Sockupied Spring 2015 Review

I love a good pair of hand knit socks and normally knit a few pairs each year. Last year however, was a sock dry spell and I am on a mission to remedy that this year. That's why when I saw the opportunity to review the Spring 2015 issue of Sockupied I jumped at the chance. 

I have never purchased Socupied before, but love the new PDF format. I tend to be a mixed bag when it comes to downloading patterns. From my laptop, to iPad, to phone, or Kindle, this format makes it perfect to get anywhere.

Karner Butterfly Socks

Let me start with what I love the most, the photography. I thought the photos were not only beautiful but did a really excellent job at maintaining a lovely and relaxed feeling. And there was even a dog! The colors chosen for the socks were varied and really maintained interest even though the photos were all shot in the same location (inside a house). The overall aesthetic really feels like spring! Especially considering they probably photographed these in December.

I really appreciate that there was a variety of yarns chosen to feature the samples in. Yarns were Opal, Fibernymphs, Huckleberry Knits, Lorna's Laces, and Anzula. I haven't used all of these yarns, only a few (and have a couple hidden away in my stash too) but I still like the diversity. I'm not always a fan of when books/magazines do all the yarn from one company since I feel like it makes it more difficult for me to substitute. 

Laith Socks

My favorite feature was the designer profile. I love hearing about how designers got started, their process, and advice they have for knitters. The profile this issue was on Rachel Coopey. I would have liked to see a bit more information on her, as much of what was shared was in bullet points. Her design for the issue was simple, but not boring. The socks have loads of texture and visual interest. 

Washington State Knee Socks

This issue included a pattern for knee socks. Along with the pattern was an in-depth tutorial on sizing knee socks. I (having never knit knee socks) sort of assumed you just measure your leg and boom, knee socks. However, the article gave a lot of good advice which involves adjusting gauge and ease for your knee socks. 

Chain Socks

Two patterns were my absolute favorite; Chain Socks by Mone Drager and Mill Ends Socks by MK Nance. Chain Socks is a fantastic pattern to use with variegated yarn. I will be honest: I mostly hate variegated yarn. HOWEVER, I think the use of the slipped stitches in this pattern does a lovely job of breaking up color pools and variegation. Mill Ends Socks uses the movement of stitches to show of the gorgeous colors in hand-dyed yarns. The stitches move in varying direction across the sock. This pattern is simple but so unique. 

Mill Ends Socks

One thing I would like to see in future issues is a wider variety of sizes. Some socks came in five different foot circumferences and lengths, while a couple only had three or fewer sizes. While I am on the small footed end of things, I have friends and my sister-in-law who have much larger feet. So a consitently wider variety between sizes would suit more people. 

The pattern was written in the style common to Interweave Knits and Knitscene. In this way pattern instructions are blocked together based on the portion you are working on (i.e, all the heel directions in one paragraph). This is not my favorite way to follow or write a pattern. I find it visually overwhelming, but that's just my personal preference. 

Before I leave you to make your own decisions about Sockupied let me leave you with this, at $11.99, that is about $2 per pattern. A steal! 

Overall, I'm very excited to cast on Mill Ends Socks as my 2015 socks. I have the perfect skein of Anzula Squishy in my stash.While this was my first Sockupied, I doubt it will be my last. 

Check out the patterns in Sockupied and tell me, do you have a favorite?

Full disclosure: While I was given a review copy for this post, all ideas and opinions are my own. 

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Tiny Toes

About a month ago I decided I wanted to knit D a pair of socks. I grabbed leftover Cephalopod Yarns Bugga! in I don't know what colorway (Gorgeous? Awesome?) and cast on for some toe-uppers.

I figured with the toe-up method I could get a more custom fit for D's socks rather than just guessing and potentially having to rip and reknit. 

I used the round toe method from Cat Bordhi's book Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. I also paired the Bugga! with some leftover yarn from my Audrey in Unst that I knit what seems like one hundred years ago.

These socks turned out to be just the cutest things ever and slippery as heck in our house. I don't know if it's just the heel thing (like, having one) but D's socks never stay in place on his foot. I'm tempted to try some boring (brilliant?) tube socks but am not yet convinced they will fit any better. 

Now that his socks are done, I picked up some yarn to knit myself a matching pair.

The yarn is a set of Three Irish Girls Adorn mini-skeins in colorways that are custom to my knitting group (Akron Stitch n' Bitch). The colors are (from bottom to top) Canal Park, Cascade Valley, Furnace Run, and Autumn Buckeye. I also have a sweater's worth of the Autumn Buckeye and the Canal Park colors that may grow up to be more than socks!

 Little Socks 2

Yarn: Cephalopod Bugga! and Becoming Art Suave Sport in Cranberry (red)

Needles: US 2.5 (3 mm)

Began: September 17

Completed: October 6

Socktober

This Socktober, I managed to add another pair of handknit socks to my sock drawer (that makes 5 pairs this year just for me!).

The picture isn't great but I finished them on Tuesday, the day school was closed due to hurricane (who ever heard such a thing in Northeast Ohio?) so there was no way I was going outside in the rain for pictures.

The yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in a color called Morelo Mash. While super gorgeous, the dye bled all over my hands each time I knit. The water after blocking was more than pink, and I'll probably have to wash these alone for sometime. I think it's also worth noting that the Jitterbug is heaver than a regular fingering weight. I cast on 60 stitches and now that the socks are blocked, I think I could've probably gone down to 56. Either way, I'm excited to add a new pair of socks to the stash. Once you go handknit, you don't want to go back!

Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Morello Mash

Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)

Began: September 30

Completed: October 30 (I don't seem to get things done as quickly these days. I wonder why?)

Ravelry Link

Dreaming the Impossible Dream

My first colorwork socks are off the needles, blocked, and officially done! I don't think it's possible for me to be happier with how these turned out. 

After my inital false start, I ended up following some of your recommendations (thanks to everyone who responded!!). Before I posted, I knew I'd probably have to (a) go up a needle size even though I was getting gauge, (b) block these to really see how they'd fit, and (c) frog everything I had already knit. Kim pointed out that since Fair Isle isn't stretchy (I knew that) I needed to make sure to knit the socks to the size they would need to be on my foot (but why didn't that occur to me?!).  

I modified this pattern in a few ways. I reknit the sock from the toe up so I could try them on as I went. I also switched to a size 2 needle because I knew going up to a 72 stitch sock would be too big in the end. I tried them on every 10-15 rows in case I ran into a fit issue. When I got to the heel I did my standard short row heel on a size 1.5 needle instead of on a 1 or 0 like I normally would have. I had forgotten to start increases for the gusset at the appropriate place so a short row heel was kind of my only option at that point. I went with the 1.5 because I wanted to make sure it would be stretchy enough to fit over my heel. When I got to the cuff I wanted to replicate the original top-down socks so I created a folded cuff and sewed it down.

 Gray is the top of the cuff from the right side and white is the top of the cuff on the wrong side.

I think they look stellar for my first forray into Fair Isle and sock knitting. They are not without their errors. But I'd like to point out how zen I was about errors in this pattern. I kind of figured as long as they fit, right? Besides, who, besides people who read this blog, are going to notice any errors? No regular person should be checking out your socks that closely. I was even ok when I saw this little white speck of a stitch that I accidently put in the worng place:

I am so excited about these socks and would like to point out that I completed my 2012 goal of adding 4 additional pairs of hand knit socks to my sock drawer. I'm sure I'll cast on a couple more pairs before the year is over since they make great in class/lecture knitting. 

Pattern: La Mancha's Giants by Rose Hiver (FREE!!)

Yarn: Shibui Sock in Graphite and Ivory (1 skein each)

Needles: US2 for colorwork, 1.5 for toe, heel, and cuff

Began: July 14

Completed: July 25

Ravelry Link

Nobody Likes a Braggart

At the beginning of last school year a student came to me with the tattle that one of their friends was showing off. While I do not necessarily deem this tattle-worthy, we did have a talk about how bragging can hurt other people's feelings and might make other friends not want to play with you. I closed our discussion with the statement that "Nobody likes a braggart." Unbeknownst to me, another teacher heard me having this conversation and word got out that I used the word braggart with my students (and yes, I did have to explain to the kids what a braggart was). It became kind of the running joke during the year. 

It gets even better. Before we went on spring break we had been reading Midnight on the Titanic from the Magic Treehouse Series. When we returned from break, we talked a little about the anniversary of the Titanic and I was asking some questions to see if they remembered what it was. My kindergarteners remembered that it was a huge ship that had sunk in the ocean (although one claimed that the captain was now in prison in Italy. Wrong ship buddy). They remembered it was called the Unsinkable Ship because the people who built it thought nothing could make it sink. They also remembered that this was wrong because it did sink. At this point in the discussion, one of my students who was sitting near the front just shook her head and said, "That's what happens when you're boastful." For sure.

 

This pattern is called Show-off Stranded Socks (thus the intro story). The stranding is just a yarn over that's been passed over. These were the socks I was knitting when I headed to California and then had the needle mishap (I started these on a size 0 needle thinking I'd be smart and get a nice tight gauge. Gauge was too tight. Foot wouldn't fit in sock. Needle broke off cord literally a moment after I realized this). I restarted them last weekend so I'd have something to knit on my trip to Boston.  For this pair I used a skein of Madelinetosh Sock which, when I wound it up, I noticed was lighter in the center and darker on the outer part of the cake. Well, if you look carefully, the bottom sock is lighter (this was the first one knit) and the second one is a bit darker. It's really no big deal but I do find it interesting the contrasts seen in hand dyed yarns. 

 

I also found the heel construction on this really interesting. I generally don't like heel flaps and gussets and tend to do short row heels on my own socks. This heel flap, however, kept my interest the entire time. It's done by adding additional stitches on either side of one half the stitches (increasing every other row) while continuing to knit the sock in the round. After the increases, the heel is turned by doing short row decreases to get the number of stitches back down to the original. Once this is done you resume your knitting in the round again. It's pretty cool. 

 

This makes my third pair of socks this year. One more and I'll have reached my goal of four for the year. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post where I prepare to frog a sock in progress.

Pattern: Show-off Stranded Socks by Anne Campbell (FREE!)

Yarn: MadelineTosh Sock in Grenadine

Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm) and US 0 (2mm) for heels and toes.

Began: Officially June 23rd (restarted after ripping to cuff July 7)

Completed: July 14

Ravelry Link

Paprika Pillars

I feel like I've been turning out the projects pretty quickly lately. I'm sure it has nothing to do with school being out for the summer and lengthy travels. Either way, I'm halfway to my knitting resolution goal of 4 pairs of socks in 2012. This pattern is Pillars by Lisa Sitchweh. I've had it queued for quite some time (possibly 2 years!) and when the designer came up as one of the Designers of the Month in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry, I figured now was as good a time as ever to get knitting. 

For this pair I used Anzula's Squishy in Paprika. This is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend and I cannot sing its praises enough! While this isn't the first MCN blend I've used, there was something almost buttery about this yarn. It was not splitty at all and just slid through my fingers. Yarn heaven. However, I will warn that this yarn isn't cheap. One skein is about $34. I normally don't spend nearly that much on a skein of sock yarn but I will say that I am very pleased with the outcome.

 For my pair of socks, I used about 70 grams (which is pretty typical for my sock size) leaving me about 45 grams left. Not enough for a second pair but maybe some mitts? We'll see. I made a 7" leg and used my standard short row heel instead of the flap and gusset suggested by the pattern. I can't wait to add this pair to my sock drawer!

Pattern: Pillars by Lisa Stichweh

Yarn: Anzula Yarn Squishy in Paprika

Needles: US 1 (2.25mm) - 40" cable

Began: June 29

Completed: July 5

Ravlery Link

Socks for Dad

Another pair of socks off the needles! These socks are for my dad who asked for them back in December (I think. It was long enough ago that I don't remember when it was). At the time I was (unknowingly) newly pregnant and had zero energy for knitting so the thought of these languished somewhere in the back of my mind for a while.

I did, however, buy the yarn for these socks in January. Just a plain brown as requested. This further discouraged me from casting on. The thought of knitting miles of a stockinette sock (just going around and around and around and around) in just plain brown sock yarn was not exciting at all. I finally cast these on in the beginning of May and used them as my I-don't-have-anything-else-to-work-on-and-I'm-headed-out-so-I-need-a-project-to-take-along knitting. A couple weeks ago I realized that I'd be heading back to California soon and wanted these off the needles and out of my house. After a good, solid weekend of working on them, they're all done.

I knit these toe-up two-at-a-time knitting using Judy's Magic Cast On. I also used a new (to me) toe-up heel technique to get a flap and gusset. The only change I would make would be to do a k2tog through the back loop instead of a regular k2tog when turning the heel. 

I had initially been a bit worried about running out of yarn since these were man-sized. I thought I'd do a 7" leg before doing the cuff but when I go to that point, I realized I could add another inch. I knit to just over 8", finished with a 2" ribbed cuff (2x1) and still ended up having over 10 grams of yarn left! 

I'm not a big fan of knitting socks for men just because I hate the large size. I doubt I'll ever take on knitting socks for my husband and his size 12 feet (my dad's are only a 9 1/2!) but otherwise everyone in my family will have warm feet. Maybe I'll just felt Adam some slippers. 

Yarn: Opal Uni Solid 4ply

Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)

Began: May 4

Completed: June 20

Ravelry Link

Honey Badger Socks

I've had these socks done for a couple of days now but the weather was lousy on Tuesday and I've been feeling lousy. However, they're just too pretty to go another day without blogging. 

After finishing the Mitered Crosses Blanket, I kind of had an itch for some socks. I haven't knit any socks this year and started skimming through threads on the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. It turns out their challenge this month was lace, and I just happened to find this free pattern, and I happened to have yarn that I thought might look nice so I jumped in with both feet. I was a little nervous since I only had half a ball of yarn left for this project (about 57 grams) but figured most of the socks I make for myself are under 60 grams so it should be fine. I literally finished with less than 5 yards of yarn left.

I am amazed with how quickly these were done! I made a couple of modifications to the original pattern, opting to use a picot cuff instead of ribbed, and doing a short-row heel instead of flap and gusset. You might remember this yarn from socks I knit last year. What's really interesting is that those socks had almost no pooling (they were a 64 stitch cast on) and yet these socks (at 66 stitches) had a ton! Normally, the perfectionist/control freak in me would freak out at the sight of pooling (I pretty much hate it) but I really love the colors in this yarn so I'll just live with it. 

Pattern: Honey Badger Socks by Irishgirlieknits (FREE)

Yarn: ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio Black Dog Hand-Dyed Sock

Needles: US 1 (2.25mm), US0 (2mm) for toes and heels

Began: May 30th, 2012

Completed: June 4th, 2012

Ravelry Link

Skyp Socks II

I've had this yarn around for such a long time that I started to feel like the socks were taking a long time to knit as well. The truth is though, I knit these in a little over a month (of course I had the yarn wound up some time before that).

This was the main project I worked on while I was in Fresno for Christmas and my dedication to them paid off.  The night before I left I made sure to finish the foot and turn each heel this way I could just kind of zone out and knit the leg on the plane or wherever. 

I knit these two-at-time, toe up for one main purpose. Having only 250 yards of yarn to knit socks with scares me. I was worried that I would knit one sock the proper length then run short with three inches of foot on the second sock left. I figured if I started at the toe on both and only made it to four or five inches of leg on each, at least they would match. While my plan did work (to have a matching set), it turned out that I didn't need to be worried. I ended up being able to knit the leg to 7" before doing a 1" cuff. I have a sock with an 8" leg and I still had yarn left over. I probably could have gone to 9" even but was ready to cast off and wear these bad boys!  I used Jennie's surprisingly stretchy bind off and did a quick jig around the house. 

I've mentioned before that I can't find a lot of info on this yarn although I believe it to be sportweight, 100% superwash Merino. No matter, since I wasn't very impressed with the yarn anyway. It was loosely twisted and there were even areas where the plies had no twist at all, just kind of fuzzed up next to each other. I've worn these socks once since they were finished and already there's pilling on the heel and foot. Only time will tell how these will wear but in the meantime I'm going to get some good wear out of them. 

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku (Free!)

Yarn: Honeypot Yarns Washable Wool

Needles: #2-40"

Began: November 18

Completed: December 24

Ravelry Link

Skyp Socks

After all the hullabaloo of Blogtoberfest, I've kind of been slacking on getting a post up. Not to say that I haven't been knitting (you know I'm always knitting). I've just been lazy about picture taking and post making. This week though, I managed to get outside before the sun went down (earlier, and earlier) to get some pictures of the Skyp Socks I knit to swap with the teacher at my school. 

This was a very easy knit but I wasn't completely loving the yarn so I kind of dilly-dallied on finishing these. I had chosen this yarn because I've heard that they wear extremely well. My big hang up on gifting hand knit socks is that while I love to use more luxurious yarns, I'm not always certain the recipient will care for them properly and, even if they do, there is always the chance that a loosely spun yarn will wear through quickly. So like I was saying, I chose the Trekking. At my LYS there wasn't a whole lot of non-striping options and I was really going for a more solid/tonal look. The teacher did tell me that green is her favorite color so I settled for this skein. 

I didn't initially realize this pattern is written for sport weight yarn and chose to knit the 56 stitch size. Thank goodness for ribbing because before blocking I was a bit worried these wouldn't fit even my small feet. But they blocked out to the correct size. One wonderful surprise, despite my disenchantment with the yarn, was the fact that the completed socks used only 60 grams of yarn. That leaves me with enough to make a second pair for myself if I want!

Overall, while not in love with the socks, I will definitely knit this pattern again. I'm thinking of using a more colorful yarn next time so the faux-cable really pops.

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku (Free!)

Yarn: Zitron Trekking (XXL) (color #337)

Needles: US1.5

Began: November 1

Completed: November 14

Ravelry Link

More to Come

It's the last day of Blogtoberfest and I've kind of slacked off. I was busy with report cards this weekend and kept putting off taking a picture of my most recent finished object but I'll get one soon. In the meantime I've finally picked the yarn for my socks/yarn bowl swap.

 

I've never knit with Trekking before but have heard that it's a pretty hard wearing yarn. My thing with gifting hand knit socks is that while I love a beautiful pair of socks in a lush yarn, I want to make sure they last and stand the test of time. Now I'm trying to find the right pattern. I want something that will look great but with a pattern that is easy to memorize and kind of intuitive. Any ideas?

Hanging My Laundry Out

Since we were blessed with some sunshine and a nice breeze this afternoon I thought I would take advantage of the weather and do some washing of the hand knit variety.

 

Now that I have a lovely little collection of hand knit socks, I've been trying to take turns wearing each pair so one doesn't over wear. Some are wearing a little more quickly than others and you'll probably see a blog post about that soon. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying looking at this little rainbow of fun. Like tiny flags swaying in the breeze. 

I should also mention that I forgot that I left these out there and the next time I looked it was raining. Whoops. They're indoors now.

Wollmeise Technicolor Dreamsocks

 

I had a couple people ask me how these socks were coming and well, voila! They're done! They are fantastically garish while being surprisingly squooshy and comfortable.

I knit these socks magic loop, toe up, two-at-a-time. This was my first time doing socks toe-up or two-at-a-time and I was surprised with how quickly they worked up. I don't think I'll start exclusively knitting my socks two-at-a-time but it was nice to finish and realize, hey! I'm actually done! I also knit a different toe that did increases in six places evenly around. I found this toe in Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. The way the increases are done definitely creates a much rounder toe which I think fits better than most sock toes. 

I did my standard short row heel (which is from the Lifestyle Socks) and finished by using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off. Considering I tried three different bind-off methods before this one (lace bind-off, sewn bind-off, and regular going up a couple needle sizes), it really is surprisingly stretchy. I was a little worried about the length of the leg since by the time I finished the green mini-skein I only had five minis left. The leg ended up a bit over 5" (I generally go for 7") and while I do have that lone skein of Wollmeise stashed away, I didn't really want to break into it for a mere 5-10grams.

Now you know what this means, right? I've actually knit four pairs of socks this year and have accomplished at least one of my year goals that I set back in January! I feel like I've been on a sock knitting kick this year so I wouldn't be completely surprised if a couple more pairs pop up before the end of the year. But for now, I've put away my new socks and looked adoringly at my little collection of handknit socks just waiting for cooler weather. 

Pattern: My own recipe

Yarn: 11 Wollmesie minis for a total of about 65g

Needles: #1.5

Began: August 8

Completed: September 8

Ravelry Link

Water Lilies Socks

Last night was my knitting group's annual Birthday Swap. It's our biggest swap of the year, where we celebrate everyone's birthday at once (I'm positive I heard more than once last night someone ask, "when's your birthday" followed by "today"). My recipient was Chantal (Chauntal? She's a tricky one) who mentioned that she'd love a pair of handknit socks since she's only learning to make socks herself. So, in addition to some skeins of Collinette (you know, to make socks with) and Malabrigo (just for the love of it) I made her a pair of socks.

I think she actually squeed when she opened her package. That's like music to a knitter's ears. 

The yarn for these is ThreadBear Fiber Arts Black Dog Hand Dyed Sock Yarn. There was no colorway listed on the label but the yarn reminded me of a Monet painting; gorgeous hues albeit a bit muddled. I believe the Michigan yarn shop where the owner would dye these skeins up has since closed. Either way, I received this yarn as a gift through a swap two years ago. I've been saving it for something special and this was it.

The socks were done cuff down, where I worked about 8 rows of stockinette before doing a yarn over/knit two together combo, then another 8 rows before picking up stitches and knitting the top of the cuff down to create the picots. I love me a good picot. 

They fit the recipient perfectly (thank goodness) and I have more than enough to knit a second pair for myself (because I'm greedy like that).

Yarn: Black Dog Hand Dyed Sock Yarn (100% superwash Merino)

Needles: Leg and foot US1, heel and toe US0

Began: August 24

Completed: September 4

Ravelry Link

School Socks

Just in time for the new school year, my School Socks are finished. They only took me something like eight months to complete. Eh. Whatever. 

I must admit, I love having a plain pair of stockinette socks on the needles. It's really nice to be able to just grab your project bag and know you won't have to worry about counting or patterns or anything.

Even though I had to frog the original sock (due to size issues, of course) once I got some momentum with the socks, they flew off the needles. Each sock took maybe two or three days. At this rate I just may make my resolution of knitting four pairs of socks this year (I have cast on for my scrappy Wolmeise socks but have only made it past the toe).  It's still too warm here to be wearing wool socks, but now I'm actually starting to look forward to fall and, dare I say, winter when I can finally start wearing some of the handknits I've amassed in the last couple of years. I am now on the lookout for shoes to wear to school that will show off my handknit socks. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Azules and Lettuce

Needles: #1

Began: January 17

Completed: August 22

Ravelry Link

I'd also like to mention that my two year knitaversary is coming up rather soon. Of course I'm hoping to do something fun for it but things at my house have been quite transitional lately. I ended up getting hired to a different school just this week. I know you're thinking, didn't that already happen? Well yes, and then it happened again. And this just happens to be a school district I was desperately trying to get hired into all summer. I ended up having something like five interviews and then was hired on Tuesday, the same day as kindergarten open house, and then school started Thursday. So now I'm playing a frantic game of Catch Up. My hope is to not let the blog suffer for too long but in case you start to wonder what in the world is going on, now you know.

Lettuce Paraphernalia Socks

These socks are making me insanely happy! Can you believe, two finished project posts in two days and a pattern I've actually knit twice? I can't either. And do you know what this mean? It means I've actually made two of four pairs of socks for myself this year (per my blogiversary resolution). Please don't scoff at me those of you who have been knitting a pair a week since January.

All I could think about today was getting a chance to get outside to take pictures since I finished these last night. I decided to do pictures in the front yard instead of the back. It always worries me a little that the neighbors will wonder what I'm doing but I really love the socks so I didn't notice anyone looking. 

After everyone's helpful suggestions on how to reinforce the heel (and all the positive comments on the Malabrigo Sock), I decided to knit the socks on smaller needles than I normally do. I knit the leg and foot on a US1 (getting a gauge of about 9.25 stitches to an inch) and the heel and toe on a US0 (with a gauge of 11 stitches to an inch, ouch).  The pattern calls for a gauge of 7spi, which seems a little loose to me, especially for this yarn. Because of my smaller gauge I had to reknit the first sock twice. I didn't try it on or measure it until I finished the toe (what was I thinking?) and it was far too small. So I pulled it out to past the heel and reknit it based on the largest size indicated in the pattern. After finishing the toe, I tried it on again (what's with me and the not measuring?) and it was still too small.

I went ahead and knit the second sock, making sure to measure the foot as I went. I ended up having to had about 15 extra rows to the pattern before the toe in order to get a size that would fit. Once I finished sock #2, I pulled out the toe of sock #1 and added the rows.  I used the same yarn that I had just frogged so the bottom of the sock looks kind of lumpy and loose. I'm hoping that will even out with wear and washing, but in the meantime, it's in the crook of my toes so I'm not going to stress over it too much. 

Now to pick another sock pattern I can carry around with me. 

And maybe to buy more sock yarn.

 

Malabrigo Monday

My latest sample knit is off the needles, washed, blocked, and on its way to its new home. So now I can be a little selfish again. I've started knitting a second pair of Paraphernalia socks last week for my evening class knitting. You're probably wondering if I ever pay attention in class, aren't you? Anyway, I cast on for a second pair of these socks (they're for me this time) in a skein of Malabrigo Sock that I've had for a while. I really love this color but have heard some scary things about socks in Malabrigo. Like, you walk in them for two seconds and your toes pop out. Or something like that. Since I've started these socks I've been thinking about reinforcing the heel and toe. But how to do that is the problem. I've never done that before and am not really sure about the best way to go about doing something like that. So of course I ask the people I trust.

What would you do? Have you ever had this problem with Mal Sock? Do you normally reinforce heels/toes of loosely spun yarn?

Dragonfly Socks

  

My first pair of socks (for myself) in the new year and done. Hooray! Now just three more to go and I can meet my New Year's goal. Either way, I'm pretty pleased with these socks especially after the rough start with a different pattern. 

 

Now for the moment of truth. Perhaps you are wondering if I managed to knit these out of one skein of Shibui Sock (that's 191 yards). No, I was not. I ran out with about a quarter of the foot left. You can see on the bottom sock where I had to join the second skein. Strangely enough, despite these being from the same dye lot, the second skein is a bit more tonal/variegated than the first skein (which seems almost solid to me). I didn't really notice the color difference until I started knitting with it, although I probably should have. Looking back at the stash picture I took when I bought the yarn, you can tell one skein is definitely not as solid.

No biggie, though. 

 

The lace pattern was very easy to memorize and that definitely helped to keep the project moving quickly. I started the second sock Saturday while riding the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and was through to the heel by the end of the trip. I finished them yesterday while on the phone with my mom. I felt like I was just zooming along.

The only thing I would do different, were I to knit these again, would be to do an extra lace repeat on the leg (maybe two) because they're just not quite long enough for me. Also, the cuff and leg are a bit loose and I would try knitting the cuff/leg portion on a smaller needle (I used a  2.5mm). It's not saggy per se, but it could definitely stand to be a bit more snug.

 

I almost didn't post this last picture since the last time I posted a sock picture with dog legs in the background a horrible incident followed not long after. But this was just too cute to pass up. Those are Timber's tiny toes (I call them his ballet slippers) behind me and Hazel's speckled leg behind him.

Pattern: Dragonfly Socks by Jocelyn Sertich (FREE!)

Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock in #1765 Blossom (approx. 1.2 skeins)

Needles: 40" US1.5 (2.5mm)
Began: May 12
Completed: May 22

Ravelry Link