Tag Archives: socks

10:21 am - June 14, 2013 - AngelaH

And we’re off! (almost)

This has been a long week. The weather has been off and on and a bunch of side projects all managed to converge at once to result in non-stop work. In the long run, I really don’t mind that (I’m not one to string things out) but that plus rain plus plumbing issues at home made for a week I’m glad to see the end of. Partly, though, it felt like a long week because something fun was waiting at the end of it.

Tomorrow, L and I are going away for a sort of mini-holiday. We’re taking four days to visit his parents and then go down to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to visit his sister and her fiancé. Despite visiting Windsor pretty regularly to see his family, we’ve never gone down through Detroit or into the States from there at all (well, obviously he has, we just haven’t been together). I’ve been wanting to for a while and now we’re going. Exciting!

Even better is that we’re being leisurely and taking the train to and from Windsor. While this does mean we leave at a rather unhappy hour tomorrow morning, it also means neither of us has to drive (it’s four hours) and that we aren’t taking the bus (which takes 6 hours!) and that I’ll have lots of knitting time. Oh glory, what a great way to bookend a trip.

This will become a tank top. Yes it will.

I’ve saved Kit for my trip knitting. I’ve swatched (pre-wash I was three stitches too loose, post-wash I’m one stitch too tight, so I’m calling that gauge) and wound two skeins of Euroflax (the second ball was much more successful) and I’m going to cast on on the train. It’s mostly stockinette, with a little texture, so I think it’ll be good social knitting. In case I decide I need a little more action, though, I’m also going to stow Willowherb in my bag.

I finished the first sock almost two weeks ago and then got distracted by Grace, which is coming along nicely. Willowherb is such a good pattern, honestly, you should knit it. It’s interesting and fun and, despite there being little chart repetition, it builds into a great rhythm. Also, the first sock fits so well it’s crazy. I suspect it’s those little twisted rib inserts, which hug the fabric in that are doing it, but it’s pretty amazing and I can’t wait to have the finished pair on my feet.

So, that’s my wind-down plan. Do you have one? Have you been to Ann Arbour? Are there any must-sees? Any good yarn shops I should be sure to check out? I will report back on the whole adventure early next week!

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: socks, tank, travel, trip knitting, Willowherb

8:59 am - May 31, 2013 - AngelaH

No safety pint required

Last weekend I cast on for Willowherb from Coop Knits Socks. It’s one of the orange projects (using Indigordragonfly merino sock in Safety Pin or Safety Pint: Discuss) and I am totally captivated.

Rachel Coopey’s patterns are really beautifully presented, with very clear directions and lots of inspiring pictures. Also, these patterns make beautiful garments. Willowherb combines twisted stitches, switch-back lace work and stockinette panels to make a sock that is super fun to knit and, I suspect, very comfortable to wear. I’m especially enjoying the little inserts of twisted ribbing, which pull the sock in and, I suspect, will prevent any late-in-the-day slippage (I hate the feeling of socks pooling around my ankles, something that rarely happens now that I knit my own).

The stitch pattern also seems designed to prevent boredom. It’s an eight-stitch repeat, which lets you get into a rhythm, but the chart is 54 rows long, so in the enter sock you might only get through it two or two and a half times. I guess this means I have the chart out while knitting, but honestly, you only have to look at it once a row (thanks to the short repeat), so it isn’t as though you’re married to it.

The yarn, it turns out, is a perfect match. It’s springing and almost spongy in that way merino can be, and it’s giving great stitch definition (sadly, to often wonky stitches). Despite the lace, these are pretty dense socks, so they’ll likely see wear all year round. I have several skeins of this yarn in my stash and I’m really excited to see how it looks in other kinds of patterns.

Assuming I don’t get distracted by orange project no. 2 this weekend, I may well have a finished Willowherb by Monday. Honestly, you try putting down a project that’s this much fun.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Indigodragonfly, Rachel Coopey, socks, Willowherb

9:18 am - May 28, 2013 - AngelaH

Cheerful toes

It’s a grey, wet, rainy day here in Toronto, so let’s look at some colour.

I actually finished my Monkeys last week, on a day rather like this one, and it was a perfect pairing. I know the wisdom is that during the winter you should avoid knitting grey and white things so your entire world doesn’t become one monochromatic colour, but frankly I find grey spring days far worse than grey winter ones, and the bright colours of these socks were an excellent antidote to all the rain (and friggin’ cold weather) we’ve been getting.

Monkey, of course, is a hugely popular pattern, but I wasn’t a knitter when it was published in 2006, so this is sort of catch-up for me. I will undoubtedly knit another pair – there are books I try to read every year and I suspect that, when it comes to knitting, spring will be greeted by a pair of Monkeys.

Details
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. (I used the original pattern, published in Knitty’s Winter 2006 issue, but she rereleased the pattern in her book and offers more sizes, etc. there)
Yarn: SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Honey Fig (I know this yarn has Tough in its name, but honestly, it was wonderful to knit with. It feels strong and like it will last, but it’s still soft on your hands as you knit. I loved it.)
Needles: 2.75 mm
Mods: None. I used a larger needle so the pattern would fit my 9-inch feet, and I used my normal slip-stitch heel instead of the stockinette heel in the pattern, but otherwise, I worked it exactly as written. Details, such as they are, are ravelled here.

I’m including this so you can see what the yarn did in stockinette. I love the way the swoops of the pattern broke up the flashing.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Monkeys, socks, SweetGeorgia

9:41 am - May 17, 2013 - AngelaH

Wild Monkeys

After knitting nothing but garter stitch for two weeks (and such a lot of garter stitch it was) I needed something entirely different. Naturally, my attention turned to socks. I actually cast on after finishing the fourth repeat of my shawl (so, okay, not two weeks of nothing but garter stitch, but pretty close). I didn’t yet have my copy of Coop Knits Socks, so I couldn’t start Willowherb, but I have had Cookie A.’s Monkey in my queue for almost a year now, so they seemed a suitable choice.

I’m using SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Honey Fig.

I’ve mentioned before that I wear socks year round. Not every day in the summer, of course, but if I’m wearing my Chucks, I’m wearing socks. Spring, especially, is sock weather, since although it’s warm when I go to work (averaging 20C these days) the temperature is still falling to around 8C by the time I leave, and that is too cold to not have socks and shoes on while waiting for the bus.

This weather is perfect for lace socks. All that pretty patterning that is impractical when there’s snow on the ground is ideal right now, and will continue to be for the next few months. For all the socks I’ve knit for myself, though, I really only have two pairs of lace patterned socks. Not enough, clearly, so for the next few months I’m going to work on that portion of my sock drawer, which means lots of fun new patterns.

These Monkeys were a great place to start. They’re pretty much knitting themselves (I knit half the ribbing when I cast on last week, the rest of the knitting has been in the last couple of days) and are a perfect canvast for this yarn. I’m knitting the classic, with-purls version of the pattern (from Knitty), and although I might knit no-purl Monkeys in the future, the texture of knits and purls is doing wonderful things to break up flashing and pooling, which I can see happening on the sole, where it doesn’t matter.

Summer socks – I guess you have to be a knitter to get excited about such a thing, but man, is it too nerdy to say I can’t wait?

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Monkeys, socks

9:27 am - April 26, 2013 - AngelaH

Good news will come to you by mail

I always thought this was the most ridiculous fortune a cookie could offer, but then yesterday I got home from work to a postcard from Lisbon and a package from Ireland.

Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock in Pheasant.

The package? Yarn I ordered from Hedgehog Fibres on Saturday. Not even a week ago! This is a bit different from the yarn I used to knit my Hummingbird Socks, though. I imagine it’s dyed the same way, but that yarn was a four-ply Merino/Nylon blend and this is a two-ply BFL/Nylon. It feels much springier, but that bit of nylon also makes me think it will hold up well. (I ordered yarn for Grace from Quince & Co. the same day – maybe in some late-April miracle it will arrive today!)

And, because it’s silly to order one skein of yarn all the way from Ireland, Twist Sock in Unforgiven.

In other news, I am knitting another pair of Stepping-Stones for my mum and I swear these socks knit themselves. Barely a few hours in and I’m almost at the heel. It’s (almost) silly to knit quick socks at this time of year, since she won’t need them for another six months or so, but I don’t care. The next pair, though, is for me!

Category: Knitting Tags: Hedgehog Fibres, socks

10:08 am - April 23, 2013 - AngelaH

Two Hummingbirds and a Hedgehog

Sounds like the title of a nursery rhyme, doesn’t it?

Finished socks, bad camera angle. Sorry.

I finished my Hummingbirds last night (apologies for bad photos – I decided to try out my camera’s timer rather than wait for L, clearly I need to practice). This is the second pattern I’ve knit from The Knitter’s Book of Socks and, like Stepping-Stones before it, it was a well-written, clearly presented pattern that will almost certainly become a standard. In the book, Clara writes that these socks (designed by Sandi Rosner) were designed expressly to be used with multi-coloured variegated yarn. That’s unusual for lace, but the idea is that the trellised pattern shifts the colours up and down, breaking up the stacking that would ordinarily lead to pooling and flashing.

They’re definitely fun to knit, and the 12-row, 32-stitch repeat is an easy rhythm to get into. I didn’t get quite to the point of memorizing it, but a quick glance at the chart was all I needed at the beginning of each row. I did make some modifications (detailed below) and I have some others that I plan to try on the next pair of these I knit (probably with this yarn). I do find these tight to pull on and off (though they’re comfortable to wear, pesky high arches), but, as you can see in the photos, the first sock (which I’ve tried on a few times) has stretched and grown noticeably longer than the second sock. It’s superwash wool, too, so I suspect these will stretch a little once they’ve been blocked (no, I didn’t swatch).

Speaking of the wool, let me tell you about the Hedgehog. This sock yarn is by Hedgehog Fibres (an Irish dyer) and it is one of the loveliest sock yarns I’ve used. It’s smooth and round and so, so soft (85% merino), but its tight twist and 15% nylon content suggest it’ll stand up well too. It isn’t especially springy, but I do think it’ll grow a little. The stitch definition is beautiful and, perhaps best of all, the yarn is hand-painted in such a way as to prevent pooling. No two skeins are alike, and even though this yarn did tend to feature similar colour repeats again and again, even in the stockinette portion of the feet there’s no pooling. I love this yarn so much that I’ve ordered two more skeins. I also have 23g left of this colour, which I will probably use to knit up some more leftover socks one of these days.

Part of me kind of wishes the charts were shifted so the lace was over the front of the foot and the purls stitches were on the sides, but I guess these are socks meant to be enjoyed in profile.

Details
Pattern: Hummingbird by Sandi Rosner
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in Sunflower
Needles: 2.5mm
Modifications: I knit the leg as written, but changed the heel from a short-row heel to my normal heel flap (I’m hard on my socks). I also added an extra chart repeat to the foot, though next time I’ll add another one. Depending on how these wear, I might also knit them on 2.75mm needles next time. As I mentioned above, these are quite tight to pull on over my heel. The fit is pretty good, though, so maybe a compromise would be to just knit the leg on the larger needle and then make the heel flap a few rows deeper. I also made the toe really wide for some reason (I did the first one a few weeks ago and can’t remember why now), but next time I’ll just knit my normal toe. My notes and whatnot are Ravelled here.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Hedgehog Fibres, socks

10:00 am - April 15, 2013 - AngelaH

The week that was

Plain socks, knit in Koigu KPPPM #P123. Apparently these colours are not out of my system yet.

I can hardly believe it’s Monday, because I’m still in recovery mode from last week (also because I worked yesterday). Last week my section of the paper went live with a new program that totally changes our workflow and, in small ways, everything about how we do our jobs. The basics of the job (design news pages, edit stories, write headlines, etc.) is the same, but the way we do it has changed, and like any big change, this one has been hard. It’s new technology, with fewer people in-house, and last week was a bit chaotic. The paper made it out close to on time every night, so it was okay, but I got home every night totally wiped (and late, since new systems tend to take longer, at least at the beginning).

It was one of those weeks that makes you glad you’re a knitter. Every knitter I know has, at some point or another, talked up the stress-relief of knitting, and I really needed that last week. Of course, as is often the case, I didn’t really have time to knit. I did pick up my needles and work a few stitches here and there, but there wasn’t time for more.

Hunter St. Cowl. Lace always looks bad before it’s blocked, but I am loving this pattern (and this colour). I think I managed to knit four rows on this last week. Part of me thought it would be done by now.

By the end of the week, I realized (in part) why that was: I didn’t have anything plain on the needles. Everything I was knitting had a chart of some sort, and even an easy to memorize chart like the one for the Hunter St. cowl requires just enough counting to not be mindless. Often, I enjoy charted knitting when I’m stressed. For one, it makes me feel a little clever, even when I’m just executing the same set of rows over and over, but it also forces me to stop thinking about whatever is on my mind (last week, page layouts – I actually dreamt about nothing but page layouts two nights in a row) and focus on something else. When I have the time, this is awesome, when I only have time for a row or two, it’s not the same.

The second Hummingbird sock, which I’m knitting Hedgehog Fibres sock, which might just be my new favourite sock yarn.

It took me the entire week to realize this, so on Saturday, after running around for most of the day, I finally fished some fun Koigu out of my stash cast on a pair of plain socks (at the top of the post). Sometimes stockinette bores me to tears and sometimes it feels like magic. These are magic socks. I knit most of them while we hosted friends for dinner on Saturday, and a little more last night, and I’m going to try and squeeze in a few rows before I go to work.

Part of a pocket for my Woodstove Season cardigan. After wearing it a few times without pockets, I’m actually reconsidering my plan, so I might put these away for now. They can always go on later if I change my mind.

L sometimes teases me about how much yarn we have in the house, but honestly, this is what my stash is for. I definitely did not have time to go to the yarn shop this weekend, but luckily I had already planned for such a moment and had what I needed at home. These socks will likely sit on my needles for a while since stockinette socks are nice to have around but rarely hold my attention long enough to be a primary project. That’s okay, though, because they’ll be there when I need them.

Edited to add: After a couple of people asked about the needles I’m using for my socks, I thought I’d post a link. I treated myself to some Signature Needles after Christmas and holy, they are awesome. They are a bit of a splurge, but when you think of how often you use your needles, and factor in that good metal ones will last forever, I decided it was worth it. I bought three sets (2.25mm, 2.5mm, and 2.75mm) and am seriously considering getting another set in 3.25mm (for worsted-weight socks).

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: cowl, Koigu, socks, stash

1:44 pm - March 30, 2013 - AngelaH

Seafoam socks

Et, voila! After four months on the needles, my Seafoam socks are finished.

The colours are a little washed out here (sorry), but the yarn is shades of blue, green, and purple. I really like how, although it’s random, the colours managed to stripe without pooling.

Really, these are just boring 3×1 ribbed socks and there is no good excuse for them having taken so long, but there are a few reasons I would like to put forward:
1. I started these right after finishing my Spruce Jaywalkers and, honestly, I just wanted them to be Jaywalkers too. Why then, didn’t I cast on for Jaywalkers? I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want to knit the same pair of socks twice in a row or something, which is dumb, since I spent the entire first sock (knit the first week in November) wishing I was knitting something else.
2. Christmas came along and since I wasn’t sure I liked these socks anyway, it was very easy to set them aside and knit other things, including, as it turned out, two other pairs of socks for myself, as well as many gifts.
3. I have no great love for ribbing. I don’t find it difficult or anything, just tedious. Ribbed socks are practical and I will wear them a lot, but I don’t know, next time I feel the urge to knit ribbed socks I’ll kick it up a notch and knit Stepping-Stones, which are like ribbing, but more interesting.
4. I wasn’t sure I liked the colour. This seems crazy to me now, because I love this yarn, but at first the colours seemed very, very vibrant, and I was worried the socks might look a little Care Bears Ahoy! when they were finished. I should have had more faith.

For all these reasons (and likely more) these socks sat around unfinished for a while, which is why I decided to bring them on holiday. They’re easy and plain, which makes for good social knitting, and I really did want them finished and on my feet, so it seemed win-win. I hadn’t actually realized how well they’d match the colours of everything around us, though. I had the first sock done and literally nothing but the cast-on for the second sock, but I started it after finishing my mum’s socks and finished in time for a photo shoot on the water the last evening we were there. I wore them on the plane coming home and, silly as it sounds, felt like I was bringing some of the island’s vibrancy home with me.

I do wish I'd not been so lazy with the first pair and knit a 1x1 rib for the cuff, but oh well.

I do wish I’d not been so lazy with the first pair and knit a 1×1 rib for the cuff, but oh well.

Pattern-wise I just improvised these (they’re Ravelled here). They’re knit in Fleece Artist BFL Sock, in the Seafoam colourway. I don’t know why I chose to knit them on 2.75mm needles (I guess I wanted them to be quick – hah!) but the result is socks that are a little less dense than usual and thus, perfect for spring. And, since my gauge was still 8.5 stitches to the inch, they should wear pretty well despite the lighter fabric. I also have about 100 yards left, so I might whip up a pair of bright baby booties with the leftovers.

Finishing two pairs of sock in a week left me on kind of a sock kick, and when I got home I cast on another pair (Hummingbird, from the Knitter’s Book of Socks) and they are flying! (So many unintended puns in there, sorry.) I’m going to be good, though, and buckle down on my Woodstove Season cardigan this weekend. I keep putting it down for smaller projects, but I really want it finished and it’s getting to be the perfect time of year for sweaters to be jackets, which would show it off nicely. So, expect a progress report next week.

Are you knitting anything fun this Easter weekend?

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Eleuthra, socks

8:58 am - March 22, 2013 - AngelaH

Snow on re-entry

Time flies when you’re in the sun. We got back to Toronto last night, and it was snowing. Snowing! When we left Eleuthra yesterday morning it was still cool (we left the house before the sun was up) but it was still probably 17 or 18C, and then we landed in snow. Boo.

Nevertheless, we had a fantastic holiday. I will do a proper post about it in a day or two, but before then I have to go through the many photos and unpack, and deal with all the things that didn’t get dealt with while we were away, and also cuddle Ganymede, who spent the week in an empty apartment (don’t worry, though, a friend of ours visited regularly to check on her).

So, in the absence of real holiday pictures, lets talk socks – apparently I need to start wearing them again.

Finished Stepping-Stones.

I finished the Stepping-Stone Socks last Friday, the day after we arrived. I had the cuff finished before we left, and the leg finished by the time we landed in Nassau and the heel turned by the time we boarded our teeny plane for Eleuthra (it sat 18, including the pilots, and I didn’t knit on it). Even with swimming and walking and reading and eating and drinking, it was a breeze to finish the foot on Friday, and L obliged me with some lovely photos.

This one is less lovely, but he thought a behind-the-scenes shot would be hilarious, so…

Certainly one of the reasons these socks were so quick to knit was because they are knit in worsted weight. Man, what a difference that makes! Besides the heavier yarn, though, these socks have a delightfully fluid and quick stitch pattern that only takes two rows to memorize. Honestly, I will knit these socks again and again, and because it’s a six-stitch repeat, it’s an easy pattern to adjust for size and yarn weight. All that being said, I found the subtle change from leg to instep pattern weirdly hard to adjust to; it just didn’t flow as well for me. The instep is just a little less intuitive (it also involved more counting) and while I like how it looks, I think the next time I make these I’ll continue the leg pattern down the foot and see how it looks.

I knit these socks over two weeks, but actual knitting time was only about four days, so these would make an excellent last-minute gift. My mum requested that the socks be a little taller than the ones I knit for myself, so I knit the legs to 7 inches. She also has slightly longer feet than I do. Those two factors meant I needed just a bit more than 100g to knit these, but you could easily make them from one 100g skein. I now have 82g of red yarn leftover, but I might just whip that up into another Puerperium Cardigan (our friends had a baby girl last night!), so I’m not annoyed in the least that I needed that little bit of extra.

Details
Pattern: Stepping-Stones by Clara Parkes (from The Knitter’s Books of Socks, but also available for free on Ravelry!)
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red
Needles: 3.5mm
Modifications: First of all, I changed the needle size. I thought the large size would be too big for my mum, so I just adjusted the small. They knit up perfectly to fit a size-10 foot (9-ish inches in circumference). I also changed the heel. Since I went up a needle size I was worried that the one in the pattern would be too thick/bulky for a comfortable fit, so I just went with my normal slip-stitch heel (also saving me extra ends to weave in). Other than that, I knit it exactly as written. (My socks are Ravelled here, if you’re curious.)

I also finished another pair of socks while away, but I’ll save them for another post.

Categories: finished, Knitting, Out and about Tags: Bahamas, Eleuthra, Malabrigo, socks

10:10 am - March 4, 2013 - AngelaH

Opposite socks

These socks knit up so fast that I didn’t even have time to blog about them. I bought the yarn a couple of weeks ago after reshelving skein upon skein of this yarn in the shop. I thought I could resist – goodness knows, I didn’t need more yarn – but after squishing so many skeins, and seeing all the colours, my resolve wore down. I actually thought the yarn was just going to be a variegated blue/green/grey, but after winding it an seeing the colours line up neatly into concentric circles, I got too excited about the striping possibilities not to cast on pretty much right away.

Zitron Unisono sport weight in colourway 1220. Weirdly, those parts that photographed as purple were definitely not purple when knit up. It’s kind of a shame, really.

Well, it sure striped. The funny thing is, they striped in almost exactly the opposite order. I spent most of the first sock wondering when the heck I was going to get to the fun bright colours, which mostly ended up on the foot, and then the second sock started out fun and got progressively darker. But! The very end of the skein was bright colours again, so even if I had knit the first sock from the inside of the skein out, and the second from the outside in, they still wouldn’t have matched!

L was away this weekend, so these will have to do. You can kind of see the opposite-ness, though.

I think it’s okay, though, since they’re clearly a pair. Part of that comes from the surprise toes, which I realized I was going to need when I weighed the ball part-way through the first foot and saw I was dangerously close to half my yardage already. By that point, I was already entirely smitten with this yarn, so I had (against my better judgement) purchased two more solid skeins for another pair of (more regularly) striped socks. I knit the first sock until I had about 53 grams of the yarn left, and then switched to the dark grey. I wrote down the measurement of the foot at that point and then copied it for the second sock (even though, at that point, I had just enough yarn to finish the whole sock). There’s something about matching toes that makes these look more like a pair, I think. (Details about what I did, etc. are ravelled here.)

The pair took less than two weeks to knit, and I swear they pretty much knit themselves. The yarn, Zitron Unisono, is 100% merino and infused with aloe and jojoba and feels amazing on your hands. It is so tightly twisted that it’s downright sproingy, and it knits up into a firm but soft fabric that is warm and stretchy. For speedy socks, this might be my new go-to yarn (as long as I have some extra for the toes) and although I have to be good and knit some other things beforehand, I am pretty excited to cast on my next pair.

With these socks finished, as well as a hat done and blocking, my weekend was pretty productive. How was yours? Any signs of spring where you are? (It remains cold here, so I could use some vicarious spring if you’ve got it.)

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: socks, unisono