New Socks

The colour is truest in this photo.

These socks were started in 2009 I think. I tried to make Pomatomus. And 3 times I messed up - a combination of gauge and stitch errors - and ripped it out and started again. After the third frogging I decided to reunited them in my vanilla sock pattern as I really liked the yarn and didn't want to totally spoil it with all the ripping back. So here they are the 8 year socks!

Yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in the colourway Tropical Storm.

Pattern is my usual variations on Sue Morgan's Simple Sock Pattern.

Needles are 2.5mm dpn's. 

Ten Tiny Toes

Pattern: Baby hat, socks and mitts by Sue Morgan
Yarn: Sundara sock yarn in Pine Over Gold
Needles: 2.5mm bamboo DPN
Cast on: July 2011
Cast off: August 2011

I cast these on as I finished February Baby Sweater to use up the small amount of left over yarn. They are from a pattern purchased at Get Knitted a number of years ago and are by the same designer as my go to adult socks. I doubled the length of cuff that the pattern calls for and knit it all in my standard K2 P1 rib to give an extra anchor against a sock resistant baby.

These are a really satisfying knit. They are quick, use a tiny amount of yarn and with their tiny heels and toes are super cute!

Sneaky Peak

Knitting has been occurring around here,



and it's mostly been



stripy!

Mr Vanilla

Pattern: Simple sock by Sue Morgan

Needle size: 2.5mm DPN

Yarn: Regia Canyon Color 2804

Cast on: July 2009

Cast off: September 2009

These are my seventh pair of socks knit from this pattern, with the usual modifications.

I chose the yarn after seeing Jane Brocket's Liquorice Allsorts socks. Unfortunately, they were on her old blog which has now been taken down and so I can't link to the clever pictures of her finished pair.

Whilst Mr Vanilla may be finished I have enough of this yarn for another pair. These will be going to my brother who expressed interest in these socks (and took the photos for me)

Unfortunately for him I was too far into this pair to alter the shaping to fit his big feet so he'll just have to wait for his own pair - Mademoiselle Vanille.

Infidelity

I always have a number of projects on the needles. Different techniques and yarns so that I have a nice variety to work through and combat the ennui a long stretch of garter or stocking stitch can cause. However, I only ever have 1 pair of socks on the needles. Until now that is.

This is Pomatomus my first pair of patterned socks and I'm enjoying knitting them. The pattern is easy to read, I love the way the colour is spiralling around the sock and the curves of the pattern itself. I do have to concentrate to knit them though. With a twisted rib, K2tog and yarn overs on every row I can cope with watching TV or travelling, but I need to keep a close eye on my hands so reading is out. This is a big problem.

I got stuck into this, just couldn't put it down. That meant no Pomatomus. So I cheated on it, cast on Mr Vanilla - this plain knit sock in this lovely stripy colourway.

As you can see I've been doing a lot of reading - I'm at the gusset already!

With this lot on the 'knitting' pile I'm going to be hanging with Mr Vanilla for a while yet. Having said that I'm off to the Isle of Wight with Pomatomus for a dirty weekend. I'm travelling by train so we'll have a few hours alone together.

Busy, busy

I've been flat out busy for the last couple of months. I went straight from London to panto and onto Wales for my current job. We have opened now and I, at last, have some time to myself. I did get some knitting finished as 2 shows a day over panto gave me a fair bit of mindless knitting time.

Firstly, the tube socks got finished.

(I mistakenly deleted the picture I had taken before I started wearing them, they are looking a bit loved now!)

I cast on 56 stitches for these rather than 60 as before to try for a snugger fit. I like the way the fewer stitches has made the colour pool into wedges that stack on top of each other. However, it has also made the cast on a bit tight. I think that I need to cast on and rib 60 stitches and decrease 4 stitches over my first knit round. A different cast on method may help too as I'm still using the knitted cast on.

I moved onto another sock in this yarn.


I liked the colours in the ball. It looked like I'd get small stripes of lots of colours. But, I needed to look more closely at the yarn as the changes of colour were much smaller than I thought. It knit up like this

which I hate. I also tried a 2 needle cast on which I managed to knit very neatly and tightly, so that I can't actually get it on! For these reasons this sock will forever remain a singleton, a sock full of fail. I have no idea what to do with the other ball of yarn. I might try a beret with it, the longer rounds may make the colours sit together better. Or maybe just destash through Ravelry.

This sock came next, in Schoppel Wolle, Adrmiral Flakes.

At the moment it is a singleton, but this one I shall be knitting a mate. I like the colours on this, it's like ice cream. Vanilla with mint and chocolate swirls. I did the 2 needle cast on I used for the fail sock but this time used a larger needle than for the body of the sock. I did a K2 P1 rib over 60 stitches decreasing 4 over my first knit round and it worked really well. I'm also happier with the heel on this one as I managed to get neater decreases. I'm having to fudge them as I have less stitches than in my pattern. The only thing I don't like about this sock is the way that the colour pools in blobs on the rib, but as I never wear skirts, only trousers this will always be hidden.

Other non-sock knitting was also achieved, but that can wait for another day.

Ending and Beginning

Ended - my Lorna's Laces Iris Garden socks. Started in January and finished this week. They haven't been on the needles all that time. Sock 1 got knitted in the spring and sat with it's toe waiting to be gafted until the summer. Sock 2 I tore through in under 2 weeks thanks to the joy of tube time. Time spent travelling from A to B means I can get out my knitting and whizz out a couple of rounds before my stop. All those few rounds soon start to add up and before you know it, you've got a pair (the knitting whilst at work may have helped too!).

Beginning - Lorna's Laces socks in Wisteria this time. These will take a bit longer as they will just be out and about socks. For work knitting I'm continuing with my Wavy scarf.

I have to count to 3 repeatedly for this pattern and it's proving to be a bit beyond me. 1 day last week I had to rip out stitches on nearly every row due to my inability to count to 3. It's rubbish, even children can do it. 1-2-3. See, I can do it too - just not when I have that scarf in my hands! I don't mind being seen out knitting in public but I wouldn't like another knitter to catch me knitting, counting, tinking, reknitting, recounting, tinking again and again on a project that really is quite simple. I also have to keep the pattern with me at all times as it has a 44 row repeat which I can not memorise. It's just too similar, the same rows repeated in different orders sometimes paired, sometimes not.

Socks made and socks yet to come

I love sock yarn, especially the magic kind that does lovely stripes all by itself. When I learnt to knit about 5 years ago (taught by my lovely aunt) I read about it in a knitting magazine and wanted to have a go with it. I did knit my first pair of socks a couple of years ago but I was still a fairly new knitter and they took several months to finish because of the little needles. I had a go but couldn't work out grafting so did a 3 needle bind off and ended up with these funny funnel toes :)

But now I can knit quicker and those little needles aren't such a drag I had another go. I bought myself some Lorna's Laces for Christmas and made this

(It still needs a mate but I left this at home when I came away on tour so it will have to wait!)

I brought a ball of sock yarn and pattern on tour incase I wanted a change from all of the cashmerino astrakhan baby jumpers I'm currently working on (Sheepish in York were selling it at £2 a ball in January - it practically bought itself!). I only had a part ball having made a hat from it already so I adapted the pattern to make trainer socks. Three weeks later we have

And along the way this might have ordered itself from the interwebs

as might this

and a little wander in London might have taken in Iknit where this might have been purchased

as might this which also seems to have started turning itself into another sock! An ankle sock this time.

I'm sure loving this yarn as it has almost single round stripes. The pink does just 1 round but the purple does 1 round and a bit you can't see this unless you are looking very closely.

I'm seeing a lot more socks in my future. I can even wear these now I've got the grafting thing