Tag Archive | sock knitting

FO: Jungle Boogie Socks

This is the final finished object from my busy weekend of knitting. Finishing the sweater and the Easy shawl felt so good that I wanted to wrap up the last project on my needles, the Jungle Boogie socks. I was just past the gusset decreases so it was easy stockinette in the round for a few inches. I watched some Fixer Upper and read some of An American Marriage (it’s super good so far) and grafted the toe late Sunday morning. Time to boogie!

Here’s the one tiny flaw in these socks: I can’t figure out how to photograph that bright, almost glow-in-the-dark green! I tried in different places, with different light, with different camera settings, and it just stumped me. Suffice it to say it’s really really bright, and these are amazing socks! I absolutely love the color combo. I’m especially proud because these are my first socks where the stripes match almost perfectly.

The yarn is Show Me Yarn Bootheel in color Jungle Boogie. Their yarn has quickly become my favorite sock yarn. The colors are vivid and fun, and the yarn is soft in my hand but still sturdy and firm, making socks that feel durable. It washes wonderfully and feels great on my feet. I’m sad that I only have one more skein in my stash. The contrast color is Amethyst Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids.

And with these socks done, my needles were EMPTY. That is a rare occurrence, and it felt so refreshing. But the best part about it was feeling free to cast on all the things!

Oh, and good news: my sweater has been washed and dried and it relaxed so beautifully! The yarn is much softer, and it has a lovely drape. The sleeves are way too long but I ended up with a sweater I can wear, so I call that a win.

I miss knitting

Jul13

It feels like I haven’t been knitting at all the last three weeks. We’re pondering the idea of stepping away from the fixer-upper life that we’re immersed in, so I’ve been spending most of my spare time doing a lot of heavy cleaning in preparation for listing it. I swear, this house hasn’t been this clean since we moved in, and it’s nice to see it all pretty and shiny. But man, I’m tired. Tired of cleaning and tired of not knitting. I get to do a tooth on my NGY Hitchhiker here and there, but most of my knitting has consisted of a little bit of sock knitting during lunch breaks at work. As a result, my second Jungle Boogie sock is looking pretty good.

Yarn: Bootheel by Show Me Yarn in Jungle Boogie. Pattern: Vanilla Latte Socks.

If you haven’t already entered, you’ve got a little over four hours to enter my Appalachian Baby Organic cotton giveaway! Go now before it’s too late!

Jungle Boogie!

Jul6

These socks are practically knitting themselves, I swear. I can’t believe how fast they’re going, and it’s all because of the awesome gorgeous fabulous yarn by Show Me Yarn! I started these on Sunday, as soon as I finished my last pair of socks, and I’m already very close to the toe.

The yarn is their Bootheel base in a color called Jungle Boogie, which I snagged at Knitting in the Heartland this year, totally drawn in by the colors. It’s not currently available on their Etsy site, but this new colorway is similar. I’m pretty sure I’ll finish this sock while watching Wimbledon this weekend, and maybe even get a start on the second sock.

And now I thought I’d share a photo that perfectly captures what life is like with dogs and teenagers.

Grace loves to sit on the dining room chairs, and apparently the table as well. Had I been there, I would have shooed her off the table immediately. But I was not, and the boy thought it would be more fun to take photos and encourage her naughtiness.

Fine. Yes. I thought it was pretty cute too.

FO: KITH Socks

Jul2

It feels like these socks were on the needles for a long time, but really it was only a little over a month. These are plain vanilla socks with a slip stitch heel, and right now it’s so hot I couldn’t even imagine putting them on my feet so the only photos I have show them on sock blockers.

The yarn is Show Me Yarn Bootheel in Flowers in the Mist, a special colorway for Knitting in the Heartland this year. It came with a matching project bag which I love.

fullsizeoutput_1c271

They really are pretty and they feel delightfully soft and squishy, but as soon as they were done, I was super excited to cast on a new pair of socks in bright self-striping yarn.

This is Show Me Yarn too, in the color Jungle Boogie! I’m adding contrast heels/toes in a lovely indigo from my scrap ball stash. I think I might like bright, crazy yarn like this better than the sedate, subdued yarns.

I’ve had to set my sweater aside for a bit. It’s been so crazy hot, and our A/C keeps malfunctioning, and I can’t have a lump of wool in my lap right now. But I’m on the second sleeve and as soon as it cools off even a little, it’ll be back in my hands!

Knitting in Public

Jun23

The boy had an orthodontist appointment this morning, and it was my turn to take him. I almost forgot my knitting, which would have been torturous, but I remembered at the last minute. So there I was knitting along on my sock using my size 1 DPNs, and when the doctor came to check on the boy, he immediately noticed what I was doing. He and the two techs standing by marveled that I was using four needles, and they were so tiny, which of course made me feel very clever even though I truly believe that just about anyone can learn to knit.

Anyway, then the nice doctor said something about how he’s heard about doctors doing that kind of thing (motioning toward me), like “crochet or needlework” to work on their fine motor skills. I laughed and said, “And knitting?” He nodded and kept talking but then one of the techs asked which I was doing, so I got to give a little lesson about the difference between crochet and knitting, and how one uses one hook and the other uses multiple needles. It was a good reminder that not everyone speaks this language called Yarn, and that I should take every opportunity to normalize it and make it accessible. Definitely a good argument for knitting in public!

Sweater is Growing

Jun11

I’ve been knitting along on my Tea with Jam and Bread sweater, and for the most part I’m very happy with it. I was glad to use almost all the navy on the first stripe, and got pretty bored during that middle stripe of the main color. But the French Open finals were this weekend, so I just knit around and around while I watched my tennis, and I made it all the way through the second contrast color. Once I had a good chunk of it, though, I started second-guessing myself. This new color is a tonal yarn, with a short stripey effect. The colors were great, but since the other stripes were solid, I was concerned that this looked weird.

However, I got validation on Instagram and from the girl, so I kept on with it, and it’s growing on me. It is kind of unusual but now I think I like it. This will be the fun pop of visual interest on the sweater. I’m now on the last stripe and I’ll be figuring out this whole pocket situation soon. I’m not really sure how it’ll work at this point, but if I go step by step, it’ll be fine.

I also have a finished sock, though I have no idea how I managed to get that done this weekend too. But I grafted the toe yesterday after the men’s final (I couldn’t do that while watching Rafa! I’m good at Kitchener stitch but not that good!).

It’s a plain cuff-down vanilla sock with a slip-stitch heel. The yarn is Show Me Yarn Bootheel in the special KITH color Flowers in the Mist. The sock feels wonderful, kind of squishy. I can’t wait to wear these! (Okay, I can, because I don’t want fall to be here yet. But I am looking forward to it.)

Alas, I did not knit in public for Worldwide Knit in Public Day on Saturday. I wasn’t in public at all that day, you see. But I did knit at the brother’s house for a family birthday party, so that’s pretty close.

FO: Monkey Socks

Jun1

Thank goodness these socks are finally done! They lingered on my needles for four months! Yes, FOUR. That’s eons for a sock, I’ll have you know. The first one went quickly because I was eager to see how it looked. And it was cute! I liked it. But man, the SSS (second sock syndrome) hit hard with this one. Turns out, I don’t really like knitting with brown. Brown isn’t pretty or fun or interesting to me. So I had to force myself to finish it just so I could call it done and put the yarn at the back of the shelf where it belongs, freeing up the needles for yarn that is beautiful! Anyway, bottom line, this squeaked in at the end of the month to become the fourth pair of socks finished in May.

I am quite pleased with them; I think they’re adorable. And I’ll have fun wearing them. But the brown is destined to become an accent color for future socks, and any other sock monkey knitting will have to be self-striping yarn! If you’re interested in details, you can see the project page on Ravelry here.

More fun has been my new sweater project! Despite the continuing heat, I have been merrily knitting along in the evenings and am over halfway through the navy stripe. Eight more rows and I’ll be ready to divide the body and sleeves! I’m looking forward to that; these are LONG rows right now. But look how pretty it is:

My goal is to get the sleeves on waste yarn and a good chunk of the body done this weekend, though I do have a recital and graduation reception for the girl tomorrow. With the exception of the sweater, I have a bit of finish-itis right now, so I think this sweater and the flower socks will be the focus of my knitting efforts for now. That is, if I can resist the siren call of the new Wonder Woman sock yarn I bought from a Ravelry destash…

Oops, I did it again

May25

I started a sock. Yes, the spell of the shawl is broken. I didn’t knit at all yesterday; I had lunch with a friend, then went home early with a muscle spasm in my back. The meds I took for that weren’t conducive to knitting, let alone lace knitting. This morning when I was getting my things together for work, I immediately grabbed this new yarn and project bag. Partly it was because I figured I’d have lunch with my knitting friend at work and needed something easy, and partly because I wanted something new and fun to work on. Specifically, I wanted my Flowers in the Mist kit from Knitting in the Heartland!

The yarn is Show Me Yarn’s Bootheel base, and it was dyed to match this gorgeous project bag (which also has two coordinating stitch markers!).

You could only get it at KITH this year, I believe, and I’m pretty sure I was the first one to snatch one at the special night of shopping after Franklin Habit’s keynote address. (I can move fast if yarn is involved.) I actually did cast on right after KITH but set it aside after just a few rows because I got distracted by other yarns. But now I want these pretty flower socks!

I just made it past the 1.5″ of ribbed cuff so it’ll be lovely mindless stockinette for a while, and I can see how the colors behave. I might not wear them for a while, but it will be nice to have them waiting for fall!

Happy Socks

May20

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.

fullsizeoutput_19d8

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.

fullsizeoutput_19d7

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!