Wheeee.... Pictures! But no sock knitting.

How come I didn't know that you could upload pictures directly to blogger... Can you tell I'm new at this?

Without further ado....
These are the yummy sherbet socks.

They were made from my own hand-dyed louet pearl yarn, on size 3 needles. The size threes were a mistake. i thought the fabric felt fine (not loose), but now that the socks have been worn a couple of times, the stitches have spread out and the fabric is thin. I will be gentle with them. I love them because they are extra long - and I still had lots of yarn left over (rats!) If only I had cast on more stitches to begin with so they would fit over my shapely (and oh-so-pale) calves.






This is a close-up of the fabric, the stitch pattern looks great with the colors of the yarn (if I do say so myself). I read in the current issue of Wool Gathering about a similar stitch, but instead of lifting the bar over the stitches, you make a yarn over and pull that over the stitches.




Meet the Lavender socks!




Close up of the left and right twist. They are not exactly mirror images of each other, but I'll settle for fraternal twins.
Lastly, the ever-popular Eye-of-Partridge heel. It's very subtle on this pair, now I know it probably won't work the way I want it to using Trekking XXL.




My very first darning project! I wish I had gotten the chance to take pictures as I worked, but these will do for now. There are another pair that need some mending.






In all her wisdom, Rena Crockett does recommend steaming the old yarn so it isn't kinky, in the way, and a little more of a pain to weave in. You're right, and next time I will.
The image above was taken at the same time as the previous one, i.e. not quite finished.









The bottom picture shows what it looks like now, after one wearing. The yarn looks a little newer, and the colors don't match up, but it is a pretty good fix. I highly recommend learning how to mend things, although this was a painstaking task that took an entire work day and also a few hours of carefully unpicking stitches and weaving in ends.

In this world, such a thing exists as a darning egg, but I found that a hard rubber street hockey ball worked just as well. A lightbulb wasn't bad either, but I was afraid it was a little delicate, and not safely portable.



It is still cold where I am, so last week I decided I needed fingerless mitts. Actually, I decided that a few weeks ago, but hadn't had any knitting time for them. I wanted to make them out of something very special, and I was sure that I had one skein of something that fit the bill....
And not that Malabrigo isn't special, it wasn't quite what I had in mind.
I pored over Barbara Walker, and after hours of swatching, I fell in love with this eyelet pattern. The actual construction was a little bit of trial and error, since I was making it up as I went along - I knew I needed shaping (decreases in the purl valley's), but I got a bit too excited and knit far too long without decreasing... Resulting in having to frog half the cuff. Thankfully, these babies knit up quite quickly. And yes, for some reason I decided I wanted reverse stockinette thumb gussets. Call me crazy. The bind off I found in Vogue Knitting, it's a cute pico edge without having folded over rows.

And finally,

A pair from more hand-dyed Louet Pearl? And ohhhh what to do. I was thinking of Pomatomus, after seeing some more close-up pictures of the pattern, I think it's quite neat.














Contender #2 - Solid Koigu for mosaic socks?
That would require actually owning the book, which I don't, yet. One day, someday, I am going on a book buying splurge on Amazon and buying that, Favorite Socks, and No Sheep For You (I want that fore more mosaic knitting in Intoxicating).

I guess if I want to tackle the mosaic sweater, I should first cut my teeth on a smaller project to learn the technique.

And I think that is enough pictures/mind-spew.
Back to something important, like video games....

S.S.S.S.

I have finished the second sock of the hand-dyed pair... They are delicious sherbet colors (pink, orange, yellow). I aped the pattern created here. I am sure it is a lovely pattern if you follow it, but I liked the stitch, it sort of blew my mind the first time I saw it. I love how it creates tiny eyelets without having to yarn over! I also stopped doing the pattern far sooner than in the original; I kept telling myself that I was making them for me, so I can do whatever I want! They brought me to the toe finish line more quickly than patterning the whole way down.
Which brings me to the next phenomenon that I mention in my post title....
Second Sock Shorter Syndrome. I kept trying to convince myself that it was long enough before decreasing. Sadly, I was a little wrong. They will stretch a little, but they will also felt a little if I put them in the washing machine... So they may remain handwashed for their all little stitched lives. The first sock fit beautifully, so it's a little irritating that I didn't do the extra few rows, but it's not bad enough to rip everything out.

I am taking a short break from casting-on new socks to complete some other projects (gasp!), one of which is a pair of socks that have been languishing for months.

I need to mail the Lavender socks. I noticed some Regia Silk in lovely muted shades of beige and silver, just dying to be knitted up. It's eventually going to be spring here, so I have been eyeing the three skeins of Sockotta, wondering how it will be knitting socks with some cotton.


Decisions, decisions....

turning the heel....

i wonder why turning a heel is so magical.

I work feverishly to get down to knitting the heel flap (which i think holds it's own magical powers) and then knitting that tiny little bit of fabric that curves and molds itself to my foot. after knitting a straight tube, it feels so special that you are constructing this elbow, and the foot shoots off in an entirely new direction. it's so simple but so important. who wants tube socks?

i've just completed turning the heel on the current pair of socks. i still need to pick up stitches along the heel flap (slip stitch ribbing - i mixed it up from my typical eye-of-partridge heel).

after these are cast off and aside, i may make these beauties, but i am not sure what yarn i would like to use. not sure if i have something appropriate in the stash. i liked using the regia silk - i made a handsome pair of convertible mittens in black from Not Just More Socks (that title always seemed grammatically incorrect to me). But I just wound up some lovely shades of solid koigu to try my hand at one of the mosaic socks from Sensational Knitted Socks... It's so hard to make a decision.

I haven't challenged myself to doing either complicated cables OR colorwork in my socks. Both of which I've conquered in other parts of my knitting. So we'll see what I dive into... Perhaps I'll get pictures up tomorrow.

i have a confession

i knit socks.
maybe you knit socks too.
i've knit socks for a year and four months. really, i didn't know what i was getting into when i started. i thought i'd try a pair. some sort of stripey regia 4-ply. size 3 dpns, as i recall. and 2s for the ribbing. those were the days when i changed needles for the ribbing.
now it's all magic loop on curly addi's... it's pretty irritating that i can't get the cord straight-(ish) again. i tried steaming it, and it worked, for a moment. next pair (trekking XXL in lovely shades of purples) they were once again like a slinky.
such is the life of an addicted sock knitter.

i am not sure what i am getting into with blogging about it, maybe some relief from my guilt for giving up cooking, cleaning, and human interaction, all in the name of knitting these wondrous little tubes that mysteriously fit feet. i am doing this for fun, maybe to learn something, basically just to have an outlet for all the stitches i make in my head.

i welcome you to share your stories, offer support, patterns, reviews of yarn...
all in the name of feeding a glorious, rewarding addiction.