Christmas Socks

This is a pair of Christmas socks for nephew#2. I finished these on the 23rd of December.

This nephew immediately put these socks on his feet after he opened the gift on Christmas Day and I didn't see him take them off. He came home with us from the 25th to the 27th. His mom asked if he had taken them off at all. He said they were too comfy to take off. It is always nice to have positive feedback on hand knit gifts!

Finished Projects

Here are the cloths off the blocking boards.

The first class went well. Second class is tomorrow.









Finished Christmas socks. Size 14 mens. Size 0 needles. Universal Yarn Pace in Charcoal.

Here are my notes for this project....

Jun 21st. Summer of Socks started FINALLY! Casting on this sock was like visiting with an old friend. Calm, relaxing and familiar.

KP size 0. Two circs. Aloha Cast on 9 sts.

Increase to 142,000 sts….not really. I just haven’t done the calculations yet. I know it will be more than 42 sts though. I’m at 31 sts (each needle) as of 8:45 pm.

June 23rd
Increase to 48 sts. per needle.

June 26th
Row 45 (~6.25”): Start gusset increases. At 20 sts add 1 st. At 21 sts start slip sts. End at 25 sts. Do 2 sets of non inc slip/plain rounds. Row 93: 9 7/8”.

Aug 2nd-5th
Turned heel to 11 sts. Begin new row count on instep needle after plain knit anti-hole trick on heel needle row (dec 1 st). Knit 20 rows on the cuff. Tried sock on recipient and it fits! Yea! (Total rows on cuff: 90)

August 16th
Cast on for second sock. WooHoo!

October 9th
Finished both socks. Just some ends to weave in and pictures to take. (still have to weave in the ends)

Yeah. So much for Summer of Socks. I got way more involved in Season of Lace this summer. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

Mystery project for Christmas. Shhh....

Charcoal Socks for Christmas

I cast on June 21st for the Summer of Socks (see previous post for links) with this Christmas present for my nephew. I'm zipping along. We will be seeing him on Sunday and I hope to have the sock to the point where the heel starts. Once I know it fits fine I'll cast on for the second one on another set of needles.

This is another Crazy Toes & Heels (see sidebar for link) sock to fit size 14 extra wide feet. (What did I get myself into!?) Gauge 10spi. Size 0 circular needles. Toe up. Aloha Cast on (9). Inc to 48 sts. Start gusset increases at Row 45.

The yarn is Pace. The color is Charcoal. I bought a TON of this charcoal when I did the socks for my dad and brother-in-law. Luckily that is the color that my nephew wanted as well. Wonder what color Nephew #2 will want??? I'll start his socks much closer to Christmas as his feet are still growing fast.

I bought the yarn from Loose Ends Yarn Shop before she moved down the street. This link will take you to the store owners blog for some new shop window pictures. Her new store is very nice! Even has a back porch if Knit Night wants to spill out into the out-of-doors on lovely evenings.

Tick, Tock

I'm biding my time.

I love knitting socks so I signed up for "Summer of Socks". (Link to group at Ravelry) Sign ups are now closed because the start date is fast upon us...Saturday June 21st! But that also means that I've been waiting and waiting to cast on for a sock. I really miss having a sock project along in my purse to take up those wasted minutes that present themselves unexpectedly.

I haven't cast on another lace project either because I also signed up for Seasons of Lace. (Link to group at Ravelry) Lace socks also count! Anything lace! It also begins June 21st. Sign up for that group is still open a few more days I think.

And I thought, "Hey, if I'm going to be knitting lace why not sign up for the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl Along group?" Whew, what a mouthful. Cut and paste comes in handy. Here's the Ravelry link for that group. The first "clue" was posted on the 14th of June. I'm still swatching and waiting for the starting gun for Seasons of Lace before I officially cast on for this circular shawl. Sign up is still open for that as well (as of today anyway).

I also started messing around with a new cloth pattern but it turned into a stole with a knitted on border on both ends. I've swatched for that too...but not with the yarn I want to use exactly. I've swatched and blocked with 100% mercerized cotton (fingering weight). I'm currently swatching with Euroflax linen (sport weight). But I've got some yarn (cotton/linen blend, lace weight?) on order to experiment with. I didn't want to spend a lot of money since this is all an experiment. And I wanted a yarn that I could wear over my swimming suit at the pool. Some not-so-hot days I'd rather throw on a cover up than an old beach towel. I'm cautiously optimistic about this project at this point.


Since there aren't any pictures...
This is Caesar. We inherited him from my mother-in-law after her fall last October. He is a friendly bird and loves to greet daddy when he gets home from work. He also loves his veggie/noodles, showers and chattering! He doesn't like to be pet but he does like to sit on your finger, or head, or toes, or whatever. This picture shows him getting comfortable on my daughter's arm with his foot up. Look at all those new little head feathers!

Undulating Rib Socks

I've been a bad blogger. These socks were finished April 29th and I'm first blogging about them now. Oh, well...better late than never.

This sock was my March entry for the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous Raverly group). The challenge for March was either an Ann Budd pattern or entrelac. They needed to be finished by April 30th to qualify. I just squeaked under the deadline. (Yeah, I knew to steer clear from the entrelac based on my raveled entrelac dishcloth experience. Here's a link if you want to see entrelac and how it's done.)

This picture doesn't show the pattern very nicely at all. It doesn't look too bad if you click on the picture to make it bigger. I was hoping to get a better picture on my feet. All I managed was a close up shot.

The pattern is from Favorite Socks. It is written to be knit from the cuff to the toe. I knit it the other way...from toe to cuff. So I didn't follow the pattern 100% as written in the book. I used size 0 circular needles...that's 2.0mm for you metric people out there.

This was my first time knitting with SWTC TOFUtsies. I liked the yarn. It was a little splity but not so much that it bugged me. This yarn is 50% superwash wool, 25% soy silk, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% chitin. What's chitin? Something made from shrimp and crab shells. Never thought I'd be wearing that on my feet.

I loved the color (#847) of this yarn. It would make a nice wrap on those cool weather days...or a summery sweater. But I'm all out.

I bought this yarn at Loose Ends Yarn Shop in Mayville. (NB: This shop will be moving at the end of May but luckily the new store front is just south a block or two...on the river side of the street.)

Oh and for a little teaser of what's coming next.
Well, I guess it's not much of a teaser if you look at my "in progress" projects on the side bar. The knitting part is done. I've got to block it yet...get it wet and stretch the dickens out of it. This picture shows the color fairly well.

Brigit Socks done!

The yarn that I used for these is Anne from Schaefer Yarn Company. It is very fine and very soft. The content is 60% merino wool, 25% mohair, 15% nylon. The mohair gives a bit of a halo effect.

The pattern is Brigit...all that info is in the previous post. Here are my notes of the tweaks I made to the pattern.

Cast on: long tail method in knit and purl combo following the stitch sequence. Here's how to long tail cast on in purl.

I ended up charting the stitch pattern which made the knitting much quicker for me. This stitch pattern is an 18 stitch/35 row repeat. A magnetic chart holder and my row counter made the job a piece of cake. Oh...and a pretty pink coated small paper clip bent into a cable needle.

Before knitting the heel flap I moved 3 sts from beg of N#2 to end of N#1 AND 7 sts from beg N#1 to end of N#2. 40 sts on instep and 32 on heel. I would do this differently on the next pair by putting 38 on the instep…one knit st on each side of the instep should be moved to the heel needle (34 sts) based on my original stitch move. This centered the stitch pattern on the instep.

I continued the rib pattern down the heel flap but not the cable.

I used “Heels by Numbers” to turn the heel. (This isn't the one I used but it's the same type of thing.)

For the toe I decreased every other round until 18 sts remained on each needle (using 2 circs). Then decreased every row until 8 sts remained on each needle. Donkey ear trick. Kitchener.

One sock done!

This sock is called Brigit. It is a pattern designed by Momma Monkey (Monkey Toes). The pattern is currently unavailable as Momma Monkey (Gigi Silva) has recently passed away. How very sad for such a young family. The Socktopia group on Ravelry is the group to watch for information of when (or if) Gigi's patterns will become available again.

Brigit is my Sock Knitters Anonymous (Ravelry link) February sockdown challenge. Good thing I have until the end of March to finish the mate. It also was my February memorial purple knitalong but I didn't make that deadline. oh well. I'm still enjoying the pattern.

Some tweaking of the pattern was done. I'll fill you in on the tweaks later.

Sorry for all the Raverly links. You need to sign up (and wait for an invite) before you can view those links. The sign up is FREE and the wait is MUCH shorter than it used to be. I waited a few months. I think the wait now is about a week.

Christmas knitting DONE!

It took about 7 days per sock but they are done!

In the previous blog entry I mentioned that these are Roza's Socks from Interweave Knit. I didn't mention that the pattern is written for knitting them cuff to toe. I did these from toe to cuff. I used the general method from Crazy Toes and Heels and just inserted the stitch pattern from the Roza's socks with some tweaking to fit the recipient. The fit is perfect.

Here are the notes (in blue) I put in my Ravelry entry. If you own the Crazy Toes and Heels book the notes will make sense. If you don't own it, I highly recommend the book for making socks that fit....any yarn, any needles.

I’m doing these toe up on 2 circs. Crazy Toe and Heel style.

Aloha cast on: 9 Inc to 35 sts. Even round. Increase round: 2 sts on each end of heel needle only. Stitches on instep: 35. On heel: 37. Total: 72. One more plain round then begin pattern st on instep.

Row 55 start gusset inc. At 15 sts start slip st heel. At 21 sts end. 4 plain rounds. (94 rows)

Heel to 11 sts.

Cuff: Row 35 add one st on knit rib #’s 2&5 (both needles) 76 sts. Row 55 add one st on knit rib #’s 3&4 (both needles) 80 sts.

Round 71: p 72: k 73: p

Increase 1 st in knit ribs 1&6 (both needles) using kf/b as increase. This is now plain 4X3 rib. 16 rows.

First sock done Feb 17th. Cast on #2 Feb 18th. Second sock done Feb 25th.

Christmas Knitting...still

Another pair of socks done. These are a Christmas (2007...yes, I know I'm late) present to my brother-in-law. They aren't much different than the pair for my dad (see two posts below) so I tried to take a picture to show the true color vs. showing the sock. I think this picture captured the color (dark charcoal) pretty well. These are off to be washed so they are ready when we see him next week.



This is my last pair of Christmas socks. They are for my mom. I'm using the Roza's sock pattern again from Interweave Knitter Spring 2007. I love this pattern. The purl stitches turn out so pretty. I've had to tweak the pattern a bit for fit. But once the math is/was done it should be a fairly quick knit.

The plan was to do a felted bag with yarn she already had in her stash. But the yarn didn't cooperate. So the back up plan was socks.

3 pairs of socks done!

I finished the pair of Philosopher's House Socks (Nov/Jan sock class) for Cat Bordhi's sock book. They fit nicely over a pair of regular wool socks...so I've got extra warmth for these really really cold days. The yarn is Cascade 220...more leftovers from the Wonderful Wallaby sweaters. Needles: Size 4 dpns.











This purple pair is for dd#3.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote, Columbine
Needles: Size 0 circulars
Method: Toe up, Crazy Toe & Heel style








This charcoal pair is my dad's Christmas present. It looks really black in the photo but it is a dark charcoal in real life. These were toe up - Crazy Toe & Heel style on size 0 circs. The yarn is called Pace from Universal Yarns.

I've got my brother-in-law's socks...same color, same size as these....on the needles . One foot is to the heel and the other is almost halfway to the heel.

Philosopher's House Socks

This is the sock that we worked on in our sock class in November and December. December's class was snowed out so we met on the 8th of January for the final class.

We did the arch expansion to the heel turn in class. I finished the heel and cuff the next morning (way too early). It was knit in worsted weight yarn (Cascade 220...left over from my Wallaby). Fast knit. Although I'll use them more for slipper socks. They're a bit too thick for my regular shoes.

This pattern is from Cat Bordhi's newest sock book:
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One on page 72.

I've got the toe started on its mate.

Christmas Crafting

Here are some crocheted soap bags. The pattern is from the Klutz Crochet Book. I did a twisted cord instead of a chain for the ties and also made them drawstring bags. It's about 3" wide and 5.5" high. Irish Spring or a bar of Dove fit just fine. The bag for the little one was filled with candy instead of soap.








My husband's work friends received Tribbles (scrubbies) knit by dd#1. This link doesn't seem to be working for me. Could just be my computer.






My sister got a storage case for her knitting needles.






The large plastic pockets are 3.5" x 6.75". The smaller plastic pockets that hold the needle labels are 2.5" x 1.75". I cut two pieces of coordinating fabric 30" x 28" and a piece of window screen 16.5" x 28" (to add stiffness to where the needles are stored). To fold: Flop the top down. Fold the left and right sides in toward each other 3 times and secure with ribbon and button. The button isn't really necessary but I liked it. I tie the half knot above the button and the loops of the bow below the button.

She also received the pink lacy round linen cloth (already pictured here). My mom also got one in a dark purple. I didn't take a picture of the purple one...hmmm. I also promised my mom that'd I'd knit her a bag with yarn she had been hoping would turn into a felted bag. Unfortunately the yarn didn't cooperate so she asked instead for a pair of socks in fingering weight yarn. She's got the first pair of socks I ever knit but they are in sport weight and don't fit in her shoes so well.



My dad and brother-in-law are also both getting a pair of socks. I had one toe of a sock started before Christmas for my dad. My b-i-l wants the same color as dad's...charcoal. One sock is about an inch from being complete. If it is a smidget too short for dad (and that is my only concern at the moment) it should fit my b-i-l just fine.

(This picture is from the 29th of December. The heel is done but with dental floss as a life line in case it didn't fit and I had to reknit the heel.)

My mother-in-law received the Truly Tasha Shawl...previous pictures here. We tried to get a picture on Christmas Eve of her wearing it (at least long enough to get a picture) but before I had it over her shoulders she had it off. Hope she comes to love the warmth it will provide her as she reads her books and/or surfs the webTV.

Friends at church and our next door neighbor received crocheted diagonal potholders, knit cloths, and tribbles.

Socks for dd#2

Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: 0 circulars
Method: Crazy Toes and Heels
CO: 9
Inc. to 35
Rib: 3 x 2

This color reminds me of watermelon.

My Traveling Socks

These finally got finished! They've traveled there and back again.

I started with a pattern from More Sensational Socks but ended up starting over and doing just a generic rib. I think dd#1 will be wearing these the most.

This was Socks that Rock - lightweight yarn that I purchased at Stitches Midwest 2006.

The hanger sock blockers are new...bent them just today. Thought that'd work ok for taking pictures.

Now I've got to figure out what will be my next traveling sock project....hmmm...so many choices....

Jaywalkers done!

Amen!

I had issues with this sock...too loose....too tight....way too much ripping back. One whole cuff, one whole foot and about 3" of the other foot.

But they are done and my dd loves them and I finished them in time for the game tonight. All I had left to do this morning was to Kitchener the toes shut...no big deal there.

I ended up doing a plain stockinette stitch foot. The toes are decreased on the pinky toe side. So they are left foot/right foot socks.

I used size 0's with 84 sts.
(Tried 1's but the socks were too big)
Zwerger Garn Opal Krokodil / Crocodile sock yarn.

Progress....or not!

The Eesti Trail Hiking socks got ripped back....

I had the heel completed. The decrease for the gusset stitches was wonky...so I searched online for pattern errata. Well....I found the errata but it was for the charted color work in the middle of the leg which, of course, was done. Bummer! So I ripped out the gusset, the heel and the color work.

As for the gusset....I never found an errata for that. But it's a mistake none the less. The pattern has you decrease 4 sts on the first round after picking up the sts along the heel flaps...and two sts on each side of the instep. The pattern says "dec 2 sts".

So when I reknit this I will decrease 4 sts on the first round...that helps with the holes that sometimes appear in those corners. But then on the other decrease rounds I will only decrease on the heel needles....not the instep needles also.

I cast on for the Jaywalkers Socks. They are for dd#1 and I'm hoping to finish them by next Friday. One cuff is done and the other is about 1.5 inches. Luckily she wants short cuffs. They are in the high school's colors (even though we homeschool). She's going to the Homecoming game and wants to dress in school colors.

Roza's Socks

These are Roza's Socks, designed by Grumperina from the Interweave Knits Spring 2007 magazine.

Needles: Size 1 bamboo dpns
Yarn: Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Color 100 #7639

I added 6 sts (66 sts total) since I have size 8.5 feet.

Top cuff: 1 3/4" = 20 rounds
Whole cuff: 8" = 80 rounds

74 rounds from gusset to beg of toe shaping:
Round 74 on 4th needle knit first 2 sts together.

Arrange 31 sts on heel needles. 33 sts on instep needles.

Set up round: decrease 1 sts on each instep needle (#2 & #3).

Round 1: decrease on each needle (as per pattern).
Round 2: knit even

Decrease until 11 sts on heel (#4 & #1) and instep needles (#2 & #3). No even knitting round after this....do another decrease round to get 9 sts on heel and instep needles.

Do donkey ear trick.

Kitchener.

I had quite a bit of yarn left over. No worries about running out even though the cuff was fairly long.

I love how the brioche stitch looks in the ribbing.

Basic Socks

These socks for dd#3 have been on the needles a long time. They were toe up Queen Kahuna style on #0 Addi Turbos.

The yarn is Kroy Sock Yarn....not my favorite.

I finished them on the way to American Players Theater yesterday. We went to see Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The weather cooperated beautifully this year....it's an outdoor stage. The costuming was beautiful and the actors incredible (as usual).

I read a few pages of the play the night before we left. But watching the performance and hearing the words spoken with inflections and emotions really makes a huge difference in comprehending Shakespeare. It will come to life now as I continue reading it.

The weather was cool...perfect for wool socks, wool sweaters and a clapotis on my lap. We were hoping the mosquitoes would be at a minimum and they were. I think I saw only one!

We swung past Cave of the Mounds on the return home. It had been a long, long time since I had been there. My kids and dh had never been there before. It was very wet in the cave but not as bad as the the record rain of August had made it. (It was the wettest August ever in Madison this year.) Part of the tour was inaccessible in August because of high water.

Horcrux Socks

Finished just in time for the release of the last Harry Potter book!



Notice the lightening shaped scar around the ankle of the sock. The pattern called for it to be higher up but I decided to put that lace portion by the ankle.

Speaking of the pattern...
it is a free pattern from the Six Sox Yahoo Group.
They do six socks per year...hence the name.

I did it in Scholeller+Stalh Fortissima Socka bamboo yarn. This yarn is 60% Superwash wool, 25% Bamboo and 15% nylon. Color number 0006. I used size 0 Knit Pick circular needles. I did these toe up Crazy Toes & Heels style and then just put in the lace panel 10 rows after rejoining after the heel. I then added more ribbing above it until dd#2 said STOP!

I almost finished the ribbing at Knit Night last night. When I got home I continued the ribbing (1 row!), cast off both socks and took care of the 2 ends. I weave in the beginning tail as I knit the toe so that part was done a long time ago.

Eastern European Footlets

On to June!

We had our sock class this past Friday...p 108 of Favorite Socks.

Did you know there is a knit along blog for this book? I found it tonight looking for a picture of this sock. If you want to see what this sock is suppose to look like then click on this link. That blog entry also addresses the question on gauge for this sock...7 sts per inch with discontinued "worsted weight" yarn. I'll let you read the rest over there. (I did get 7sts per inch with Cascade 220 on size 2 bamboo dpns.)

Looking at the picture in the book, I thought these would not be socks for me. I like a cuff, sometimes a very long cuff. I like thin socks to fit in my normal shoes. Didn't figure these would fit that bill either. I was even considering not going to this class! That was until our kind teacher pointed out all the new things we'd learn knitting this sock.... Provisional Cast on, Intarsia and Fair Isle. How could I pass up on this opportunity? After doing several gauge swatches with my left over Cascade 220 I was ready to give it a try....

But my yarn was saying, I don't want to be a sock. I want to be a .........

Water Bottle Insulator!

And so I cast on 66 sts.

During class we learned the provisional cast on. And I did a short row toe...even unzipped the provisional cast on and put the live stitches on a needle again. Michele showed us how the intarsia part was done...that's the blue part. It is only done on the front. She said the box in the directions were very clear but I didn't even read them when I got home. Did I mention that Michele is an awesome teacher!

I've never done intarsia or fair isle and this first project shows that all too well. I need more practice (and classes) (and patience!) for me to do it nicely. But for a first project I was happy with it. Well, except for the 3 sts that were in the wrong color. That was an easy fix with duplicate stitch. I certainly wasn't going to back down 3 rows!

I then did the cuff with the garter ridges and added a 2 x 2 rib with some decreasing for the neck of the bottle.

I was worried I may have decreased too much for the bottom of the bottle (32 oz) to pass through but it works beautiful. I used a very stretchy crocheted bind off from the Crazy Toes and Heels book.

Then it was time for the bottom. I picked up the 66 sts from the long tail cast on and knit plain one row. Next row was knit 9, k2tog. Then a plain round. Then knit 8, k2tog. You get the picture....

The last round was knit 3, k2tog. Then with the bottle snuggly in place, I threaded the darning needle and passed it through all the live stitches and pulled it snug.

I've got two of these one quart bottles that are filled with water (that I drink each day).

So off to church I went with bottles in hand...the one dressed with a sweater, the other naked. Both bottles were with me at all times. I took the last sip of the naked bottle at about 3:00 in the afternoon and noted the temperature of the water...unscientifically. Then I took the first sip of the sweatered bottle. The water was cooler!

As for the provisionally cast on short row toe? It got frogged....but at least I know how it's done...don't think I'll be making another anytime soon!