Sock pair #40: Two at once!

I needed a travel project. Sock knitting is great for that. Very compact, time hungry, mostly doesn’t need a pattern these days. I had some yarn that I was keen to knit but not in my colours. Orange shading into purples. I posted a picture and a friend who loves these colours had a big squee over the yarn. So of course I knitted them for her. To add interest to a simple plain knit sock, I decided to have my first go at knitting two socks at once, by the circular needle method, not the terrifying alternating stitch method. I had to make a special trip to find the right needle but it was worth it. Despite the beautiful colours I nearly “died of boredom” in the latter stages of the knitting.

I managed to knit the toes and only the toes on the aeroplane. That’s the tray table grey rather than the ironing board grey that you usually see.

Another progress pic just because. Oh, and because this is the only pic that captures the pink glow at the tips of the toes.

and the finished socks. Such a beautiful long colour gradient that the camera has not quite captured. It’s prettier than this in real life. I believe the yarn is Schoppelwolle Zauberballe but I had it unlabelled as a stash gift from a friend. I used a different yarn for the heels so as to not interrupt the gradient.

These have been delivered to my friend and she loves them to look at, but I don’t yet know if they fit. Fingers crossed.

Sock Pair #38

I mostly knit socks as portable projects for doing on trains or planes and while waiting for various things. These were started for a trip to New Zealand. I only made about half of one sock on that trip and after that, a certain pandemic has meant that I’ve had little need of a portable project. Eventually I decided that they ought get finished so I’ve been working on them a little at a time in between other things. I’ve pushed to finish the last half a sock this week before I embark on a big quilt-a-thon.

Pattern is my now usual Wendy Johnson toe up slip stitch heel, but missing most of the slip stitches and with a simple but effective interlace pattern called “Lizard Lattice” from the book “Japanese Stitches Unraveled” by Wendy Bernard.

Yarn is Fenwick Street Flashmerino in Silver Bear by Miss Click Clack Hand-Dyed yarns. It’s 85/15 super wash extrafine merino/nylon. It’s a slightly warmer grey than the picture shows, I was impatient and didn’t wait for daylight to post this. Hmm, looking at the photo again, I now realise that one cast off is way neater than the other. Oh well, that probably won’t be noticeable in wear.

Sock Pair #37

Wow, it’s the third day in a row that I’ve finished a postable thing. Today it’s my latest pair of socks. They were started back in May when I needed to quickly come up with a small traveling project. I found three yarn leftovers that went really well together.

The first turned out to deliver a lovely marbled pattern which was a nice surprise. Not my leftovers so I didn’t know how they would knit up.

I’m really pleased with the finished effect. The colours are so good together. I’ve blended them a bit by doing alternating rows for a while each time I joined a new yarn in.

another, slightly artier shot.

and now of course, I need another traveling project!

The reddening

This adventure prompted by two thoughts:
1. That I wanted more warm red socks than I was in possession of.
2. That perhaps food dyed silk thread might be more colourfast than the commercial stuff I had?

I found two pairs of socks that I wasn’t wearing much and that would look well with a red overdye. They happen to be #5 and #15 of my knitting. The pink/yellow/green ones are comfy but I’d stopped wearing them because of the colours. The orange/grey ones were started while waiting for a hospital procedure and always reminded me of that experience, so I didn’t wear them either.

The socks reddened nicely. The silk thread surprised me by refusing to darken past a mid pink, which I shall try to think of as pale red, being as I am in an anti-pink phase.

The silk thread, though paler than I wanted, does seem to be pretty colour fast. I’ve now done half the embroidery that it was intended for (more later) and am right now enjoying the old #5 socks in their new reddened form.

 

 

 

 

Three Dozen Socks

Sock pair #36. So 6 dozen single socks! Happy belated birthday Papa.

Toes are Bendigo woolen mills. Multi striped yarn is Regia, given as stash rejects from my generous donor. Toe up, Wendy Johnson pattern as usual. Heel is my current favourite, slip stitch heel without most of the slip stitches 🙂

Papa says this size fits, but having seen them on, I’ll be making the next pair a little smaller.

Blackening for improved appeal

I was bored with cleanup from camping, so I boiled some socks. 🙂

It had become clear to me that I much prefer dark socks. I have short legs and pale socks just make them look shorter. So on the long list of projects was a plan to dye my less favourite pale socks. Today I bunged them in with a jar of black dye. I’m wearing more black and grey these days. As long as they haven’t shrunk, this was well worth doing.

Before. Damp and about to go in the dyepot.

After, gently steaming, straight out of the dyepot.

Hung to dry post rinse, wash and sunset.

Sock Pair #35

The latest pair of socks have gone to their person, so I can show you them here.

They needed to be a fairly strong colour, and I didn’t have quite the right yarn. So, surprise, I overdyed three different sock yarns with food colour. Before and after pics below.

 

I rather like the subtle shading. They fit and seem to please my dear friend for whom they were made.  Knitted toe up as usual. I’ve used the k2tog bind off for the first time. It’s good. Easy and well stretchy.

Sock pair #34

Made for a friend ’cause she really likes hand knit socks and deserves the treat.

I had some beautiful bright crazy zauberball in red/pink/purple, but not enough for a pair. I had some more of the same kind of yarn, but I didn’t want the white. So I overdyed it. Can’t take the yellow out, so the orange had to stay.

Then wound off each colourway into halves

Toe, heel and cuff are knitted in a single yarn. The rest is done in alternating rows. I rather like the effect. Coordinated, not quite matchy.

 

Sock pair #33

My first pair of socks from handspun yarn, and I even did the spinning.

Beginning the knitting:

After three months, though the knitting didn’t take anywhere near all of that time. Socks are an in between project for me.

So comfy. They fit well and feel lovely. Some of the yarn is really too fine and some is underspun. A much more skilled spinning friend pointed out that as one gets faster at drafting, one needs to allow what feels like more time to get enough spin in the fibre. The drop spindle doesn’t go faster to match your increased drafting skill. So I don’t know how long they will last to either wear, shrinkage or felting. I sure mean to wash them carefully.

and they match my handspun hat
Well at least partly. They are from the same fibres but the stripes are constructed differently.

Including a gratuitous arty shot. I’m enjoying the not too matchy colours and stripes.

Possums in the toes of her socks.

Sung of course to the tune of “Diamonds on the soles of her shoes”.

Sock pair #32 of my knitting. Finished at Rowany Festival and handed over unblocked. Toes are a possum merino blend. Rest is Phil Folk Sock 100 which was much fun to knit. It’s two ply. One ply has the rainbow variagation, the other moves through neutral shades. Wendy Johnson’s toe up slip stitch heel pattern.