Over the knee socks

Not quite done with the first one, but have just finished the gusset decreases. Should be finished tomorrow.



This is what the lace up the back looks like:


The ribbing at the top:


I couldn't get a good picture of the heel, but this is a little bit of it, with the measurement from the top to the bottom of the heel:


I'm looking forward to doing the second one, and maybe a pair for myself!

A couple pairs of socks over here too :)

I've been cranking out the socks lately. I just finished my 12th pair this year and I think I should really knit something else before it gets too hot. ;)

Pair 12 was the Lava Flow socks from Sockbug:



And here's pair 11:



I started the Cedar Creek socks from the first STR club package, since I hadn't gotten to those yet.

Opal ROCKS

I am finally back !
and- oooh I got myself into something new now... I tried Opal selfstriping sock yarn... and it ROCKS.. I love it... I had some leftover and made some wristlets out of it. I will go back and get me a stash of opal ... Oh here a picture of the socks... not the best one but for now it has to do!

I also made a bunch of babysocks for a bunch of pregnant friends but sadly forgott to make pics. but I promise the next pair will be photographed... promise...
so here the picture now

Ack!

I am such a flake! I finished these socks about two weeks ago, thought about possting them, and then totally forgot. The yarn is Wildefoote in the Rhapsody colorway. I put 9 stitches between the matched increases and decreases on these Jaywalkers to make them fit better and the pattern ate yarn like crazy. Two skeins made two socks with about 18" of leftover yarn.

Babysockline!

Have a look here at pictures of the sockline!

http://www.sockenwolle.de/index2.html

They got a total of 12.262 pairs of socks! The line was 1.289,50 m long!

There are still packages with socks arriving!

More socks!

My 4th pair of socks this month coming right up!



Details on my blog.

Stars and Stripes?! My A$$

One down, one to go. Done in Fortissima 1776 - overpriced given the rumors and apparent popularity of this stuff. Do those look like stars to you? Me neither. There are some star-suggestive blobs here and there, but whoever first said that this was supposed to be stars and stripes, got the stripes part right, but the stars? Not so much.

Meh.

I will do the mate. It's on the list. *sigh* All that anticipation for a cheesy looking sock. I did it in Wendy's Generic Toe-up sock pattern as well.

Ariel's famous socks

Aren't they cute? The whole story is on my blog.

Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks

As Bean would say, "Weeeeeee!" Oh wait, no, she'd say "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"



These are my first Toe-Up socks, and I'm sold! Love them! They actually fit me! And the short row heel feels good too. But I had holes, even though I picked up the double wraps, so I wove some extra yarn back through the holes and closed them up. Bean mentioned adding extra stitches in the gaps (I assume that meant the holes?) to take care of that problem. How so? Some KFBs? When I pick up the wraps, I transfer the wrapped stitch to the right needle, lift up the wraps with my left needle onto the right, then I knit them or purl them all together. Is this the way y'all do it to? Help! I love the short row, but the holes bug me! Am I going to have to weave everytime?

As mentioned in the title, these are Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks.

Yarn: Sockotta 6670 "Fruit"
Needles: US 2
Started 5/4 Finished 5/8

Will I do these again? Many, many times and many adaptations, I'm sure.

Tulip Socks

Becky sent me the Tulip and Gingham socks kit back in March. I've started one of them and so far, not too bad.

General thoughts: Wow! I didn't realize Fair Isle projects would come out thicker than normal. So I won't get to wear these socks any time soon. Yeah I know summer is coming but I even wear my other hand-knit socks in the summer. These, however, not gonna happen. What's sad is that by the time it's cold enough to wear socks this thick it'll be too cold to wear a skirt! I'm not into pantyhose and I'd need something under my skirt. How else am I going to show off the pattern on the cuff!?

The heel: I'd been told the heel gives people problems, and that I should just ignore the heel instructions. I did and put in my own short row heel. I use a heel with wraps, turns, and double wraps on the way back out. This leaves me with a little gap between the end of the wraps and the rest of the stitches. I had to add 4 stitches in each gap which meant there would be a few extra rows between the heel and the beginning of the chart repeats. The original pattern would have you go straight into the chart right after finishing the heel.

Fair Isle: Ouch. Way too many ends to weave in. Not used to doing that much weaving in on socks. I know I could have weaved in as I went but my mind can only work on maybe two different knitting instructions at once. Throw in the fact that I was carrying the unused colors up the side of the sock, and we're talking Tangle City. Every so often I have to stop and untangle the freakin yarns! But the design is beautiful and so worth it.

Knitting: I started out with a 2.5mm needle on these socks. After significant puckering, and a little snugness around the ankle I went up to a 3.0mm. It's much better now. I'm trying to keep the floats as loose as possible without making them too loose. And the burgundy yarn at the top of the cuff? That's waste yarn. The pattern calls for ribbing. I did ribbing once before but I'd screwed up the chart pattern. I had to rip out after I couldn't get the needles in the right places to just rip back to the base of the ribbing. Then I said I ain't doin the freakin ribbing again right now; I want to get into the pattern. so I put the stitches on waste yarn and will go back to the ribbing later.

For once I can't wait for it to get cold again so I can wear these socks! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Ladybug socks!

I made these with leftover Opal Ladybug that I traded with cmtigger for. Add a little bit of black from the lovely Jenn's heart socks and you have a pair of socks made of 12 Steppers leftovers!

Sixth Sense Socks

These are the same ones that turtlegirl made. I actually liked the garter stitch short row heels and didn't have problems, but they look really weird when they're not on a human foot.



Pattern: Sixth Sense Socks from the Six Sox KAL
Yarn: Alpafina a 50/50 alpaca/wool blend
Started: 4/16/06
Finished: 5/3/06

Sockpalooza sox arrived today

Here is the sox I recieved from my sockpalooza pal this morning.They are knitted in Lynn's Colour Joy Sock Yarn in Lynnabell which is a gorgeous blue colour. The sock pattern is Shell Lace Socks from "Knitting Vintage Socks" and they have a 3 point star toe.





My sock pal also sent me some gorgeous hand dyed sock yarn.The skein of yarn is 100g of "A Good Sock Yarn" in Grapes of Wrath colour way. Hand dyed by Rae of Rae's Yarn Boutique in Lansing Michigan, USA. It is 80% wool and 20% nylon. I can't wait to start a pair of sox with it.



Well who sent me these fantastic sox......None other than Rae from "Rae's Yarn Boutique in Lansing Michigan. Her blog can be found at http://extravayarnza.typepad.com.

Sixth Sense Socks - Done!

This was my first time with a short row heel, and to top it off, it was a garter stitch short row heel. My first sock ended up with some holes because I wasn't wrapping the stitches correctly. Turns out, it's completely different for garter stitch! Here's a close up of the heel:



The one on the right is the first one, done wrong. See how much neater and tighter the left one is? Ya live, ya learn. I don't like the way these fit me, I think if maybe I had made the foot a bit longer, it might help, but even on the blockers, it looks low. I think I just don't like short row heels. But I'll reserve judgement until I try a regular one. So I dub these "Birthday Socks" for my other sister. So that's two sets in a row I'll be gifting. Grr. I have a pair on the go now - 2 on 2! They'd better fit!

The pattern is from the yahoo "Six Socks" KAL group. They closed membership recently, so hang in there if you want in. Stariel, I know you're in. How did you like this pattern? Me, I don't think I'll be knitting it again. All that KTBLs drove me nuts.

Thank You Gundel!!

Here is a pair of socks made out of the beautiful Opal yarn that Gundel sent me during SP5.

New socks

I needed a break from the entrelac socks, so I started a new sock this morning...these are Spey Valley socks from Knitting on the Road, in Trekking, what else?


I've done these before, Trekking as well, but the cuff was a bit too tight. So I did the cuff ribbing/pattern in size 2s, and switched to size 1's for the leg. We'll see how that works out.

Oh, and a big thanks to Susann for sending me the Trekking.

Daffy Socks

Voila!. These are regular old toe-up socks, made with Knit Picks Sock Garden in Daffodil. For me. I like this yarn and would use it again. I've got more KP sock yarn in the wings but I must finish some mystery socks and the Tulip socks first. They're a little stretched at the top because I just took them off before snapping the pic. They're drying from a wash, as we speak.

Entrelac. Eh.

I started the entrelac socks. I don't mind doing the entrelac. I actually quite like it. But, on size 1 dpns? Eh. Not liking it so much. This is what I have so far.




My problem is this: the entrelac causes small seams on the inside, and the sock is entrelac all the way around. Something tells me that this isn't the most comfortable thing. Do I make just one to say I've made one? Do I make a full pair? Do I say F it and rip it out and use my precious Trekking on something else? Help!

Socks at knitting group

Catherine and I both brought socks to knitting group tonight! Catherine is working on her 2nd Jaywalker for Sockapaloooza and I'm working on my Sixth Sense Socks.

Seems I'm either blabbing too much here or...

.... really productive. Make your own choice please.

First I started a springy version of the Jaywalkers using yarnovers instead of the kfb and the beginning and end of each needle.
I'm using a 100% Merino yarn from Helloyarn.

Then I finished the thrummed socks, which will go in the mail tomorrow to find a caring home.













Then I started a pair of socks for my husband with the Regia Silk I got on Friday. It knits up really lovely and feels good to touch.

When I continue knitting at this speed, I'm back with new pictures soon.

Well, I finally finished a pair of socks- just plain stockinette in regia silk.

once they were done I worked up a pattern for my DK weight yarn and knitted it up. I'll write the pattern out in more detail and follow it to proof it for the second sock- then I'll post it on cavyshops.com for other people to try.

If you're interested...

There's a hand-dyed sock yarn swap Dye-o-Rama that has signups open now.

Basically, you dye a skein of sock yarn for your buddy. Kool-Aid, acid dyes, whatever. Check it out.

My first Trekking

I ordered 2 balls of Trekking XXL because the colours were so pretty in the picture. It arrived today and is much prettier than in the pictures!
No 166 of the new Aquarell colours
and no. 134 of the 2006 colours

Can't wait to knit the Aquarell colour into something beautiful. But first I have to knit socks in Regia silk for the husbeast; unfortunately he has chosen charcoal as his favourite colour.

Socks and the Harlot

I saw the Yarn Harlot today, and so did my socks! Joanna was there too and is holding her first Fair Isle sock!

Sockpal sox problems!!!!!

I wrote a post in my other blog and ealrier on in this blog that I was having problems with my sock pal sox, Well all did not go to plan...


The first pair was too small and I sent them to a friend in Brooklyn NY.






The second pair was coming along great,I had managed to get it to work out that they would be identical twin sox, then the yarn threw me, an extra pink piece of yarn mysteriously appeared mid way down the leg part of the sock. As I was knitting the second sock when I was away for the weekend and I didn't have the first one with me, I didn't realise the problem till I came home and by this point it was too late, both sox were finished. I know I could send a pair of fraternal sox to my sockpalooza pal, but I'm a perfectionist and no way can I do that. They are too small for me, but I think I will give them to my mum to wear when she goes walking.



You can see the discrepancy better in this picture.







THIRD TIME LUCKY........................

Here are the final sox that I have knitted for my sockpal. I hope she likes them.

They have a lacy top and are knitted from Opal sock yarn...75% superwash virgin wool and 25% polyamide.
I actually managed to work out the yarn correctly and they are identical twin sox.

And more socks for me!

Pattern: Elfine's Socks PDF here
Yarn: Knitpicks Essential in Grass
Started: 3/17/06
Finished: 4/18/06

Actually, can you keep a secret? They're not for me! *wink*

Someone stop me

I bought Socks, Socks, Socks today. And I cast on using Trekking (in the same colorway as Bean's Jaywalkers). You're wondering what, right? I need help. I want them, badly.



The appeal of this sock to me? It just looks so difficult, but I know entrelac is not. It's the challenge. It's toe up, and I've got just a few rows before I start the entrelac on it. More when I have enough for a good photo.

Back home with Jaywalkers!

Just 10 minutes before arriving at home, the second sock was finished! Good timing, right?!
You're wondering why they look so different from Saturday morning's post? Well, I can explain that. As always I started with 60 stitches and knit the cuff. Then I thought it might be a good idea to try them on and see if they fit over the heel. They didn't. So I frogged all, left the ribbing since it was wide enough and added 8 stitches. Knit down to almost the heel, now it was too wide. You can imagine what came next. Yes, I frogged again and knit a bit tighter, because the pattern needed the 68 stitches. This time it came out perfect.
I have a somewhat narrow foot, so I decreased 8 stitches after the heel, which brought me back to 60 and the nice stripes again.


So, what's next you ask? I think I'll make another pair of Jaywalkers with handdyed sockyarn I got from Helloyarn ages ago.

I'm still socking...

I've finally finished one of the toe up socks in KnitPicks Sock Garden-Daffodil. I'll refer to them as the Daffy socks. They most certainly drove me that. I bound off the cuff and the bloody thing was too tight! Even with using a needle 3 times bigger than the needle I used to knit with. Still couldn't get the sock over my heel.

I had to rip back to the beginning of the cuff(just easier to pick up the stitches in stockinette than in ribbing), reknit the ribbing and I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off to try again. It worked! I was able to get the whole sock on! I must remember this from now on. The sewn bind-off is a little more time-consuming than a regular bind-off but soooooo worth it! If you'd like some easy instructions for the bind off, look here .

Sorry, no pics as yet. Gonna wait til I get further on the mate before doing that.

I did not drop off the earth...

I just did not feel like knitting anything for about 3 weeks. Finally I overcame this phase and now am back in business.

I finished one of the thrummed socks and started the second. Unfortunately I ran out of fiber today, so I have to make a trip to the wool mill next week, which will sure end in bringing home a ton of fiber of all kinds.
I also finished one Pomatomus today, but decided against casting on for the second, because we're going on a road trip tomorrow and Pomatomus needs too much attention to be knit in the car.

I decided to start Jaywalkers for the road trip. I'm using Knitpicks Sockgarden in the Hydrangea color I got from Bean in exchange for Opal Petticoat. It knits up really lovely and is a joy to work with. I hope I have more finished socks after this weekend.

Jaywalker Progress

Here is a couple of pictures of my Jaywalkers. In the first, you'll see a sock and a ball of yan. Why is that, you ask? Yes, well...um. I started the second sock and got 1" into the pattern rows before realizing that I was using my #2 Addis, rather than the #1s. That's what I get for grabbing my project and running out the door without paying attention. :) I frogged the sock and rewound the yarn this evening, but I don't feel like casting on again, so I'll leave it to do tmorrow morning over my coffee. The second picture is detail of the pattern and shows the colors more accurately.

New Opal Rainforest yarns...

No I haven't disappeared from the sock world, but I have been so busy with work and trying to get stuff organized for my etsy shop that I haven't gotten much done. I plan to post a sock pattern on my website in a couple weeks, though!

Anyway, I got this link in an e-mail today, Opal, the beanie baby of sock yarns, is releasing a new line I think this summer. It's a new line of animal/insect themed patterns http://www.ptyarn.com/newrainforest.html

Yeah. I just said freak it and did stockinette the rest of the way. I've had enough of the pattern. Here you go!

Finally getting somewhere..

Thought I'd dropped off the face of the sock-knitting world huh? Nope. Been into this and that.. and life. But, here's a progress pic of my latest sock project, Pomatomus .

This picture was taking just after picking up the gusset stitches. At the time of this writing I'm about a third of the way through the gusset decreases. Pretty soon it's on to the foot!, and I can finally wear the somsuches. Poma was, and continues to be a very trying pattern. I lost my way many times and somehow managed to find my way back. I'm sure if you saw them up close you'd be able to see the mistakes. But to heck with that!

On with the knitting!

Finished sox

My Opal Zebra socks are now finished, I started them when I was at SKIPnorth. I really like them, but haven't actually worn them yet as I have a problem with a swollen left foot and lower leg (more on that later) and I am unable to get them on, well I suppose I could if I stretched them but I don't want to do that!!



I also finished these lacy socks, knitted in Online cotton sock yarn. I really liked knitting them. I had decided they were for my Sockpalooza pal, but I'm not sure if the foot is wide enough for her, so have decided to knit an other pair for her with some of the Lana Grossa I bought today. They will also be lacy but not that one. I will have to look through my patterns to see what I can find.

Two pairs finished socks

They've been done awhile, but forgot to post them.

My sockapaloooza socks, Jaywalker in Schaefer Anne:


My Pomatomus socks in Trekking (drool):

Hey, look! A pair!

Deja Vu huh? 'Cept this time - there's TWO! And they both have TOES! Exciting huh?

Yarn: Regia 4-fadig Crazy Color (#5437)
Modifications: I fucked up the gusset decreases on the second, you can't tell though. I didn't decrease enough. I decreased until there were 18/18 stitches on each circ instead of a 18/16 split. I call it a custom sock because everyone has a foot that's a bit bigger than the other one. Right?