New year, not so new socks

My knitting friends know just how long these socks took me to knit, at least two years.  They were my portable knitting project, always packed and ready to pick up at a moment's notice.  I guess there weren't enough of those moments though!  I love the color.  The yarn is Online super sock cotton which is 45% cotton 40% wool and 15% nylon.  They called the color beach.  I like that, but it also reminds me of a lovely spring bouquet of flowers.  The sock pattern is by Erica Lueder for Dreams in Fiber  and is Hermione's Everyday Socks.

Lifelines for socks?

I didn't realize that I would need a lifeline for a sock. That's just not normally necessary. Oh, sure, a lifeline in a complex lace knitted garment is a given. But a sock?

I am knitting a pair of socks, both on two circs at the same time. I love this method, even though it seems to take me forever to knit the socks (well, technically it's taking me the same amount of time to knit two socks at the same time, as it would to knit them one after the other.) I love the fact that _both_ socks get done at the same time. However, I have discovered that no matter how much sense it makes to knit the socks this way, I can not figure out how to knit the heels this way, both at the same time. So I always transfer the socks to DPN for the heels, and once both are turned, put the socks back on the circs and continue once again to knit both at once. I know many advocates of the 2 socks 2 circs method, but I would be interested to find out just how many of these knitters, actually turn the heel without DPN's. I bet it's more than admits up front.

I found another situation where I have to slip the socks off the circs and do one at a time, and that's when I am using up a ball of contrast yarn for the heels and toes and only have one ball of that yarn. Such was the case for these socks, and so when it came time to do the toe, I slide the first sock off the circs and proceeded to do those last rows in the contrast color, on DPN.

These are not fancy socks. No fancy patterns, except on the cuff. The main unique thing about these socks is the yarn. It's new to me, and has just enough stretchy, springyness to the yarn to be a problem knitting sometimes. One problem is pulling the yarn tight enough between the DPN to prevent laddering. I usually do this well, yanking the yarn tight on both the 1st and 2nd stitch after each needle. This yarn however, likes to be yanked, and then gladly springs back to it's original, and therefore laddering self. So my toes, were beginning to look a little lacy. The second problem with this springy yarn, is if you drop a stitch, that little stitch loop that you want to fish up and catch with your needle point, now decides to spring back into itself. A dropped stitch just about virtually disappears in the knitting below.

However, with vigilance over not dropping stitches and much yanking to avoid ladders, I finished a toe on one sock. I kitchner stitch it shut. I slipped my hand into the sock and spread the toe to see my neat seam. Only to see a big gaping hole! No it wasn't just a ladder, it was a hole. About half way down the heel. With lots of bars of yarn above it. Yep, I had dropped two stitches! and run they did.

So I undid the seaming (first major chore) and unraveled the knitting back to below the hole. Here's where the thought of a life line came in, and when I finished laughing at the thought of a lifeline in a sock, I slowly and patiently tried to pick up what looked like live stitches. Forty of them. I know, because once they were on the needle, I then unknit two more rows, just to be sure I had all the stitches on the right row.

Will I put a life line in here now? No, that be silly. After all, it's just a Stockinette stitch sock.

I will put all the yarn details in the post with the pictures of the socks. I don't have the information in front of me right now. Then you too can go and play with stretchy sock yarn.

CW

Sock club and naked necks

My one LYS is hosting a sock knitting club once a month and I got to go for the first time on Thursday. We paid a small fee for the 2 hours of instruction, and pattern, plus a discount on the required yarn. I got to meet about 15 new knitters and really enjoyed the opportunity for a knitting night out.



The designer of the sock, and instructor is Elise Williams. I know she has a blog, but did not put that on the design page, maybe I will get the link at another time. She is really doing this very locally, although a few of her closer friends there are goading her to put the socks into a pattern book. The pattern is held exclusive to the sock club members for three months and then put for sale at the yarn shop. I love the fact that here and probably all over the world there are knitters doing exactly this same thing, designing and teaching small projects locally. They get the self esteem boost of seeing something they created enjoyed by other knitters, and we get the fun of yet another wonderful sock pattern.



I have realized that although a sock can be knitted from a basic pattern, the fun of knitting socks comes from two things, variations in the sock pattern, and a lovely yarn. Since the yarn companies have caught on to knitters love of sock yarn, the supply of yummy yarn for socks is now amazing. I think knitting socks is here for the long haul, and not just a knitting whim and I think as long as there are knitters making socks, there will be new and interesting patterns evolving also.



So Novembers sock club sock is called the Bramble Soxx. Here is a photo of the very tiny beginning achieved while I was there:

The yarn is really interesting. As you can see in the photo it is called Soxx Appeal and is by Knit One Crochet Too. It is 96% superwash merino, 3% nylon and 1% elastic. That 1% makes the yarn surprisingly springy and it is also very soft. It's going to be a very comfortable pair of socks.

The pattern shows the sock knitted in stripes, achieved by using three colors of the yarn and changing periodically to create the look of self striping yarn. I choose however to buy one ball of variegated and will use that in the cuff, heel and toe and knit the main body of the sock in the solid green. I really like the green color, I usually do not care for lighter shades of green, being more of a forest green type of girl, but this soft light moss stays far enough away from glaring lime green or pastel baby green for me to really like it.

The bramble part of the pattern is on the cuff and is an alternating groups of make 3 bumps. This also then involves the slow process of K3 together, so knitting the pattern on the cuff is challenging. However that is perfect for this sock knitter, it gives me the challenge right up front while I am still thrilled with starting a new pattern and using a new yarn. After that thrill is gone, laugh, I get to zoom through regular knitting of the sock. I will even avoid one sock syndrom, by putting the regular knitting part on two circs, once the cuff is complete.

We discovered while knitting that the pattern was emerging on the 'inside' of the sock, which really worried a few of the knitters. Elise explained that once the cuff was complete, the sock should be turned inside out and the rest of the knitted worked (after all, the mind boggles at trying to turn a heel, inside out) I can not resist though a slight change in the pattern and plan to knit the sock with extra length right after the cuff and then wear the sock with the cuff turned down. I think it will be really cute that way.

Now my challenge is to try and finish the socks before Dec 13th, the date of the next sock club meeting.

I am sure the naked neck part of the title caught a few eyes. I have a totally non fiber bit of news to share, and that is I got my long hair cut on Thursday, and had enough length to donate it to the Locks for Love wig program. My hair is shorter than I have had it for almost 20 years! But it was worth it. I laughed though that evening, walking out of the knit shop and realizing for the first time in years, my neck was cold! All to better, because that means I will enjoy my knit scarves all the more this winter.

CW