socks

Slippers FO

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Last week you saw a photo of the first finished sock that I wanted to turn into slippers.  And this week the slippers are done!  I just finished them this afternoon and ran outside to get photos before I lost the light.

These are worsted weight socks that I’ve sewn on to slipper soles.  Here are the finished socks, some felt inserts that I bought a while back, and the slipper soles that I bought in December.

I set the felt inserts into the soles, which are suede on the bottom and have a layer of foam on top.

Then I put the socks on, set my feet into the soles, and set about sewing them on while I was wearing the socks.  This seemed the only way to get a nice fit.  The socks fit nice and snug, so I had to fit the soles around them.

And here they are finished! I love them so much already that the old ones quickly went into the trash.

Edison Bulb Socks

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When you are away from home you need a traveling knitting project.  I didn’t have any small portable project so I started some socks.  They are actually house socks, or slipper socks.  My plan is to sew leather soles onto them.  First, knitting!

OK, it’s not a great photo.  This is not an official FO blog post, so I have time for better photos of the finished slippers.  I just wanted to try to show the first one – it’s done!

The second one is already more than half finished.  It knits up super fast with worsted weight yarn and the fabric is thick and sturdy since it’s knit on size 3mm/3US needles.

The yarn is Madelinetosh 80/10/10 Worsted in color Edison Bulb.  And it is bright!  It kind of blows out the sensor on my camera.  This was definitely an advantage when knitting on a dimly knit plane when others are sleeping or watching movies. 🙂

The pattern is Foxwood, from the Twist Collective web site.  It’s a very well written pattern, with charts for the cabled patterns, and 4 sizes to choose from.  Mine are the smallest size.  More photos next weekend!

Let’s Start With Socks

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Clearly I have abandoned the blog for a while.  Like a lot of blog writers, I’ve run into the old “why am I doing this?” question.  So many people who are better writers than me, or who have much more interesting lives than me, have started and stopped blogs.  I’ve been keeping this thing up for 6 years!  Who does that?  Not many.

Anyway, I have not given it up entirely.  I’m in the middle of re-thinking it.  And while I’m re-thinking, I’ll just keep showing you some knitting.  Earlier I teased you with a piece of lace I’ve started.  There will be more on that soon.

Two days ago I finished these socks.  They couldn’t be more simple.  No pattern.  Just toe up socks, my usual 2.25mm needles, 64 stitches, k3,p1 rib with plain gussets.  I just wanted socks this color to wear so I knit them up.

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I’ve kind of decided that writing this blog is something I need to do for myself, regardless of readers.  At the same time, I always write as if I DO have readers, and I talk directly to my readers quite often.

Have you read “A Tale for the Time Being”?  Beautiful book.  I loved it.  The writer of the diary talks to her reader, assuming at some point there will be someone reading her diary.  I could relate to that.  I feel the same way.  Even though this is a diary, and a very public one, I figure that there will be someone reading it, sometime.  Even if I only get spam comments that are caught and filtered out.  Even if my blog statistics stagnate down to nothing more than random people accidentally clicking on and then out of my site.  I write for myself, but with readers in mind.

Flight Delay Knitting

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This is how much knitting I got done during the EasyJet flight delay Monday, flying from Berlin to Amsterdam.  Not bad, right!

This is the second sock of my Mandy’s Heart Sock design.  I’m almost finished!  Writing up the pattern is almost finished too.  The charts are done, the text directions are done.  I just have to lay in out in a nice format and do a photo shoot.  Taking photos of socks is so much easier than photographing sweaters.  I hope to have this pattern ready to launch into the world on the same day that I launch the sweater pattern – 14 February.

Sock WIP

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I’m up to the heel turn on my first Mandy’s Heart sock.  It’s just flying off the needles!  It probably helps that I’ve knit this stitch pattern so much now that I could do it in my sleep.

I made the gusset increases in the ribby pattern.

I think these are going to be really lovely and fit nicely too.  More WIP photos to come soon!

On the home front, we took down Christmas decorations and put the tree back outside.  It was time.  The tree was starting to look a little bit dry (we hadn’t given it any water since bringing it inside).  The poor thing thought it was summer and has started to put out pine cones.  Having said that, it probably would have been the same even if we hadn’t brought it inside for 3 weeks.  It’s been so unseasonably warm here that my roses are all putting out buds and the birds are acting like they’ll be making nests soon.  It’s not good.  We’ll probably get a blast of cold in February, all the new growth will die, and plants and animals will not grow well in the spring and summer.  At this rate I’ll have to quit knitting worsted weight sweaters altogether and stick to lace.

New Year – New Knitting

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I hope you all had a safe and fun New Year’s Eve last night.  We had dinner at home with an amazing bottle of wine from the winery we visited in June.  Later in the evening we walked (in the RAIN) to a friend’s house and had bubbly, oliebollen and watched what fireworks we could see through the rain.  The weather won’t stop people from setting off their hundreds and thousands of euros worth of fireworks.  Thanks, all you fireworks fans, for spending your money and letting us enjoy it with you!

Now that it’s January 1, I can cast on a couple of new projects.  Yay!  First up is the sock, in the photo above.  It’s my own design and will match my Mandy’s Heart Sweater.  The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in color Tart.  This is, hands down, the most beautiful and amazing yarn color I’ve ever seen.  It’s about impossible to photograph.  I managed to get this photo, after trying different locations and camera settings, but it still doesn’t capture the depth and glow of the yarn.  It’s like I’m knitting rubies.

These socks are part of The Yarniacs “self indulgent KAL” that started today and ends mid-March.  The Yarniacs (two women in Santa Cruz California) put out a podcast, have a web site, and a Ravelry group.  I became a regular listener to the podcast immediately.  I like their format and I like their totally genuine and friendly manner.  I’m planning to write a blog post about knitting podcasts in the next few days so I won’t go on about it here.  You should definitely give them a listen.

The socks are serving double duty as the pattern will be written up and released about the same time that the matching sweater pattern will be released (mid-Feb).  I’ll keep showing you photos as I knit them so you won’t be able to resist their loveliness. Ha!

I’ve also cast on a present for a special person.  I’m not showing any photos of that yet, and might not at all before the present is given.  But just so you know, I’ve cast on two new projects and I’m super excited about them.  Starting new projects is almost as much fun as finishing them.

 

Mermaid Socks FO

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Yesterday while riding in the train from Rotterdam to Haarlem I finished the second of my Mermaid socks.  Aren’t they fun!

Sorry for the indoor crappy photos, but it’s just so dark outside these days that there’s no point trying to take better photos in the daylight.

Honestly I don’t have giant legs.  The above photo is just from a weird angle.  I was trying to get a good photo of the heel.  These are garter stitch short row heels.  They are super easy and fast to make and look and feel great.  Very squishy on your feet and I think they will wear very well.

The pattern is by Lucy Neatby.  The yarn is Regia “Random Stripe” designed by Kaffe Fassett.  Top down, knit the top cuff first, then pick up stitches around the cuff and knit down.

I was thinking yesterday about how incredibly satisfying it is to finish knitting projects.  I get just as much satisfaction and happy feelings about finishing a pair of socks as I would from finishing a DIY project in my house, or finishing a really big project at work or making a good time on a 10k race.  But working on and finishing a knitting project is also FUN along the way.  You just can’t beat it.  It must be some kind of brain high.  I wish someone would study knitters’ brains and explain to us why we like it so much.  I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation.  In the mean time, I’ll just enjoy wearing my new socks.

Mermaid Sock #1

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Here’s a photo of my first Mermaid Sock, designed by Lucy Neatby.  It’s an interesting construction, which is what drew me to it and why I decided to make these socks.

You knit the garter stitch top band first, then pick up stitches along one edge of that band and knit down the leg.  The heel is a garter stitch short row heel which I had never made before.  The toe is cleverly designed to decrease gradually in pattern.

As you can see, it fits perfectly.  I made the 66 stitch size and used 2.0mm needles for the garter sections and 2.25mm for the rest.  Now I need to get busy and make the second one.  I usually don’t have “second sock syndrome” so I expect to get the second one finished in good time.  I really recommend these socks if you are looking for a fun, quick and interesting knit.  Thanks Lucy!

By the way, it’s just now 4:30pm here in Haarlem and it’s already dusk.  DUSK!  Car headlights are required.  Streetlights coming on any second now.  Ugh! The dark days are falling fast and hard!

Summer Socks FO

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I started these socks on the 1st of June and just finished them today.  That’s a long time to make a pair of socks!  But I’m sure you are just as sick and tired of hearing me complain about my shoulder as I am sick and tired of having this pain in my shoulder, so I won’t go on about it.  It’s enough to say that my knitting has crawled to almost nothing compared to what I was doing earlier this year.

Here are the stats for the socks:
Pattern: Helen Socks by verybusymonkey (only available on Ravelry as far as I can see)
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Sock, (75% wool, 25% nylon, superwash) purchased from Harlequin Yarns (Utrecht)
Needles: 2.25mm, 2 circulars

They knit up really fast and made for a perfect traveling project.  The pattern stitch is quickly memorized so there’s seldom the need to look up instructions.

These socks were part of the Sock Knitters Anonymous June challenge for “under appreciated patterns”.  The pattern you chose had to have no more than 15 projects assigned to it on Ravelry as of 1 June.  Even today these socks have only 13 projects on Ravelry.  What a shame!  They are great socks!  Go on, you know you want to make a pair…..