Tag Archive | sock knitting

Testing, Testing

I have my selfish knitting, my commissioned knitting, my review knitting, and now I have test knitting! It’s kind of cool how each type feels kind of different, and I enjoy each one for different reasons. But my selfish knitting has definitely fallen by the wayside thanks to all this knitting with deadlines. I’ve finished my commissions, I only have one review project in the works, and I have my two test projects. And one test is almost done!

This Paddington Station sock just needs a toe, which I should be able to finish tonight, and then I can pass on my notes and let the second sock wait until I have more selfish knitting time.

My other test knit is newer, a shawl for Under the Olive Tree Knits. I found Jem on Instagram and have been following her for ages, and her designs are gorgeous. Even though I wasn’t sure I had the time, I really wanted to test one of her shawls. I haven’t gotten to the really fun lace section yet, but I adore the top edge already with the slipped stitches and big yarnovers. As soon as the sock is done, this project moves to the top of the list.

The yarn for this one is Araucania Huasco in a divine dark green.

The only downside to all this knitting is that I’m pretty sure I won’t have much time for gift knitting this year. Sure hope my family isn’t expecting anything!

Weekend Knitting

Oct21

I don’t have as much progress to show as I should; my knitting was hampered a couple of times the last few days. Part of it was my fault, part of it wasn’t. I had my day-long computer course on Friday, and it was fun to learn stuff again but a lot of the info was review, and the class moved a lot more slowly than I would have liked, so I picked up my hat knitting after I’d finished the exercise, or while we watched short videos. By the end of lunch, I’d made it to the end of the knitting I’d brought. Once again, I was not thinking like a good knitter, and I have now learned to bring much more knitting than you think you need!

That brings us to yesterday. The boy had a marching band competition in a small town about 40 minutes away, and we were going to be spectating for at least two hours, maybe three. I brought three projects. I was ready! I was prepared! I was…COLD. It was sunny and 60 out, so I wore a short-sleeved tee and a hoodie, not realizing that the wind was super blustery and chilly. I was too cold to keep my hands out and knit. The husband was even kind enough to go to the nearby Walmart to get us a blanket, and that helped, but still, I would have needed my nice wool fingerless gloves to be able to knit. Sigh. The best laid plans and all that jazz. Still, with some knitting here and there, I’ve gotten my sock project into the gusset. Plus, we stopped at an antique mall on the way and I found these awesome handmade crochet hooks for $6!

I’m also very close to the end of my first hat commission. I’m on hat four of four, and I’m onto the easy section of plain stockinette in the round. This one will get finished either today or tomorrow, and the hats will be delivered and out of my hands! These are my pombe yeast hats for some friends at work, and you can check out the Ravelry page if you want more info.

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My other hat commission isn’t going as well, and it’s totally my fault because I’m so stubborn about not checking gauge. As always, I got overconfident because almost every time I’ve checked gauge for a hat, knitting or crochet, it’s the same as the designer’s. So I started this project without checking, and got about halfway through and realized it was too big. Frogged and started over with a smaller hook. Got a little farther and it still seemed a little big. I could either go down yet another hook size, or adjust the stitch count. Since I like the density of the fabric, I decided to drop my stitch count and omit the last increase round, which meant frogging back about half my progress. This is the current state of this hat.

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You might think it’s frustrating, but crochet goes so quickly that it’s not painful to frog back that much and start over. And I’d forgotten how much I enjoy crocheting, so it’s been fun to let my hands settle into that rhythm again. Plus the yarn (Expression Fiber Arts Pearlescent Worsted, with SILK!) is heavenly, so I don’t mind spending more time with it! Still, I’m hoping to get this project finished in the next few days too. I’ve got too many other projects waiting in the wings!

New Socks

Oct17

My new sock project is a test knit called Paddington Station Socks for Ambrose Knits ( I found her on Instagram). She’s got several ones she’s working on, and they all look like fun to knit. I know I’m enjoying these!

The yarn is my new Knit Picks Stroll Hand-Painted in Train Station Tonal. I’m liking the colors and the yarn a lot! The yarn is soft and knits up thick on my size 1 needles, and the pattern has just enough variation to keep me interested. I’m eager to see a finished sock!

Happy Mail

Oct14

Today was a good mail day: my KnitPicks order arrived!

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The Brava worsted (brown, tan, blue) is for hats I’ve been commissioned to make. I have four to make and each will have a different accent color; thankfully I already had some Brava in my stash for three of the hats (red, purple, gray) so I only need to order the blue. The black tonal Stroll Fingering is to test knit a sock pattern, and I’ll be casting them on today so they’ll make an appearance before too long, I’m sure. The multicolor Stroll is called Make Believe and it’s to make socks for me, which is why it’s getting set aside until I have more time. And that little pin was on sale for $3.99! How could I resist a purple sweater pin??

We had a football game last night, the boy’s last marching band game of the year, and it was disgustingly cold and windy and drizzly, but I still made good progress on my sock, and I managed to finish it at today’s band competition. The boy now has his first pair of handknit socks!

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Yarn is Seven Sisters Arts Meridian in the color Tangled Up in Blue and I have half a skein left to make some shortie socks for myself! The gray cuff is Knit Picks Stroll. I meant to do heels and toes too but forgot, and I don’t think he’ll mind too much. Hopefully he also doesn’t mind that one sock is longer than the other!

Travel Knitting

Oct9

I understand now why knitters always pack so many more projects than they think they’ll need. The unthinkable happened when I was visiting the girl last week: I was at risk of running out of knitting! *gasp* How did I let that happen, you ask? Well, you see, I finished a second sock on the plane there and cast on another sock the next day, but I had a lot of knitting time so that sock got done by mid-Monday.

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Mostly it’s the fault of the mermaid shawl: I hadn’t realized I was so close to needing the second color, and hadn’t brought it, so I was only able to do two rows on that shawl, which is what I’d planned on knitting when I was hanging out in the dorm by myself. That left one project, my Hogwarts cowl, and I confess I didn’t even finish it. I’m actually a little stuck on it because it’s getting so tall. I was basing it on this pattern which is also a tall skinny cowl and it’s coming out like it should, I think, but I’m not convinced I’ll enjoy wearing it. I’m half tempted to frog and make a wider, shorter cowl. Thoughts?

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But we made a stop at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe on Sunday and I bought a beautiful little skein of Baah! super bulky Sequoia and had to knit that up right away. (See my two-hour cowl.) And after knitting with super bulky, I wanted more, not my fingering weight Hogwarts cowl. So yeah, I made another detour to Joann and used a coupon to buy a $3 skein of super bulky for a quick gray cowl that I left for the girl. It must be getting cold if I’m itching to knit all the bulky yarns! Still, when I got home and cast on a new project (because of course I did), it’s a sport weight, not bulky.

This is my new Manos del Uruguay Feliz and I’m loving it so far. The pattern is Late Harvest and I’m excited to get to the lace section. I’ve also made good progress on my boy socks, once I had him try them on and I measured his foot. The first one is *thisclose* to being done, and the second one should go a lot faster.

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But I swear, the bulky knitting will be happening soon!

FO: Twizzlefoot Socks

Sep19

This was a quick little pair of socks for me, because I was so eager to have them ready to wear! The Twizzlefoot is a new yarn for me, and when Stitchcraft Marketing asked if I’d like to review it, I jumped at the chance for two reasons. One: um, hello, I’m addicted to sock knitting and can’t get enough sock yarn! And two: the Twizzlefoot is from Mountain Colors, a yarn company based in Montana, and since the girl just moved to Colorado near the mountains, I thought these would make perfect socks for her.

Except maybe not. Because I love them.

I chose the Harmony Brook color, a beautiful dark blue-green with a bit of gray. It’s a hard color to describe, partly because it has a heathered look to it, with that subtle pale speckling. That heather effect is thanks to a strand of silk plied in with the wool and nylon! I think that 17% silk is what makes this yarn feel so darn good on my feet.

And I’ll be honest, I was surprised that they felt so good, because the yarn isn’t as smooth and silky soft as some sock yarn I’ve used. It’s 53% Superwash Merino and 17% Domestic Wool, and it feels like wool, with that fluffy texture that tells you it’ll be toasty warm. The problem is that sometimes my skin is sensitive to anything less than merino, and I was afraid I’d have that issue here. Thankfully, the blend seems to be well done, giving the sturdiness and warmth of wool, the softness of merino and silk, and the durability of nylon. These are going to be perfect cold weather socks.

I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn. It felt twisty and springy, and I’m sure there’s a technical term or reason for it, but I just liked the bounce it had. It slid smoothly along my needles with no splitting. I didn’t have to frog any of it, but I’m thinking it might not be the best for repeated frogging; I’m afraid the fibers might stick to each other. The yarn is hand-wash only. I washed these in cool water with Eucalan and there was definitely some dye bleeding, so I’d advise washing them separately. Overall, this was a fantastic yarn, and I was excited to check their retailer locater: one of my LYS carries their yarns!

While the girl may not get this particular pair of socks, this yarn would be perfect for her out there in Colorado, making a warm, soft sock with an earthier look and feel. You can see all the colors, and explore Mountain Colors’ other yarns, on their site here.

A very special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and Mountain Colors, who generously sent me 1 skein of Twizzlefoot ($28) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Shawls and Socks

Sep15

That’s all I’m making these days, shawls and socks! I’m not complaining, though. They’re both pretty fun projects. The boy’s marching band had a football game last night, so I had a couple of hours to work on his sock and I’m past the gusset and into the long foot portion. Before I go too much further I’ll have him slip it on and make sure the cuff and heel fit all right, and then I’ll measure his foot to see how long I need to knit the foot.

This is a very mindless project, especially with the ~~boring~~ solid color yarn, but it pleases me to think of him wearing them and enjoying them.

My current shawl project is the Piece of Cake shawl with my Delicious Yarns. It’s going slowly, and I’m blaming the wrap & turn short rows. Those are not my favorite, you know. But the yarn is indeed delicious.

The photo doesn’t do the colors justice. When it’s done, I’ll work hard to get the colors as true as I can, but this will have to suffice for now.

It has turned hot and muggy again, and the car is in the shop AGAIN, so I’m going to hide out in my dark cool living room and knit the day away as much as I can. Happy weekend, friends!

Boy Socks

Sep3

I have made lots of socks for myself, several pairs for the girl, a pair each for a couple of SILs, and a pair for the husband. Somehow the boy has never gotten a pair, maybe because he was still growing? Maybe because he’s a teenage boy and sometimes their feet are…well, I’m sorry but sometimes they are a little gross, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to put good yarn on them. But he’s a good kid and I love him so I decided he needed a pair of socks.

He asked for a basic color, and I got him to agree on blue. But not a bright blue! And no stripes. No variegation. Just blue. I had resigned myself to pretty boring socks but then he agreed to a gray cuff and toe, so that’s something at least. It took me a while to get going but yesterday I needed a break from my huge endless Dotted Rays shawl so I picked it up and made it past the heel.

The yarn is Seven Sisters Arts Meridian Tangled Up in Blue and man, it’s a lovely yarn. It’s knitting up snug and dense and it feels soft in my hand but nice and durable in the sock. And the blue? I thought it would be boring but it’s gorgeous! I’m kind of glad that the boy asked for short socks–I’m hoping to get some shorties for me out of the skein too! He has long feet, though, so it may not happen.

Today I’ll go back to the Dotted Rays while I’m watching the US Open. I’m on wedge 13 of 15 but each wedge takes forever. I don’t mind the loooong rows if I have tennis to keep my brain busy! We had some family in town so the last couple of days have been a little chaotic and crazy at times, so I’m looking forward to a quiet, peaceful day at home today.

All the socks

Aug26

I cast on a new sock yesterday, giving me a total of four sock projects. They’re all relatively plain socks in varying stages of completeness. Commitment issues maybe?

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Yarns: Knit Picks Stroll, Mountain Colors Twizzlefoot Sock, Ancient Arts Sock, Biscotte Yarns Bis-Sock.

I’m going to commit to the newest sock, which is that pretty blue/green second from the left. It’s a new yarn for me, Twizzlefoot Sock Yarn from Mountain Colors. It’s super squishy and fun, a slightly different texture than I’m used to. I’m not sure if these will be for me or the girl!

Along with those four sock WIPs, I have three other WIPs on my needles: two shawls and a lace cowl. I think that might be more than enough for me. Now I need to buckle down and start finishing some things!

I’m a Ravenclaw

Jul27

Family Fun Day was a hit, I think. We toured the American Jazz Museum at 18th & Vine, which was really cool. Best part for me was the Ella Fitzgerald exhibit, complete with one of her gowns!

We had bison burgers at a fun restaurant, bought too many records at the record store, and saw Ant-Man and the Wasp at a fancy new theater which had leather recliners, complete with seat warmers! It was quite a day, but by the end I think we were all tired and ready for some quiet time.

I did take some knitting in the car with me, of course. Once I’d finished Jungle Boogie, I had to cast on a new pair immediately. Apparently I’m unable to go without at least one pair of socks on my needles at all times. It was hard to choose which yarn, though! At first I thought I’d use my Ancient Arts T-shirt and Jeans, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized it needed to be something even better than socks.

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I set it aside and rummaged through my self-striping yarn, finally deciding I needed to make the Biscotte Yarn Ravenclaw socks to go with my Gryffindor socks. I cast on Monday during my lunch break at work, and this will be my lunch/car knitting. Can’t go wrong with a vanilla sock in self-striping yarn! I did manage to get a few rows in while at the movie, but once I dropped a stitch I decided to set it aside until I had some light.

I don’t know that I’ll make the full set of houses. Yellow is my least favorite color, and do I really want to wear Slytherin socks? Okay, yes, some days I would totally wear Slytherin socks. But then if I make those, I have to make Hufflepuff just to have the complete set, right? Right. Bring on the yarn!