This month's socks are finished

thanks to all the rain at the beach.  These are the most "fraternal twins" socks I've made yet.  I normally do two socks at a time, but this time I didn't (not sure why!)  The sock on the left with the beautiful striped leg is the one I did first.  As the second one neared the heel I couldn't believe how it looked - like an entirely different skein of yarn!  Severe pooling of color all the way down the leg.  The foot shows more stripes than the first one does, however, as the first foot has some color pooling.  The only place where they look similar is through the heel area.

These are a good example of the fact that hand dyed yarn makes up very differently depending where in the dye sequence you start your cast-on.

I still love them and will happily wear them, but they are definitely a conversation piece.  The pattern is "Monkey" by Cookie A, one of my most favorite sock patterns.  The yarn is by "Pink Carrot Creations", a hand dyer in Ketchikan, Alaska.  I bought it on our Alaskan cruise four years ago for a souvenir.

Finishes

The yellow single is spun, and the pair of socks I was working on at the knitting retreat is finished.

You might notice that the toes look different from each other - they are.  Remember that I had to completely redo the second sock because I knit the wrong size?  I also followed instructions for the wrong size when I decreased for the toe on the first sock.  I thought it fit a bit oddly compared to the other pair from this pattern, but since it was comfortable I didn't worry about it.  Now I know why!

I must spend part of tomorrow cleaning, doing laundry and running errands.  I got a call today from the machine quilter - Emily's quilt is ready for me to pick up, so that is one of the errands.  I should be able to spend half the day sewing.  I'll doing the machine stitching on Emily's quilt's binding so I can do the hand stitching at quilt group in the evening.  The rest of the day will be spent cutting out "Hat Trick", this month's Vintage Schnibbles pattern. 

 I'm using  charms from Chelsea Boutique by Blackbird Designs (I love all their stuff!).  I have both the print pack and the plaids and stripes pack, as well as a print pack of large rectangles.  I know I'm going to love this quilt!

My October socks are finished!

These were cast onto the needles on October 1, 2012.  They are the Mystery Sock pattern for October from the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry.  Mystery socks are similar to mystery quilts in that the knitters are given a clue a week for four weeks.

The first clue was the cuff and first two textures in the leg.  The second clue was the third leg texture, the heel flap and the heel turn .  The third clue was the instep gusset and beginning of the foot.  The fourth clue was the rest of the foot and the toe.

In order to qualify for prizes the socks must be done, photographed showing both socks, and posted to the month's mystery thread by the end of the following month.  In this case that was November 30, 2012.

I chose orange for October, and a tweed blend because I love tweeds.  The plan was to have these finished before my surgery on November 27th.  But we all know what happens to the best laid plans of mice and men . . . .

I was just a short way into the sock feet at the time of surgery.  I was OK'd to use little sock needles at the end of February.  It feels so good to have these finally done!



 Gratitudes:

1.  Spending the afternoon with our kids and grandkids celebrating Joseph's sixth birthday.

2.  A glass of late harvest Riesling for dessert tonight.

3.  A finished pair of socks!

A funny sight

At least I think it is funny.  This is how the shower in the little bathroom looks at the moment.

Most of my socks are made from superwash yarn, but I still hand wash them.  I want them to last a long time as many hours of knitting are represented here.  (This is by no means all the socks I've knit.  I still have some in the drawer and none of my husband's are here.)  So I wash them by hand.  It takes very little time, and it is time well spent to me.

We don't use this shower, so I put in the tension rods so I could hang my washed handspun yarn to dry after it is "finished".  They make a perfect drying rack for other things too!

Socks!

Computer-aided dyeing and a plain vanilla sock pattern = a fabulous pair of socks.  A pair like this goes so fast I can whip through it in only 2-3 days.  I love hand knit socks!

Red Heart "Heart and Sole" yarn, 2.5 mm needles (size 1.5).  This yarn can be found at most craft stores like JoAnn's, is quite inexpensive, comes in beautiful colors, and wears like iron.

Socks again!

I'm back to knitting today. This is the first time I've knit on socks since before my hand surgery. Its feels so good to be using small knitting needles again. This is a sport weight yarn, so I'm using size 2 needles. I didn't realize how close I was to the toe until I took these out of the project bag this morning. All I had left were the toe decreases.  I finished those quickly. We are in the car so I can't close the toe until we stop. Kitchener stitch and riding in the car don't mix.

It's a good thing I brought another project.

Remember to comment if you want to be entered into the drawing!

I will draw for the Jan Patek Block-of-the-Month patterns shortly after noon tomorrow.  I want to get those patterns plus the others I've promised into the mail tomorrow.  So if you want to enter, be sure to comment on this post.

Right now there are 10 comments, but only 8 of those are entered because I have no way to contact two of the people who commented.  One chance in 8 is very good odds!



I did manage to do the machine stitching on one binding today - the Friendship Garden quilt.  I'm still madly shifting and reordering things.  I'll be so glad when that is done!

Here is the last Civil War Diary block for February.  This makes a total of 9.  I'm shooting for an average of 10 each month until completion - so I need to get 11 done in March.

I'll leave you with a picture of today's socks.  The sock knitting world calls these "plain vanilla" socks because they are straight stockinette stitch with a short rib at the top.  They are anything but plain, however, because of the wonderfully colorful self-striping yarn.  This isn't the best picture of the colors - they are more muted in actuality.  It's almost 9:30 p.m. here and the only way to get true colors is outside in daylight.  It's yarn like this that drew me back to knitting and to learning to make socks.

Socks!

Socks are what caused my two-year detour away from quilting.  Specifically, hand knitted socks.  If you've never had the luxury of wearing a pair of hand knitted socks then you have no idea what you are missing.  I'll never go back to store-bought socks again.  These hug my feet like a second skin, are cozy warm, and fit perfectly.  There are literally thousands of sock patterns available, from simple "Plain Vanilla" to fancy lace, colorwork and fair isle, cables and twisted stitches and more.  I always have a pair of socks on my needles - right now I have 12 pair!

Of course, having beautiful socks necessitated buying new shoes.  Shoes a bit bigger to make room for cushy socks.  Shoes that leave some of the foot bare so the socks show.  I'm even thinking about making myself some long jumper dresses so the socks show below the hem!

I've decided to include a sock a day here on my blog, which should inspire me to get back to those 12 pair on my needles!

Today's socks, which I call "Blue Lagoon", were designed by my knitting friend Betsy McCarthy.  Her sock book, both the old and new edition, are two of the many sock books in my library.  This design, which she calls "Peaks and Valleys" is a simple two row ribbed lace pattern that I've done several times.  The yarn is ONline Supersock 100.

My user name on Ravelry is "hardenbrookgirl".  How many of you knit?  How many have knitted socks?  They are SO much fun to make - and quick!