last week. But I am remembering the “fun” of a new job: that learning curve where you make normal mistakes which make you feel kind of dumb and incompetent for a while. I mean, yes, I know I’m not either of those things, and this job is a great fit for me and I’m loving it. I just like it better when I settle into a job and know what I’m doing. Anyway, less stress at work means my brain isn’t quite as tired at home, so I’ve actually been able to do some knitting! I’ve abandoned my sock monkey sock for now, probably because it’s brown and brown isn’t fun and colorful, and instead I cast on for my first Rose City Rollers.

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The yarn is Indigo Boulevards 2-ply Sock, hand-dyed in Nebraska and purchased when the girl and I were there for a college visit. This is colorful and fun! And I couldn’t believe how quickly I got to the heel; I could get used to making short socks, I think.

My other little project is the girl’s Sockhead Hat. You might remember that this was one of her WIPs that I decided to finish. She’d gotten halfway through the ribbing when I started, and our gauge was crazy different. I tried to roll with it but couldn’t, so I frogged and started over.

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I like it MUCH better now. This yarn is Malabrigo, I think. I love the colors. I’m just about ready to switch needles and start the stockinette body. This will be great travel knitting for all the end-of-year concerts. (And…graduation! Gasp!)

But the most fun thing that happened last week was unrelated to knitting. Lately the boy has been itching to learn guitar, and he’s more excited about it than I’ve ever seen him about anything. So we decided to give in and got him his first guitar, a gorgeous used Les Paul, and he’s in heaven.

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We’ll get him started with lessons ASAP, but he’s spent the last couple of days teaching himself chords and he’s doing really well, apart from the sore fingers. And thankfully he can plug headphones into the amp when I’m tired of listening to him practice!

And for now, it’s cold and snow outside (hooray for Spring?) which means it’s perfect weather for snuggling with pups, drinking tea, and knitting!

WIP no more

Apr4

After two and a half months, which is a ridiculous amount of time, I have finally finished a pair of socks begun in January. These are the Mapleridge socks, a pattern chosen from Kate Atherley’s sock book, which I got for Christmas. I chose the cuff down option, and altered the toe to do my usual Kitchener toe.

I love the stitch pattern; it has such lovely squishy depth. And I think the yarn is a tiny bit thicker than some of the other sock yarn I’ve used, so on the size one needles, it works up into a dense, snuggly fabric.

I’ve tried them on but haven’t worn them so I can’t comment on fit, but I am interested to see how they wear. The heel and gusset are different than the others I’ve made, and the bottom edge of the heel hits a different spot on my foot. Plus there’s that little ridge from knitting into the back loop, and I don’t know how I’ll like that.

The yarn is Madtosh Sock, which is so soft but doesn’t have nylon, and I hope they wear well without getting holes too quickly. Still, I’m in love with the color, the style, the feel, so they’d have to be pretty uncomfortable for me to not want to wear them a lot!

Maybe it’s lucky that we’re having this endless winter? At least it gives me more time to wear my cozy handknit socks!

Slow socks

Mar31

This was my first week in my new job (which I LOVE), and it was just half time, as I spent the other half in my old role to help them transition. There was so much new information, so many new tasks, that my brain sort of got tired. Every night I’d come home with grand plans to knit after dinner, and almost every night I’d lose steam after a few rows. I’m hoping that with a little time, things will balance out, but in the meantime, I just have a wee bit of sock progress to share.See that bit of brown there? Yep, that’s the progress made on this Monkey sock since I last shared it. I managed about five rows one evening this week. But it should grow more pretty soon because I’m almost done with this Madtosh Mapleridge sock:This represents the bulk of my knitting this week. Last weekend I got the heel and gussets done, so this week I’ve been working on the foot during lunch breaks. Just an inch left and I’m ready to decrease for the toes! I’m saving this for next week’s lunch breaks, and this weekend I’ve started a new project. I received some yarn to review, along with a pattern, so of course I had to cast on for that immediately! Here’s a little black & white peek. The pattern is simple so I’m hoping it goes quickly. It’s perfect TV and movie knitting, and I have several shows to catch up on this weekend. And books to catch up on, and chores to catch up on…weekends need to be longer than two days!

Working on WIPs

Mar24

I’m actually knitting things other than socks right now, can you believe it? I mean, yes, I do have two pairs of socks on the needles right now, but I also have two other projects! One is my brainless knitting, and it’s appropriately called Easy, by Martina Behm. I had two skeins of gorgeous Madelinetosh DK and I wanted to be able to appreciate the colors, and enjoy the feel of it as I knit along in garter stitch. I’m maybe halfway through the first skein; this is what I pick up at night when my brain is tired but my fingers want to knit.

When my brain isn’t tired, I pick up my Arya wrap, which is more complicated with lace color changes and repeats. It’s not difficult, but I do have to concentrate. I love the shape of this one, asymmetrical with pointy ends.

This yarn is Bamboo Pop and the cotton/bamboo means it will be the perfect wrap for late spring, and cool summer nights. Plus, in black and white, it will be striking and versatile. I’m a little bit concerned that it will be shorter than I want, because the pattern is telling me to start the decrease sections now, but it doesn’t seem long enough. I know blocking will help, but I’d hate to knit the whole thing and then not be happy with it. What do you think: trust the pattern, or try to modify for extra length?

While I ponder the Arya problem, I have a second sock that’s coming right along and is just about ready for a heel flap. These have been my lunch break knitting and I’m eager to have them done for spring.

Yarn is Madtosh Sock in Seaglass (LOVE!) and pattern is Mapleridge. I think I can get the heel and gusset done this weekend so that they’re ready for easy foot knitting next week.

Happy weekend, friends! I’m looking forward to lots of knitting and laundry! (Okay, no, not looking forward to doing the laundry. But looking forward to an excuse to stay in PJs, and having clean clothes.)

Always with the socks!

Mar23

Every time I have a FO lately, it’s socks. Today is no different: I finished my (Not) FlexiFlips Socks the other day and they’re so cool!

These are the ones I started so I could test the new FlexiFlip needles. I didn’t love the needles, though, so they were mostly knit on DPNs. I love that they’re fraternal twins, not identical. I didn’t even try hard to make it happen; the yarn did it for me. The stripes are the tiniest bit non-matching, and one sock might be a hair smaller, but you can’t tell unless they’re right up next to each other, and how often does that happen? Never, I tell you!

The pattern is my favorite, the Vanilla Latte, except I realized I’ve been doing them wrong all along. The pattern says to alternate the rib row with a plain knit row, and I’ve never done that. I always just do all ribbing. One of these days I might try it as written, just to see if I like it as much.

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The yarn is Diversity by Plymouth Yarn, and I really enjoyed knitting with it. It’s mostly acrylic with a little polyester, but it’s smooth and silky, unlike any other acrylic yarn I’ve ever worked with. It felt good in my hands, slid along the needles nicely, and wasn’t splitty at all. And it’s machine washable, which is perfect for socks! (Am I the only one who waits forever before washing their handknit socks??) Plus the stripes knit up nicely and the colors are bright. I’m looking forward to knitting the other skein of it in my stash!

Once I finished those, I felt free to cast on more things, as one does, so I’ve got two new shawls on my needles and I hope to get some photos to share this weekend. It’s a busy spring, partly because this happened recently:

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Yep, the girl is 18 now. Mind-boggling, I tell you. We’ve been in the midst of parties and dinners out and all the spring concerts, so there are things happening pretty much every weekend. I just keep telling myself to appreciate it, because pretty soon the weekends will be empty!

Bye, FlexiFlips

Mar7

I’m making progress on my FlexiFlip sock, but I can’t call it that anymore. I made it a little over halfway through the foot before giving up. I really wanted to make it through the whole sock, to give the needles a fair shot. They felt super awkward at first, then I kind of got used to them, then once I got past the heel and into the gusset/foot, it got awkward again. Well, more uncomfortable than awkward. Maybe I was doing something weird, but knitting with them made my hands feel tight and cramped, and it hurt to knit very long. I found that I was dreading knitting them just because of the needles, and that’s never okay. One should not dread her knitting! So the sock has been transferred to my favorite bamboo DPNs and I am much happier with it. Anyone want a set of size 1 FlexiFlips??

We had a day-trip on Monday, with about four hours in the car, and I made good progress on my Textured Pullover, even if I did get super bored of knitting it. I was smart and wove in all the other ends as I finished each section, so finishing will be quick. I did make a wee error, but I think it’ll be fine. As I read the pattern again for the second sleeve, I realized there were supposed to be decrease rounds all through the sleeve that I completely missed. So my sleeves won’t taper. Oh well. I’m totally okay with that.

Since taking this photo, I’ve made it over halfway through the second sleeve and just need to find the motivation to power through the rest. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! I just need a good movie marathon to distract me. How do you motivate yourself to finish a lingering WIP?

The best news of the week is that the girl is now all done with her auditions for college! Now we wait for two more result emails, and final talent scholarship offers (fingers crossed) and then it’ll be decision time. I think we’ll all be relieved when it’s all said and done and we can focus on moving forward.