Fall Footwear

It may be "sweater weather" (it is!!), but fall also means it's time to pull out those warm knitted socks. Especially those I haven't had a chance to wear yet!!


My sock production has dropped a lot for a lot of reasons, and I have been plugging along on these socks since last November. But here is proof that if you keep plugging, eventually you get done:

These socks were made from a ball of Cherry Tree Hill Yarn Supersock DK

I got at a resale back in 2015 for $10. At the time, that was about half of what a new ball of sock yarn would cost. It was later identified as the colorway African Grey. (Thank you, Ravelry! Knowing the color name doesn't at all change the yarn or how much I like it, but I still love to know!)

You can see it sat in my stash for a while and I think I picked it up because I needed something to take on the go and this ball was easy and available.

It's a weird combinations of colours and I was hoping the colour runs were a little longer, but no matter. I used a slip stitch pattern to break up the variegation, but it turns out the colour runs were so short that they wouldn't have pooled like most variegated yarns do.

On the right is the bottom of the sock where I didn't do the pattern and you can see the stripes. On the left is the slip stitch pattern (every fourth row: K2, bring yarn to the front, slip 2, move yarn back; repeat). Turns out I actually like the stripes better! But again, no matter.

I knit them toe up making up the pattern on the fly. I made a gusset of increases every other row for a total of 24 stitches.

I did a short-row heel turn and heel flap in stocking stitch. Continued the slip stitch pattern all around the leg, and finished with a 2x2 rib with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

I finished the knitting in June. I blocked them sometime in August. And now I got to the pictures in September. Once again, plugging along gets it done...at some point.

I've been looking at these socks hanging on the blockers for the last month or more wondering if I really need another pair of socks. But when the first chilly day came along last week, I slipped them on with pleasure! :)

Project Stats
Started: 3 Nov '19
Finished: 16 Jun '20
Pattern: of my own making: slip stitch pattern, toe up, short row toe, gusset, heel flap, 2x2 rib
Materials: Cherry Tree Hill Yarn Supersock DK (African Grey), 78 g ($10)
Ravelry project page: link

Dobby Sock Bookmarks

Catching up with Christmas knitting, here are some cute gifts I knit up through the last few months of the year.

I used the A Bookmark for Dobby pattern by Kay Jones of the Bakery Bears podcast and I knit lots of little bookmarks.

I immediately connected with the idea of a sock bookmark since Dobby the elf received a sock (and his freedom) in a book. I just love that story line of the Harry Potter books.

Two socks knit on the drive to a birthday party in September
and a third started that was finished during the party!

Each sock took a couple hours -- it helped that I didn't have to make a pair! :) The pattern was easy to memorize and it's not the end of the world if you miscount a row for two.

Once I had a bunch of socks, I made little tags to insert in the sock to give them a crisp finished look and to drive home the point.

I gave them to several children of friends and my niece, who all seemed to enjoy them.

A great project to use up a lot of my scraps and very fun to do!

Where to Start?

You may recall my plying this orange yarn from a raveled sweater:

The full story is here. I was planning to use it to make sturdy socks.

Well. After searching for a suitable pattern and settling on this nice tulip pattern by Stephanie van der Linden, I started to knit with the plied yarn. It did not take me long to realize that it was too thick for socks at my normal gauge! All that work and it wasn't going to work. Not in this pair of socks, anyway.

So for plan B, I took the yarn from the front and back of the sweater (since I had already plied the sleeves) and started the same socks with just two strands. Since this pattern is more like a recipe (including such "detailed" instructions as "turn heel") I figured it would be easy to convert it to my usual toe-up method.

But. Once I had the toes done, I took a look at the cable pattern. It was not something I wanted to have upside down on my sock. Most of the patterns I convert to toe up are either identical or just as nice when done upside down. Not this cable.

At first I thought I would be able to convert on the fly while knitting. You can't just turn the chart upside down, but I thought I could figure it out. Then I wasn't sure. I actually did a swatch of just the cable pattern. I figured it out, but didn't do the entire pattern, or write down what I did.

I went back to the sock, but didn't work on it for long. When it had been sitting forlornly in a basket for a few weeks, I realized there was just too much going on at once and I was expecting way too much of myself to be able to convert the chart.

Then. I broke through my mental barrier on this pattern when I realized I didn't have to do it toe-up just because I usually do. What a thought. It's not like I'm worried about running out of yarn--I have a whole sweater's worth. So I ripped out those toes and started again at the cuff.

It's going much better now. As in, I am actually making progress. ;)

They're not speeding along because I only work on them at home. Working from a chart just isn't good take-along knitting. (Well, maybe to a knitting group where the expectation is that you'll be knitting, but not to meetings and other places where you should make eye contact as you listen and talk.) And the chart is 24 rows of non-repeating cabling so I'm not going to be memorizing it any time soon!

It's a very enjoyable orange colour to be working with. My sister made a comment about my orange and grey zig zag quilt, that my trip to the Netherlands is still having an effect, and I think she's right. Hup Oranje!

Tulip Fields Socks: Finished

Let's continue celebrating Socktoberfest by looking at my most favourite socks:

It's getting to be that time of year when the light is short and my work days are long, so these are all the pictures I managed to get of these socks!

These socks had a most unusual construction which I discussed before. I made them a little different than the pattern in that I started at the top of the leg with a provisional cast on so I could pick up the stitches later and do ribbing at the end and use up every bit of yarn. (Or, in case I ran out of ran, I could work a cuff in a contrasting or complementary colour.)

I also worked the stripes with intarsia across half the sock. I.e. after the heel, I went down the sole making the three stripes, and then did a short row toe and went up the top of the foot and front of the leg with three more stripes, attaching it to the first half as I went. I really enjoyed doing it this way and plan to make my own like that, once I choose the yarn and get to it.

My own? Yes, these socks are a gift so even though I love them so much, I will not be keeping them!

Project Stats
Started: 12 Jul '14
Finished: 23 Aug '14
Pattern: Stripe Tease by General Hogbuffer
Materials: Katia Darling, 2 skeins in colour 208 (€9.90)

Socktober Day 5 Update

I've been making good progress on my elephant socks. As usual, chart knitting is completely addicting and hard to put down. This pattern uses one large chart for the leg, but I find it easy to keep my spot by using a couple sticky notes on the pattern.

I put them on "upside down" just above the row I am currently knitting. This way you know exactly what row you're working on and you can see the work that just did. As I work charts, I refer to the row I just did more than counting stitches on the current row. It's generally easier and keeps you on the right path. The only part that's a pain is you have to move the stickies every row. But I think it's easier (and less permanent) than highlighting each row as you go.

I had some comments in response to my first post where I claimed I would be following the pattern and not making my usual changes. Apparently some of my readers found this hard to believe! Well, so far I would say that I have followed the pattern...but it was an iffy start.

The pattern says to start with a twisted German cast on over two needles. I have to admit right up front that I didn't even know what that was, but I do know what I like to use. So that's what I did, and I cast on with the same method I would use for a two strand double stitch.* It's the same cast on I used for my "punked" youtube video,** only in this case I used two strands of red instead of different colours.

What you're looking for is a cast on that won't bind the top edge. It needs to stretch with the ribbing.

[*Can I just add an "internal footnote" to say that although this makes me sound like a curmudgeon who doesn't like to learn new things, it's more an issue of really wanting to start a new project and not wanting to slow down to look stuff up? I prefer to think I'm eager; not close-minded.]

Below a close up, and you may be able to see how the cast on looks like the stitches just wrap around the edge in a K1, P1 pattern. (It completely blends in with a 1x1 ribbing, but it's not quite as smooth on the 2x2 ribbing of this pattern...but you will notice that I didn't substitute it. (Although I considered it.))

Now, before you start jumping around and saying I cheated, after recommended the twisted German cast on, the next line of the pattern says, "you can use your favorite cast on." And so I did. And so, technically, I am still following the pattern.

Since working on the sock, I have looked up the twisted German cast on (anything you need to learn about knitting, just search youtube). It is a cast on that uses knots between each stitch--something I don't like. Knots restrict movement. Knots make hard little knobs in your knitting. Although you occasionally need to use them, I try to avoid them. And when I heard that this cast on is normally done over two needles to make it "stretchier," I put up another black mark against it. If you ask me, using two needles just makes it looser, not stretchier and makes it look messier. I just don't like it. Even the cast on I did use looks "ruffle-ly" and loose when it's not being worn. I can't imagine it being even looser. Anyway, that's where I stand and I'm glad I used the cast on I did. (Even if it was a complete pain in the keister to do in a single colour. Worth it.)

Anyway, once the 2x2 ribbing was done, and the leg chart was knit, it was time for the heel. A "partridge heel." I have heard of them (a lot) but had never done one. I knew it was a type of slipped stitch heel flap, and it turns out I was right. On the heel flap, you slip every other stitch on the knit rows. Not only do you slip them but you twist them as well. So they kind of stick out.

And because the slip stitches alternate "columns," you get a pretty sort of checkerboard pattern. The slip stitches draw in the knitting and are supposed to make the back of the heel more durable. On the back you get longer floats on every other row,

which also is a type of reinforcing as the floats double the knit stitches and give you two layers, in a sense. When I slip stitch the heel flap, I usually line up the slipped stitches so they're always in the same column of stitches. I believe this is called a Dutch heel and considering I learned it from my Dutch grandmother, I guess that makes sense. (Unless this is another case of Dutch meaning German (like Pennsylvania Dutch). I'm not sure.)

And again, for my certain readers, I will note that the pattern instructed me to slip the last stitch of each row and knit the first stitch of the next row, which is completely opposite of what I usually do (slipping the first stitch and knitting the last stitch). But I followed the pattern along to see where the designer was taking me. Turns out the two methods would have been equivalent, but I didn't know that until I did it, so I did it her way. (See? Following the pattern!)

The heel turn. It's a very sharp angle. I'm not sure I
like that. But it'll stretch to shape when being worn,
so it's nothing to make a big deal about.

Once you get to the bottom of the heel, you do the turn with some short rows and decreases. This is also a first for me. Usually the bottom of the heel flap is half of your total stitches and you have to decrease all the stitches you pick up from the side of the heel flap. But in this case, you end up with fewer stitches at the bottom and only decrease some of the side stitches.

My mind is still working out if this will make for a better fit (it certainly will make for a shorter gusset), but I will find out in the making. Again, following the pattern to see where it will take me...

Once the heel flap and turn were done, it was time to pick up those stitches on the sides and continue working all the stitches:

You start with the left sock, so this is the "inside" side.

This is where I really struggled. After completing the heel, the designer had the nerve to tell me to cut my yarn. AAAHHH. Cutting yarn in the middle of a sock!? That is crazy talk. But right in the pattern, she admits that she hates to work in ends, so I had to take her instruction to cut the yarn seriously. I did stop to consider how else I could work it, but I decided to just trust her and cut my yarn. It hurt though.

This is the "outside" so you can show off your
clever little elephant.

At this point I tried the sock on. It's tight going over my heel, but then fits fine. That's the risk with stranded socks--they really don't stretch. I went down a needle size because usually 72 stitches is way too big. I think it's going to be ok.

(Famous last words?)

________________
**Story here if you don't know it or want to reread it.

Socktober 2013

It's that time again...time to celebrate Socktober. No, this is not another excuse to drink beer in October. It's just an excuse to knit more socks. (Needless to say the crowds are smaller at this event, but the fun usually lasts all month.)

I knew I had a skein of Pagewood Farm's Chugiak sock in "Really Red" that had been waiting for a long time to be put to use. I decided this was the time. But not plain red socks (as if red could ever really be plain), but I wanted to do some colourwork with it.

I did a mental search for some coordinating sock yarn, and I had none. But I did have a wool/angora sweater that I bought some time in August. It's white and I thought it would be perfect to practise dying (when I get to it). Meanwhile, the white would be perfect to work with the red.

So last week, I took off one of the sleeves and raveled it. The angora makes it "sticky" and a little tough to take out, but this piece wasn't too bad. I had a couple breaks in the top shaping, but after that it was clear sailing.

It still took the entire evening, however; in part because the sweater is done in brioche stitch and that means a lot of yarn. I got about 400 meters from just the sleeve. (That would be enough to do a pair of socks right there--even my long ones.)

I now had to find a pattern. I haven't done a pair of colourwork socks before but I've looked at a few patterns. My favourite so far is the "Water for the Elephants" pattern by Rose Hiver. I'm just a little obsessed with elephant patterns and add them to my Ravelry queue often, and I had just finished reading the book, Water for Elephants, that inspired the pattern. Seemed like a good choice.

I'm knitting without a net and am going to start the socks without a swatch. Besides being my first colourwork socks, I am also going to depart from my usual routine and follow the pattern in knitting the socks from the cuff down. I considered knitting more on top so they would be longer (I hate the draft short socks don't stop), but I'm just going to follow the pattern. I decided I have enough going on and am going to give myself a break. (Following these charts will be work enough!)

These Socks were Made for Traveling

So if you haven't heard from other sources, I should tell you that we just got back from a big trip to Alberta, to the Jasper and Banff National Parks. We went to celebrate our 12-1/2 wedding anniversary. (It's a Dutch thing.) (Yes, it's real.) It was fabulous.

But this is a knitting blog, so I will show you the anniversary socks I started for Troy. Note that I started them on our anniversary trip. Just as celebratory but without the pressure of having to finish them for a particular date! (Tricky, aren't I?)

I've showed you the yarn I bought for Troy's socks before:

I bought it on my road trip to Grand Rapids (Jenison) in December. It's got some alpaca in it, which will hopefully make it "soft" enough for Troy to wear. (He's really not sure he'll be able to wear wool socks. I'm making them anyway, just in case he loves them. That puts me at risk of having to make more, but I'll chance it.)

The wool is sort of a mustard brown, which usually isn't a pleasant colour, but it's a heather with lots of yellow, blue, and red bits in it like heathers are wont to have. Troy is a sucker for heathers. (That's with a small "h.") Yes, by now I know his weaknesses! I didn't realize it at the time, but I have since learned that in the Netherlands, 12-1/2 is the copper anniversary, and I think this wool could be construed to be sort of copper-y in colour. Nice coincidence!

I shopped around for a pattern and even printed one that I brought with me, but after talking to Troy, I decided to do a "plain" ribbed pair. At the first airport wait, I cast on the short row toe and got going:

(All those bags sticking out of my carry on are different projects I brought with me. I didn't work on many of them, but you never know!)

In the first flight I got the toe done:

Next wait at the second airport, and I've started the 2x2 ribbing:

That's my Kindle in the background. A couple months ago I was proclaiming to anyone that would listen that they needed to make a reader that could switch from written text to audio book for knitters. (I can't read and knit and have a good time all at the same time.) Then I discovered Kindle's text-to-voice. It's not the most nuanced reading, but it helps a lot if you skim along the words while it's reading. I'm enjoying it.

On the next flight, I continued up the foot, working in near darkness. The lady next to me was trying to sleep. She was amazed I was allowed to take my knitting on the plane. I ignored her. I only had to turn the light on twice to pick up a dropped stitch.

This plane was equipped to receive satellite TV. I watched the Leaf's game with the off-duty pilot next to me. This picture happened to catch the Leaf's game-tying score. Very exciting. Unfortunately they lost in the shoot-out. The pilot beside me didn't say so, but he was probably happy because despite living in Calgary, he is a Habs fan. He is also a goalie so he winced audibly every time an "easy" goal was scored. He sympathized with the net minders on any team.

The next day, I knit a little more in the car as we were leaving Calgary.

Here's a better one to show what we were driving into:

Gorgeous, right?

Once we actually got into the mountains, I couldn't knit anymore. I was too busy craning my neck and looking through all the windows I could. I love these mountains.

In the evenings, however, I managed to do a little knitting. On Sunday, I made Troy try it on:

This was about the time I was going to start the gusset, and I wanted to check the length.

He happily (and with a little too much surprise in his voice) said, "They fit!" In his defence, the ribbing is a little deceptive because it pulls the sock in when it's not on the foot and makes it look much narrower than it is.

It occurred to me that ribbing is having your cake and eating it too. Because it pulls in, it will fit a narrower foot than the same number of stitches in stocking stitch. But because you move the yarn from front to back between the ribs, you actually use more yarn so there's more stretch and it will fit a bigger foot than the same number of stitches in stocking stitch would fit. Isn't that breaking some law of physics?

At the end of the week, I had him try it on again:

Here I was judging whether I could start the heel yet. Almost there! Troy said they felt very good. I made him do the happy toe dance. It is mandatory when trying on socks-in-progress. (Optional when wearing the completed sock, but sometimes you can't help yourself.)

On the way home, I worked on them in the Calgary airport. Here the heel is finished:

I did some shaping to the sole stitches and then knit up the heel flap, decreasing the gusset stitches on the way. To reinforced the back of the heel, I slipped every other stitch on every row. This pulls the stitches in, as I think you can see here:

Compare the top and bottom portions. The top part
pulls in because only every other stitch is knit. (The
alternating stitches are slipped with the yarn in back.)

On the back side, this results in the yarn making horizontal bars:

Now the slipped stitch portion is on the bottom of
the picture.

This is like an extra layer behind the stitches and helps to make the sock more durable. I think it also gives a little extra cushion there.

I got as far as about an inch done on the leg and haven't worked on it since getting home. (Vacation's over.) I also need to have Troy try it on again to make sure the leg isn't too narrow. Of course, I'll be doing the 2x2 ribbing all the way around so I do have a little leeway...

Ok, one mountain shot, just for fun:

This is in Jasper, taken from one of the main streets. Yup, that could be the view from your living room or office.

Filler Project (or, My Own Stitch n Pitch)

I mentioned in my last post that the commissioned sweater is soaking up all my knitting time at home. But that still means I need projects I can take with me.

I had either finished up or gotten stuck on several things and actually had nothing to bring to church last week. That's a long ride without any sticks in my hands!!

On Tuesday, the student worker at our office was singing the anthem at the local minor league baseball game, and the whole office was going. There was no way I was going to a baseball game without some knitting!

I looked at several skeins of sock yarn that I have but didn't really have time to search out a pattern. I had the yarn from the U.P. that is going to turn into plain socks, but I want to do them two-at-a-time with the magic loop "method." And I don't have a cable needle that will work for that. So I dove a little deeper, and came up with this yarn--two black and white balls and a red one from the same company:

As soon as I saw them at the Red Purl "Green Sale" last spring, I knew what they had to be (and that I had to do it)!

So I grabbed the yarn, grabbed my most used size of sock needles and was all set.

I had one person ask me if these were socks for an adult, so I will show you:

Yes, they fit my foot. I got as far as the paperclip that night during the game, and have done a little bit since then. Now I'm about at the point where I have to start the gusset. Then I have to figure out the heel. Even though my new favourite is a flap style, I think I'm going to have to do a short-row heel to make the red look right.

Meanwhile, I had a good time at the game. Impressed my boss with my baseball knowledge and he got to instruct me on what a "hit and run" was. He agreed when I said it should rightfully be called a run and hit, but that is not as catchy. And the anthem? It went great; she did a fantastic job!

Found!

My socks are found!!

I hadn't stashed them in one of my many bags; I stashed them in one of my many containers.

It will only take me about 30 minutes to finish them (maybe 60 with the additional time it takes to make the video). I hope to get to that soon. Yeah! (They've only been sitting around waiting for weeks and weeks.)

These socks have produced their fair share of drama. Here are my Ravelry notes to summarize:

3/14 Gotta love vacation knitting. I turned the heel of the first sock. Lots of redesigning going on here...

3/22 Did I mention that I broke a needle on vacation last week and this project is now full-on stopped? Grrr. Oh, yeah, and all that redesigning? I left my pattern with all my notes at the restaurant at breakfast. Double grrr.

3/25 Got my new needles and am making progress again. This colourway is definitely too "lively" for the pattern but I'm going to tell myself that I don't mind.

4/1 I tried the Turkish (tubular) cast off for these socks and it completely did not work. The set up rows were way too tight. I improvised a new cast on (at least I don't think I've seen it anywhere else) and it worked great. I separated the stitches onto two needles--knits to the front, purls to the back--and then Kitchenered them together. Looks great; works great. Woo hoo!

4/3 Started second sock

6/7 I would like to finish these as I only need to cast off the second sock. They've been waiting for weeks. I can't find them. :(

6/17 I found them!! Should finish them soon now.

It's the "new" cast off that I hope to record on video and share on my "socks-are-finished" post.

Until then, keep your needles clicking!

P.S. My secret project is moving along nicely which is why I feel I have a little time to bob my head up for air and possibly work on something else like these socks!

Socktober Success!!

Yeah! I did it!

One month dubbed Socktober. One pair of socks:

Project Stats
Started: 1 Oct '10
Finished: 31 Oct '10
Pattern: Leyburn by Erin (PepperKnit)
Materials: Noro Kuyeon Sock,
colour 150, 1 skein ($10)
Don't they look pretty? I really love this yarn. If you look at the colours in the socks starting at the toes, you can see that my socks would have almost matched. (The right one above has a little more grey at the beginning.) BUT with the knot at the left heel my colour pattern was interrupted and so they don't match. Or they don't matchy match. Of course they obviously go together so that's matching enough for me.

And the knot caused me to get two shots of the bright aqua blue that I love on the left sock. Ok, I can live with that.

The second sock went much faster than the first.
1. I didn't have to undo the toe and the first 4 inches of the leg like I did on the first.
2. Related to #1, I had done the stitch pattern about a thousand times already and was starting to know it pretty well.
3. I think I took a couple more lunch breaks at work which I used for knitting.
4. I got serious this weekend and knit like it was the end of Socktober and I really wanted to finish the socks I had started.
All of that helps.

I'm very excited to wear my socks tomorrow and am busy planning what outfit will best show them off. Troy suggested Saran wrap (arguing it would not clash with the socks and that there's nothing there to distract from the socks. I begged to differ.) His second suggestion was shorts (if I insisted on clothing) but I don't think that will be happening either. Whatever it is I do find to wear, feel free to stare at my socks as long as you want. I won't even say, "Hey buddy, my eyes are up here..."

Back to the knitting...I can heartily endorse this pattern. It's well written and produces a lovely pair of socks. The stitch pattern is not stretchy and does require a rather precise fit. You may need to experiment with different needle sizes as I did.

These socks used a short row toe which I am enjoying more and more. Easy, quick and smooth--it doesn't produce the bulky looking decrease/increase lines that a regular toe has. I also used a short row heel which I used to dislike intensely but am beginning to appreciate. I think, in part, because I am learning how to adjust the heel to fit better. (My first short row heels didn't provide enough room around the foot at that crucial widest part.)

I did this heel over 31 stitches instead of the recommended 25 and did more rows than most as well. I don't know if I have a particularly big heel or if I have to make that adjustment because my foot is quite narrow, but in any case it seems to have helped.

Of course the yarn itself really makes these socks sing. I can't take any credit for that. My favourite LYS doesn't carry Noro and I probably won't go looking for it. But if it "falls into my lap" as this one did, I certainly will enjoy it. Knots and all.

I have some good memories associated with making these socks as well. I got to knit the leg of the first one while on a walk with my sister and niece on a perfect fall day. I knit the toe of the second sock while on a hayride with friends at a church picnic on another perfect fall day. I wasn't worried about straw on my socks as lots of yarn comes with grass still on/in it, but I was a little terrified of losing my bamboo needle in the loose straw!

Here's hoping I make some good memories while wearing them too!