Tag Archive | sock knitting

Dissent Cowl, plus yarn

Oct5

I know, it’s Monday in Blogville which means I’m supposed to be writing about socks, but I can’t do that. A) I have no sock progress to share and B) I want to share today’s upcoming cast-on. My favorite LYS, Yarn Social, is partnering with another LYS to host a Dissent Cowl KAL/CAL. Since I wanted to make the cowl anyway, this seemed perfect! I’d already bought the pattern, but to participate I needed to buy at least one skein from either store. (Haha, “at least one skein”! Like it’s ever just one!)

Saturday found me at the yarn store along with a fellow knitter buddy, a poor soul I convinced to knit along with me. I’m excited about my choices!

I got a new jumbo winder for my birthday, so I used that to wind the yarn last night. The KAL starts today and I’ll be casting on as soon as my work day is done. But of course that’s not all I came home with. They had a new (to me, at least) color of WYS Christmas sock yarn, so that plus the green had to be mine as well.

Oh hey, look at that: there’s a bit of sock in here after all!

Also, this is my 1,000th post on this blog! Who knew I’d be hanging around so long? Happy Monday, friends!

WIP Wednesday

Sep30

As I keep reminding myself because days mean very little anymore, today is Wednesday, so I will share my brand-new WIP! Finishing my Sonny & Tubbs socks left me with zero socks on my needles, and that is never acceptable. I had to cast on pronto, and I was excited to finally be able to pull out my LolaBean Jimmy the Model set! (If you’re not familiar with Jimmy the Model, look for him and/or LolaBean Yarn Co. on Instagram. Jimmy is her husband. They are delightful together and on their own!)

My son says he keeps glancing over and seeing Jimmy’s face, and it catches him off guard every time. For me, I like to catch a glimpse of a smiling face! The bag was a collaboration with Mrs. Brown’s Bags and it’s fantastic: roomy and very well-made.

I did work on my Sea Swell shawl last night as I watched the shit storm that was supposed to be a presidential debate. I’ll just say I had to refill my wine glass twice, and it took me a while to unwind to go to bed! Here’s hoping any future debates go more smoothly.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Stupid socks

Sep29

I got too confident, that’s what happened. I was knitting socks with my fabulous Sonny & Tubbs yarn from Show Me Yarn and when I started the second sock, the stripes were lining up perfectly. I was so happy. But then I hit the heel and all hell broke loose, though I didn’t realize it at the time. Two days ago, I was working the foot and wanted to see how close to the toe I was. Well, that was a disappointment because I discovered I’d made the legs different lengths, but it wasn’t a big deal.

But wait, the heel turns were different colors too? Oh yep, I started the heel flap too soon on the second sock. Fine, I didn’t need matching stripes on my socks.

Last night I finished the socks. As I always do, I line them up against each other to see how closely they match. One foot was significantly bigger than the other. WHAT the heck. Friends, it’s a good thing I don’t need matching socks.

Yes, that’s right: on the second sock, I carried the ribbing down the foot, instead of doing a stockinette foot like the first sock. ARGH.

At least they fit. And besides, Sonny and Tubbs didn’t match either!

FO Friday: Socks

Sep18

My recent shawl-knitting obsession fell by the wayside the last week or so. I couldn’t resist casting on a new sock with some of my birthday yarn, and this sock practically flew off my needles! I mean, this is obviously a progress shot, but it’s done now. The yarn is Bootheel sock from Show Me Yarn in the color Sonny & Tubbs.

Once I finished the first one, I decided I needed to be good and finish a lingering pair of gift socks. I was partway through the leg of the second sock so I knew it wouldn’t take too long. But here’s the problem with making gift socks: they’re not as addictive if they’re not for me! Especially if I’m doing colors that don’t speak to me. So it’s possible that sock-knitting is primarily a selfish thing for me. Anyway, I finished the second sock and now have a pair ready to mail.

The eagle-eyed among you might notice the socks don’t match exactly. The main yarn is from a 50g skein of Happy Feet. I had two skeins but weighed the first after making the first sock and thought I’d have enough for the second. Well, not quite. I ran out with about 3/4″ left of the foot to knit. That wasn’t enough to make me want to add in the second skein and two more ends to weave in, so I just started the green early. The recipient won’t care a bit, I don’t think. It’s funny how I’m so much a perfectionist in every other area of my life, but in my knitting, it’s all just “Eh, that works!” Maybe that’s just one more benefit that knitting brings to my life!

Happy Friday, friends.

Sock It To Me Monday

Sep7

This could have been a Friday post just as easily, because today I’m sharing a finished pair of socks. I started these quite a few weeks ago, as soon as the yarn arrived, to be honest. But then they were lace socks and I got distracted by other yarns, so it wasn’t until last week that I really focused on them. Once I did, they knit up pretty quickly.

Here’s what I know now: lace socks are stretchy! I normally cast on 64 stitches for my socks. This pattern offered 60 or 72 stitches, and looking at other projects, it sounded like 60 would be too small, but I knew 72 would be too big. So I thought I’d be clever and just add one lace repeat, and cast on 66. It worked fine for the lace, but the heel flap gave me issues. The first time I did my usual 32, but that messed up the lace pattern plus things got weird at the toe when it was time to decrease and kitchener. So the second time I did 30, with made the lace behave nicely, and would have worked fine at the end if I’d moved the right stitches from one needle to the other.

I was trying to have equal amounts on the top and the bottom, you see, but my brain misbehaved and I ended up decreasing the first three times in the wrong place. I fixed it then and it’s not really noticeable when I wear them. But what is noticeable is that they’re loose — I should have done 60 stitches after all. So now you know: if you want to knit all lace socks, be sure to make the appropriate adjustments for size!

Or just do what I’ll do next time and keep the lace on the leg only! Pattern is Mercury Socks and the Ravelry link is here. The yarn is Show Me Yarn Bootheel in Stained Glass Menagerie, a special edition that came with a matching project bag. It’s no longer available but they have other pretty yarns on their Etsy site.

Oh and today is Duncan’s Gotcha Day! We’ve had him for three years now.

Today is a holiday in the States so I’ll be spending the rest of the day knitting and puttering around. Hope the rest of my US friends have a good holiday as well!

Happy Mail

Sep2

What even is today, Wednesday? Not close enough to the weekend, that’s all I know. The mail carrier provided a much-needed boost for my day today, delivering a package from LoloDidIt.

img_8593This is Facebook’s fault. Lolo shared a photo of socks made with the variegated, which is a new Halloween colorway called Beetlejuice, and I had to get a skein of coordinating Wonka purple to go with it. I’d planned to do socks but now I’m thinking a sparkly shawl would be lovely too. I mean, we all know it’s just feeding the stash at the moment, but it’s pretty high on my To-Knit list!

Sock It To Me Monday: Special Edition

Aug31

Today’s sock post is special because I’m sharing my feedback on the Saucon Sock yarn from Kraemer Yarns. I was given the chance to review it a couple of months ago, and given my love for sock knitting, I was eager to test a new kind of sock yarn.

Saucon Sock is a cotton/acrylic/nylon blend that is washable and lightweight. There are so many possibilities with this: socks for spring and early summer, easy-care socks for kids or non-knitters (or even knitters, honestly), and socks for people with wool sensitivities. I got to select two colors, so I chose Loganberry for me and Forrest for the boy. He’s a teenager with no time to be fussy or careful with socks, so I knew he’d let me see how the yarn holds up to … rougher handling, shall we say?

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He requested a mid-calf length sock, and I did a simple pattern with some ribbing. For myself, I did a basic Rose City Roller to see how they’d fare in a midwestern summer. When the skeins came, the yarn felt a little stiff at first, and I was unsure if I’d like it, but as I knit with it, it softened up and made the nicest fabric. It’s not soft like wool but it’s smooth, and even feels cool to the touch. There’s no squeakiness that you can sometimes feel with acrylic yarns; the cotton was definitely the dominant feel. It reminded me of knitting with linen, even down to a slight splittiness at times, but I really enjoyed knitting with it. I could knit outside in 80-degree heat and it didn’t bother me a bit.

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How did they wear? Great! The boy reported no sagging or sliding down the leg, even after wearing them all day, so it held its elasticity all day long. I wore mine all day (inside) on an 80-degree day and the socks didn’t stifle my feet at all. They felt very breathable. Again, not soft like wool, but crisp against the skin.

The final test was washing. I had the boy throw his in his laundry, like he washes everything else, so they went through a cotton/normal cycle with warm water along with jeans and t-shirts, then through a cotton/normal warm dryer cycle. Mine were soaked in Eucalan and laid flat to dry. His socks came out softer and cleaner (we have three dogs, and hand-washing doesn’t remove all that dog hair) but they did have some minor pilling. Overall, though, they looked good!

Mine were crisper and had a nice shape, due to being patted into shape and drying flat. I had no pilling, but I still had plenty of dog hair, which is one of my ongoing annoyances with handknit socks. I did use a lint roller on my socks before taking photos.

As you can see, mine look almost fresh off the needles, but I think there’s a happy medium with this yarn. I think I could easily do with machine washing them on a gentler cycle with soft items, and then laying them flat to dry. I could maybe pop them in the dryer for a few minutes at the end to soften them up and pull out a bit more dog hair. Honestly, I’m delighted to have a good easy-care/summer-weight sock yarn available, and hope to add more to my stash.

It’s very affordable at $14.50 per 100 gram/430 yard skein, and it comes in 20 solid colors. It would be easy to mix and match, and in fact, I have enough left over to do a pink pair with green cuffs/heels/toes. And something else really cool: it’s made in the USA! If you’re in the Pennsylvania area, you can even visit their mill.

A special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and the folks at Kraemer Yarns who sent me two skeins of Saucon Sock (retail $29). I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Finishing some things

Aug30

Yesterday was apparently a productive day for me, now that I’m thinking about it. I finished my Hundred Acre Shawl (stupid thing. It’s blocking & will get its own post later) and I finished my Wonder Woman puzzle (super fun!) and I finished a sock! After I finished the shawl, I pulled out the sock, thinking I was maybe halfway through the leg. Instead, I was delighted to find that I was on the foot and even past the gusset decreases! I’m not sure why I continued the lace down the foot instead of doing plain stockinette, but I stuck with it and I think it was the right choice.

Now I better cast on the second sock right away or it might never happen. Even though this yarn demanded to be lace, I am reminded why I knit vanilla socks over and over: they are my comfort knitting and lace does not fulfill the same needs. Doing this puzzle also reminded me of how calming I find puzzles, and LEGOs, probably for the same reasons: they demand focus and concentration so my brain doesn’t wander too much into my worries, and they do what they’re supposed to and create something pleasing. They’re rather therapeutic, really, which is why I’m going to find another fun puzzle to do very soon. We need as many therapeutic things as we can find these days!

Best Laid Plans

Aug18

Does anyone else lie in bed at night, and think about how they’re going to do better tomorrow? I’m always going to eat better, start exercising again, work on my half-written novel, walk the dog. I’m full of good intent at 10 pm. I just haven’t figured out how to make it last until the morning. If you do, let me know please?

My second sock got done last night. We started watching The Crown on Netflix recently and have become obsessed, so every night I have 2-3 episodes’ worth of good knitting time. Sadly, we’re on the second half of season three so soon I’ll be lost, waiting for the next season. I absolutely loved the first two seasons; season three is good but not quite as enthralling. Anyway, socks are done and now I just need to wear them and wash them.

img_8456And the most fun part is: I can work on other projects now! The temptation to cast on something new is great, but I also have another sock on the needles plus my Ripple Bralette that was put on hold. Not to mention the shawl that’s been forgotten for a few weeks. Still … new project! What should it be??

My darling dogs managed to tree a raccoon this morning. The tree is just beyond our fence, so the dumb thing could easily have climbed down and run away, but it sat up there for at least half an hour while my dogs whined and barked and ran around like idiots. It brought back strong memories of Where the Red Fern Grows and made me want to re-read to remember more about raccoon behavior. But then I remembered the end of the book and decided against it. I would have felt sorry for the raccoon, which looked maybe half-grown, except that I have had raccoons nest inside my house and it is a terrible thing, so if my dogs can keep it away from our house, more the better!

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Happy Tuesday, friends.

Sock It To Me Monday

Aug17

Three days. Everyone (who doesn’t knit) asks me how long it takes to knit a sock, and now I know: three days. Oh sure, you knitters know there are too many variables to give an honest answer to that, but three days sounds as good as anything else I’ve used before. I’ve been working on my latest socks exclusively for the last couple of weeks, and I’m happy to report that the first pair is done! These are for the boy, who is very slender but has long feet, and his homework is to wear them for a day and then wash them just as he washes all his other clothes. We’ll see how that turns out!

img_8431As for the purple pair, I’m midway through the foot of the second shortie sock and aim to be done by the end of the week. The yarn is Saucon Sock by Kraemer Yarns and I’ll be writing a review once the boy and I have both had a chance to wear and wash our socks. No photo of the purple sock today; instead I’ll show you what arrived in my mail yesterday. Behold, it is gorgeous!

img_8447Yes, again my Instagram hobby meant a new project bag entered my life. This is a hobo bag from Joji and Co. and I adore it all, from the soft suede to the hot pink color to the tiny holes for enamel pins on the front pocket. If you’re familiar with her bags, you know that they do periodic updates that sell out super fast — like within 10-15 minutes at times. That strategy totally feeds into my competitive nature and removes all common sense and willpower. Honestly, I’m okay with it at the moment. I mean, look at it! But now that I have one, I can totally resist more. At least for now. Until next time, anyway.