Tube Socks, What Could Be Simpler?

I've been working on these socks since early last fall. I bought a tantalizing sock book by Anna Tillman called Knitted Socks. I have a great sock pattern , which I love. Why I can't remain faithful?Why do I have to stray to other patterns? I just don't know. I was lured with the idea of socks with no heel, that fit beautifully and looked so different. "Do The Twist" the pattern called to me. It has to be said these socks will be magnificent when they are finished. The socks are thick and plush and do fit beautifully.

But every 6 stitches of every row has a cable twist. That's a lot of twisting. I had trouble with dropped stitches, and found I was unable to pick them back up again. I don't even know how many times I restarted that first sock.Finally I bought a small circular needle and I managed to keep the project going. I can't work on the socks for long, my wrists and hands just can't take it. I was thrilled when I finished the first sock. The second sock spirals in the opposite direction, and is knitted differently. Of the two twists, the second is much easier. My two socks look different. The color is my fault, I bought hand dyed yarn and the shade is slightly different. But the texture is different too. If I were to make another pair of these socks ,not bloody likely , I would make both socks spiral in the same direction and use the second method. My daughter gets these socks. I hope she loves them. She'll have to wear them a lot to equal the time I have spent knitting them.

Cloche Knit Friends

The Jericho Fiber Arts Guild met at Purl's this month, and we worked on our felted cloche hats. I had one ready to felt, so Purl ran it through two cycles on her washer. The felted rose is from "Knit It Felt It" and was knitted and felted separately from the hat. Felting hats is fun, wearing them is even better!

Mon Chapeau de Fleur

After a long break another felting project came along. The pattern is turiknits' "Cloche a la mode." This is the hat after knitting and before felting. After felting in the washer for 24 minutes , the hat did shrink down to fit my head. The pattern calls for two skeins of yarn and I used less than one. One has to wonder there.



I added the flower that Purl gave to me sometime ago. It's perfect! I think I might turn a few heads when I wear this.

Finished Socks

Knitting socks with hand dyed yarn is as compelling as reading a great mystery novel. You just don't know exactly how they will turn out in the end. I'm thrilled with my new socks and will be looking for clothes to go with them. Sock knitters will understand planning your wardrobe with socks as the focal point. It is interesting to note that the teal and purple socks came out somewhat smaller than the other pair. The yarn and pattern is the same , but the time in the dye bath was slightly different. The purple and teal yarn was in the dye bath for a slightly longer period of time and I guess had slightly more shrinkage. It should all work out in the wash.

The funny threads are marking every 5 rows so my socks turn out the same without using a tally or a row counter.

Yarn To Dye For

It's been a busy summer. Not a whole lot has been going on knitting wise. Catnip drying and mouse knitting of course, but nothing exciting enough to post .That is until I got a chance to go to Shadeyside Farms and acid dye some sock yarn. It was messy and fun. We laid the skeins out on a plastic covered table and used livestock syringes to space dye the yarn. After that we wrapped the skeins in plastic to preserve the color separation and heated it to set the color. When the skeins cooled , they were brought home, rinsed, washed and dried. I'm working on the purple and turquoise socks now. It's hard to put them down.It's just like reading a good mystery. I can't wait to see how they turn out. There will be no matched pair this time. These skeins were randomly dyed. I can't wait to see how they will turn out. It won't be long!

Back and Blogging

A close knit friend is someone who teaches you how to knit socks on DPNs. Now I’m totally hooked on socks and want to blog about it. On the left is a pic of my very first sock. It is knit using Plymouth Sockotta and I get comments whenever I wear them.
Socks are wonderful for instant gratification. Unlike sweaters, you can actually complete a pair in a couple of weeks (less if you keep at it). For my first pair, I used a very user friendly sock instruction pattern I found in a group on Ravelry. With Becky’s help and these instructions, my first pair was relatively painless. Of course, I felt like Alice in Wonderland trying to play croquet with a flamingo and a hedge-hog as I wrangled the DPNs but by the end of the pair, I had worked out a system.

For my first socks I started with Knit Picks 6” size 2 nickel plated. They worked fine for the Sockotta but when I cast on a merino/nylon blend, I had trouble keeping the needles from falling out of the stitches. I switched to 4” harmony woods and just love them.
My second pair turned into a single sock which I used as a sampler. I was trying to find a stitch pattern to use and just kept knitting at the sock until I found one I liked. I also wanted to try toe-ups because I really don’t like the way I bind off in Kitchener. The top picture is my sampler sock.

I have just cast on my second pair of socks, but more of that at another time.
It’s good to be back.

Finally Felted

I know I took a long time to felt these slippers. In fact the lighter colored pair has already been given as a gift. Since the other pair is mine it was still available for a picture. I've been wearing them and they are cozy. Another pair is in the works, but catnip mice orders have started already, and I'm just starting to get the catnip dried. The Stone Wall Garden does keep me busy, but I still knit almost every night as soon as I sit down. Those two knitting projects should keep me occupied until some great looking sock yarn grabs me and forces me to make another pair of socks.