Jungle Socks

Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, Jungle, 2 skeins
Pattern: My generic 56 stitch top-down sock with short row heels
Needles: US # 1 / 32” Addi Turbos for Magic Loop
Thoughts: I don’t wear green very often. A quick peek in my closet reveals that I own only one solid green top. It’s just not a favorite color of mine. So it was a surprise even to me that I selected this colorway. I saw it several times in person before I succumbed to it; I think the beautifully saturated colors finally won me over. Plus I love Claudia Hand Painted Yarn. Unfortunately the two skeins I purchased ended up having slightly different tones (even though they came from the same dyelot). I loved the first sock. When I got to the second one, I found that I was pushing myself to finish it as soon as possible. At first I thought maybe I was sick of green, but then I realized that the second skein has much more of a yellowish tint to it. I think it shows up in my second photo — the sock on the right is the more yellow one. While the first sock was vibrantly green and fit the name of the colorway, the second sock just made me think of wilted grass. But no worries — I am still totally thrilled to add another pair of handknit socks to my collection.

To My Sister

Dear Scil,

When I saw you on Christmas Eve, I was wearing handknit socks. I pointed them out to you because I was super excited about them. I had just begun my sock knitting frenzy, and these were the first ones that I knit two-at-a-time from the toe up to the cuff. And they fit me really well.

After I told you about the socks, you asked if we could put our feet up against each other to compare foot sizes. I was perplexed. I mean, I wear a size 5 and you’re a 6, so it wouldn’t exactly be a huge surprise if your foot is slightly bigger, right? But frankly, I said no because your socks didn’t look so clean to me. I didn’t want your questionable socks giving yucky cooties to my nice handknit ones. Don’t roll your eyes at me — you already know I’m a tad obsessive about cleanliness.

You brought up the foot comparison thing again. Finally, a little light bulb came on in my head and I asked if you just wanted to try on my socks. You answered “Yes!” In a tone of voice that implied “it sure took you long enough to get my drift.” O-kay, I guess I was a little slow on the uptake. Amazingly, the socks fit. You seemed really interested in them. We talked about the colors, and you thought they were good but maybe something brighter would be nice too. We pretty much left it at that — I didn’t say I would knit socks for you, and you didn’t ask. But I was already scheming.

A week later, I ordered the yarn for your socks. I’m kind of a slacker, so I didn’t start knitting them until Super Bowl Sunday. I’m not sure if this colorway is what you meant by brighter, but there is more definitely purple in it and I know you like purple. Here is a comparison:

Your sock is on the left side of the photo

I was actually trying to finish them while we were chatting on the phone the other night. You know, the night when you were tearing your way through a massive pile of junk mail while talking with me? During our conversation about your most frequently used handknit items, you said jokingly that I could feel free to knit socks for you. I smiled and managed to keep quiet even though I was bursting to tell you aobut my project.

So finally, here are your socks. They aren’t perfect, but hopefully they will fit you well and last for several winters. It’s best to handwash them, but I don’t even do that and I have way more free time than you do. So we’ll settle for the care instructions on the label, okay? Whatever you do, do not wash them in hot water! They’ll end up looking like the little felted purple purse.

I really enjoyed knitting these socks for you. I hope your feet feel warm and happy in them.

Much love,
me

Sergenti Socks

Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Hand Painted Supersock, Sergenti, 1 skein
Pattern: My generic 56 stitch top-down sock with slip stitch heel
Needles: US # 1 / 32” Addi Turbos for Magic Loop
Thoughts: The Sergenti colorway wasn’t what I was expecting at all. I guess this is a major disadvantage of purchasing yarn online. The photo I saw showed lots of brown and magenta with mere hints of rusty orange and blue-ish gray. As you can see from my photos, there is a lot of navy blue and burgundy in this skein. Navy blue is one of my least favorite colors, especially when it is next to burgundy. Overall, this colorway was just a more masculine-looking than I anticipated. This was my first time knitting with Cherry Tree Hill, and I would definitely buy it again. Of course, I haven’t found a hand dyed/ hand painted yarn that I wouldn’t use again, so perhaps I’m just partial to the hand-dyed stuff!

My First Toe-Ups Are Done!

Pattern: Instead of following one pattern, I referenced techniques from multiple tutorials/patterns:
Misocrafty’s Turkish Cast On Tutorial for Two-At-A-Time Toe-Up Socks with Magic Loop
My Fashionable Life’s Elfine Socks Short Row Heel
Misocrafy’s Short Row Heel Tutorial
Cosmicpluto’s Short Rowl Heel Tutorial
Wendy’s Toe-Up Sock Pattern
Grumperina’s Fancy Lil’ Bind-Off
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM Colorway P419, 2 skeins
Needles: US #1 / 40″ Addi Turbos for Magic Loop
Thoughts: For a long time, I had been intimidated by toe-up socks. But the fear got old and I grew increasingly curious to see why many knitters like the toe-up approach. Learning the Turkish Cast On and short row heels wasn’t as difficult as I anticipated. Granted, I stumbled occasionally, but the excellent tutorials and patterns I linked above got me through. Photos truly can be worth many words.

The thing I like most about toe-ups is the short row heel. As I mentioned in my previous post, I think it’s so very nifty! It looks very tidy — unless there is a hole at the gusset. I ended up sewing up the one hole after I finished the sock, so it was no big deal. I still love the heel. Other than that, I didn’t particularly enjoy the other aspects of my toe-ups. The Turkish Cast On is wonderful, but I did a bunch of M1s in order to reach the total number of stitches for the foot. I hate doing M1s. Big time. I considered switching to k1fb, but it wasn’t any easier for me. It seemed to take for-ev-er to get to 56 stitches! Lots of people have also mentioned that knitting toe-up allows them to use up as much yarn as possible or to stop early if they are running low. Because I have narrow size 5 feet and I knit stockinette socks, yarn shortage has never been a problem. I always have plenty of leftovers, even when I make the legs 8″ long (ribbing included).

Lastly, I found that knitting two socks at once isn’t my thing. Yes, it’s wonderful to avoid second sock syndrome completely, but the project felt bulky to me. I know that doesn’t sound right because socks are small, but I just didn’t like dealing with two balls of yarn all the time and making sure they weren’t tangled. It discouraged me from bringing the socks out for public knitting.

Overall, I’m really glad that I knit toe-up socks successfully! This is the one “big” technique that I learned this year. I think I would knit toe-up again, but I foresee mostly top-down socks in my future. To me, it is easier to start socks top down, and I like knitting toe decreases much more than toe increases. I don’t even mind grafting the toes now. But you never know…I might change my mind with more experience! I realized that I have sworn off socks twice already, and look at what I’m knitting all the time now?! Yeah, things can change. So, these are just my current thoughts about toe-up versus top-down.

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Some things that I am doing over the holidays:

Reading. I haven’t had this many new books at once in a very long time.

Knitting my Yarntini Gimlet socks. Why are self-striping socks so addicting? I keep wanting to knit “just a little bit more” so that I can see the next color change. Of course, five color changes later I’m still going.

Playing Scrabble. Recently, Hubby and I have gotten into playing once or twice a week. He usually wins by 80 to 100 points which tells you that I am pretty darn bad at Scrabble. But it’s still fun! Last time I finally beat him, though only by a mere eleven points. The neat thing is that our Scrabble set orignally belonged to my parents and is probably about 22 years old.

Happy holidays to you and your loved ones! May you experience much joy and peace in the coming year.

All Socks, All The Time

My Pink Posey Socks came off the needles two weeks ago. I really like them because the yarn is so incredibly plush and the colors make me smile.

Pattern: Top down sock pattern from The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, Pink Posey, 2 skeins
Needles: US #1 / 40″ Addi Turbos for Magic Loop

I still need to work on neatening up my socks. As you can see below, I had some ladders. It took me until the second sock to remember that when I insert my needle into the second stitch, I should tug on the working yarn a bit to tighten up the first stitch. I do this with all other knitting, so I don’t know why I forgot with socks. Also, my ribbed cuff isn’t as neat as I would like — anyone have tips for that?

As soon I finished the Pink Posey Socks, I cast on for another pair. This time, I am doing toe-up, two-at-a-time with Magic Loop. The yarn is Koigu KPPPM Colorway P419. There is actually a lot more purple than what is showing up in the photos.

After I finished the short row heel, I had great difficulty closing the gap between the live stitches on the heel and the ones on the instep. I knew that I was supposed to pick up an extra stitch or two, but the problem was that when I picked up stitches, I created an even bigger hole. It was pretty darn ugly and I got so frustrated. I finally took the socks to an LYS and asked the for help. The owner gave me a few pointers about where I might pick up the stitches, and also suggested that I twist them by knitting through the back loop. Generally, her advice worked for me, except that I still ended up with one quite large hole. It may not look gigantic in this photo, but it’s definitely noticeable when I try on the sock! But one out of four isn’t too bad — I could live with that for my first toe-ups.

On the positive side, I think my short row heel looks pretty decent. The short row heel seems so cool.

I’m hoping to finish these up later in the week, and then I’ll post my impressions of top-down versus toe-up.

By the way, you see that nifty floral zippered pouch peeking out in my photos? That is the small project pouch from Piddleloop. It’s the perfect size for sock projects. They come in lots of fun fabrics and are very well made, so go check them out!

Pink Posey Socks

On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I enjoyed a lovely visit with Danielle and Teresa at Knitique. Knitique carries beautiful yarns and has an incredibly warm and inviting atmosphere, making it one of my favorite yarn stores. I am always glad when I stop in for a visit. Although I spent most of my time there chatting away, I did do a little shopping and picked up two skeins of Claudia Hand Painted Yarn for a new pair of socks.

My knitting plan for the Thanksgiving weekend was to start the socks and also work on two scarves. But as soon as I cast on with the Claudia Hand Painted Yarn, I couldn’t put the sock down! The yarn is luscious. I knit and knit and knit, and the scarves got woefully neglected. I took the photos below on Sunday afternoon, but I actually finished the first sock already and cast on for the second one. Apparently I’m addicted to these socks as I have no desire to knit anything else!

I love the colors — there are varying shades of pink with hints of purples and browns sprinkled throughout.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been taking a rather “vanilla” approach to socks — ribbed cuff and stockinette leg and foot. I like my sock knitting to be easy, and my feet are small so many published patterns would end up being too big unless I made pattern adjustments. But I do have Sensational Knitted Socks, which offers multiple sizes, so perhaps I will branch out soon.

I also bought a skein of Yarntini self-striping sock yarn from Knitique. Aren’t those colors fun?

I’m looking forward to knitting my first pair of striped socks, and I’m even thinking about trying them toe up with Magic Loop. For those of you who have tried both top down and toe up, which method do you prefer?