Which-Crafts?

Hey! It finally reached its home! If you want to see my Spring Blossom Sock on the foot it was intended for — head over to ZigZag Stitch and take a look at it.

Sockapalooza Spring Blossom Sock

Started: July 13th, 2007,
Finished: August 8th, 2007
Pattern: My Own Eclectic combo - Magic Cast-On, Misocrafty/Wendy Short Row Heel, My own Slipstitch leg, 1×1 ribbing, 2 row cast-off
Yarn: Koigu 2 colors a green a brown blend, and a pink and green blend

Needles: Sizes 0,1 and 2 to handle leg increases Addi Turbo, and KnitPicks circs
Dimensions: To fit a 10.5″ foot with a 10″ width and a wide ankle

Outside of the size these were easy to knit, although there was quite a bit of trial and error as I got the leg pattern and color swapping worked out. I am not sure I would use the cast-off again, one time it might have been a bit tighter than I wanted, the other a bit looser. As always the koigu is a dream to knit with and very tolerant of my need to keep fixing things.

I wish I could tell you the glorious tale of how I reclaimed my Knitting Mojo and have sailed through this pair of socks. I won’t tell you the tale of woe either - whinging isn’t pretty. Suffice it to say - they are kind of plain but almost done. I am knitting the leg portion in a nice slip knit pattern that I made up by mistake and stuck with. It is making a nice cushy top almost like some athletic socks. I wanted to do something a little fancier, but with time running short I opted for speed over sparkle.

I think I can get the leg on this sock done tonight, and then maybe between Tuesday and Wednesday get the next one finished and actually get them in the mail on time.

p.s. sorry for the terrible pics of these. The camera isn’t working (just a lack of batteries - but who has time to buy them?) So I scanned this on the Print/Scan/Fax All-in-One on my desk.

The first succesful sock toes I have knit in over 3 months!! These are for my Sockapalooza pal - and have to be done superquick - so the foot is going to be knit plain and I’ll let the colors do all the work. Heels will be pink. Depending on how fast I get the feet done, I may have time to slow down and do some sort of pattern for the leg - I’ll see when I get there.

Its a little hard to tell in the picture but the toes are pretty pink with a little green, and the body of the sock is a green and brown blend. Both colors are koigu.

More technical knitting comments below the cut.

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Things I have learned about sock knitting (yeah I know I’ve only knit 3 socks).

• I like knitting toe up socks much better than top down
• I like 2 socks on 1 circular
• I love Koigu - but wish the skeins were a bit bigger
• It really is possible to increase tension and tighten gauge without giving myself hand-cramps
• If it isn’t long enough in the foot - go back and do it again - cause it just ain’t going to fit right. Don’t short the length no matter how much I am to ready be knitting the next bit.
• If it is too big at the toe, rip back and use less stitches.
• Trust the fit—not the numbers. Yes, I understand that I am apparently knitting a sock for some who’s foot is 1/3 my size, it still *FITS*.
• There is always another really pretty yarn to dream about using for your next sock
• Figure 8 toes rock!
• Every time I knit a sock I pick up one thing that I want to keep and use on the following socks - eventually I’ll have my own custom sock pattern made up of bits of everyone elses.  I already have “my toes” and “my cas-off” now I just need all the bits in-between.

So what have you learned? What are your favorite tips and tricks?

So I ‘ve been going a little berserk with the socks lately. I am all psyched up for Sockapalooza, but as I don’t have my yarn yet, the outlet isn’t there. But never fear, I am putting that excitement to good use while I wait for the yarn to arrive. There are plenty of sock plans to execute!. To soak up some of the energy and experiment with some of the ideas whirling in my head, I have 3 separate pairs of socks on the needles.

I have a Jaywalker on the needles, I have the first of the “Psychedelic Sunset” socks which are the “final test socks” - before I make my mom’s gift socks (fair isle sauvie island style). And now I have started up a test sock for my Sockapalooza pal. I am knitting the Jaywalker in STR Medium-weight. I think the color is Peacock. These are really fun to knit and I can really see why they are such a popular pattern. I am enjoying the way this colorway is stripping into the Vs . Although now that it is out of the skein the colors are much more pastel than I originally thought. I have been currently thinking of these as my Easter socks.

The Psychedelic Sunset socks are a follow on to my last pair of koigu socks, hopefully fixing a few of the quibbles I had with their execution and design—like where the “seam” was where I switched colors for the stripes. I will also be adding a fair isle leg to them using patterns from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts “Sauvie Island” sock pattern. If these go as I hope then I can get right on that pair for mom. I hope to have them done before Stitches this year (which would be 1 year from when I promised them to her). They are being knit in some terribly bright colors of koigu.

These are the little baby toes of my test sock for Sockapalooza. These are STR Light-weight in Azure Malachite. I think that the weight will be similar to the weight of the sock yarn I have coming for my Sock Pal. Right now I am thinking some sort of nice basket weave for the leg, but that might change by the time I am done with the toes. I am currently combing my knitting books for just the perfect idea. Right now these are my commute knitting. (speaking of commuting - I’ll be having a whole lot more time to knit soon, more details in follow-on post)

After a technically frustrating start - I am off to a start. I have my match and I have finally (after much deliberation) ordered my yarn (from ThreadBear Fiberarts). I picked Jubilee (I have no idea the yarn company) in color Wild Cherry. I am not exactly sure what sock I am going to knit yet, but there should be plenty (400yds) no matter what I am going to to do. I really wanted to pick something hand-dyed, and I really wanted to pick something that would be a little off the beaten path. I think I have succeeded - now I just hope I like the yarn as much as I like the picture.

About a month or so ago a few of us trekked up to The Fold, we of course purchased but-loads of yarn (I got the yarn for the PTBNL’s Blanket). While I was there, I was asking Toni about fibers she might recommend for spinning sock yarn, and I ended up going a little overboard.

Ultimately she said I would have to see what I liked best and of course I walked out the door with a whole variety of stuff to try:

• Superwash Merino
• Blue Faced Leicester (although now I wish I had waited, I found a source for *Superwash* BLF)
• Targhee
• Cultivated Silk Top
• Kid Mohair Locks
• Tencel

And last weekend at the Stephenson County Fiber Fair I added

• more silk (I decided I needed more)
• blending nylon
• Bamboo
• cotton
• Black Diamond

I am going to split it all up into sections and card it and run test batches. I will actually need a bit more superwash merino to get it all done, but I can get that later. I have already split up the first purchases into weighed, bagged batches of SWM/BFL/KidM0 and SWM/BLF/Silk etc. Now the carding will commence - I REALLY wish I had a drum carder.

There should be enough in each batch to knit a pair of socks (assuming I don’t flub the spinning and plying). I am planning on spinning them all in their natural colors, and then dyeing them. Eventually I’ll have time to turn them all into socks and see how they knit and wear, and hopefully by then I’ll know something about *my* ideal composition for sock yarn

Just a quick Squee! I am almost done with the STR Sherbert Socks, I have reached the ribbing and then I will be done! Whoot! No pics yet, too busy.

After finishing the last pair of socks I was really wanted to try my hand at another pair. The pattern that I knit the koigu socks from is so flexible that I really wanted to try the pattern again and this time do something more interesting than straight stockinette stitch.

Enter Sherbet Socks that Rock - I definitely picked this yarn because it was so bright, which I needed up against the dreary never ending winter around here.

I also decided that I have a severe case of Second Sock Syndrome. The first time, I did one sock at a time (they ended up fitting differently). It worked much better for me working on the two koigu socks at the same time. I was thinking this time though that 2 at time on 1 or two circular needles might be even better that working in tandem stages on two full sets of double points. I started with 2 at a time on 2 circulars, and then screwed up and ended up all on 1 circ, and liked it better.

So here is a picture of them about 1 or two inches in:
after starting the toes with a combo method between what I learned in the Queen Kahuna book and what I used on the koigu socks. I decided I wanted these to have a pattern, did a little research and chose a little triangle “pleat”.

The pattern doesn’t show very well against the colors once it is on my foot, BUT I think it does bring out the brightness of the colors:

I have knit them fairly tightly which is part of what makes the pattern hard to see when it is on—it gets all stretched out. I am also playing with ribbing under the arch - sort of like some of the smart wool socks. I’ll have to see how that wears, once the socks are done.