New Socks

It's been a while since I knit some socks, but they're back in the rotation now!  I decided I wanted a traditional, slightly lacy sock and when I saw the Cliff Walk socks I knew they'd be perfect.  These are part of the Handmade Sock Society, Year 2 and while you can get them individually, take a look at the whole collection.  All six of the designs are really pretty!  I've already knit a pair of Shell Cottage socks from this same collection. 

I'm knitting these in Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in the Starlight colorway which is gorgeous, but very hard to photograph.  It's essentially light blue, but that blue ranges from blue violet, through true blue, to blue green - all in the very palest tints.  It's more interesting than a solid, but still shows off lace and patterned stitches.  I'll keep trying to get an accurate photo of it because it's so much prettier than it looks in my photo!

I've finished the leg of the first sock and have just begun the heel flap.  I'm still working on my cardigan, but I needed a small project also, and this pattern has just enough going on to keep my interest, but not so much that I can't watch TV while I knit.

Look! Socks!

I kind of dropped off the radar a bit there, but I hadn't realized it had been over a month!  Oops!

We're all good here, and I've finished a pair of socks!  These are the Shell Cottage Socks knit in Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Bubble Wand, with the very top edge worked in the same yarn in Melon from the Party of Five Botanica Set. This was a great pattern to knit - it was easily memorized and quick to work even when I was watching TV and not giving it my full attention.

I usually cast on another sock as soon as I finish one, but I think I'm going to do another small project instead this time.  First, however, I'm going to weave in more ends on my Mystery MusiKAL shawl (yes, I'm still weaving in ends), and maybe put in some time on my Kuffel pullover.  I started it for the ESK Q2 Craft A Long, but I've got just over two weeks to finish it for that, and the odds are not looking good.  Of course, if I actually sat down and knit on it, I might make some progress.

I hope to be back later this week!  Have a great summer! 

Socks!

I've started a new pair of socks!  These are the Shell Cottage Socks, from the Handmade Sock Society, Season 2.  I didn't participate in this season, but I really liked the patterns and decided to go back and buy the set.  I'm knitting these in Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Bubble Wand.  I'm also using a tiny bit of Melon from the Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock Party of Five in Botanica.  I cast on with the Melon and then worked the first two rounds before switching to the Bubble Wand.  I like the way this works just to give a little bit of an accent to the edge.

Also, yes, Formula 1 is back to racing and I've gotten the first leg finished and have just barely started the heel flap.  This is a very easy stitch pattern to memorize, and doesn't need too much attention.  

Have a great week, and May the Fourth Be With You! 

It's Probably Nothing...

 ...but I haven't really decided yet.  

I started this sock at the first of the year because I didn't have a pair of socks on the needles.  The plan was to use this yarn (Madelinetosh Twist Light in Confetti Bomb) for a pair of top down Scatterby socks. The pattern is written as toe up, so I'd essentially be plugging the stitch pattern into my own basic vanilla sock pattern.  This is as far as I've gotten - the ribbing and one repeat of the stitch pattern.

The problem is that I'm not sure I'm feeling this yarn and pattern combination, and (this might be the most important part of the issue) I'm not really working on socks right now.  I like to knit socks while I watch sports.  I watch two sports:  Texas A&M Football and Formula One Racing.  Football season doesn't start up again until August and the 2026 season of Formula One doesn't begin until March.  There are a couple of practice sessions in February, but no racing until the first weekend of March.  

My knitting has been focused on my Austin Hoodie and finishing a couple of shawls I started last year.  I've run out of yarn on one of them, so I'm waiting for a restock so I can get more, and I've got to figure out where I'm at on the other one and how to get going (this is a job for a quiet afternoon).  I just don't need a sock in the current rotation.  

So my dilemma (if it can even be called that), is do I frog the sock and set it all aside until we get closer to when I'm actually going to be knitting it, or do I just set it aside as it is now, leaving it in progress, and see how I feel when I'm ready to knit socks again?

I'm happy for any thoughts you might have on the matter if you'd like to share them in the comments! 

Marginalia Socks

I've been working on my third pair of socks from The Handmade Sock Society Season 6, and I'm almost finished with the first one!  These are the Marginalia socks, and I'm knitting them in Dream in Color Smooshy With Cashmere in Rabbit Ears.  These are an all over lace pattern, but its very simple and repetitive. I don't knit very many pairs of socks in cashmere blend yarn because it's more delicate and less abrasion resistant than regular Merino and nylon sock yarn.  On the other hand, they are amazing to sleep in, and since I don't sleep walk they don't wear out as quickly.

In other news, Mr Noodle has realized that Caleb isn't going back to school anytime soon, so he's starting to assert himself.  Caleb has the warmest room in the house, and years ago Mr Noodle decided it was actually his room.  He became our kitten the summer before Caleb went away to college, so as far as Mr Noodle is concerned, Caleb doesn't really live here anyway.  Every time Caleb comes home, Mr Noodle is happy to see him and gives up "his" room so Caleb can use it, but for the last five years, that's just been a week or two at each end of the summer and about a month in December.  Then Caleb goes back, and Mr Noodle moves back into his room.  This is the first summer Caleb has taken the whole summer off and been home in years (the Master's Degree program he's doing doesn't have summer classes).  Mr Noodle wasn't expecting this.  So when Caleb came home he just adjusted as usual, but Caleb has been home for two months now and Mr Noodle has decided he wants his room back.  He's taken to screaming loudly at Caleb (loudly enough that Caleb's gaming friends can hear him through the headset Caleb is wearing), and last night he started stealing Caleb's things.  Anything that is small enough for Mr Noodle to pick up seems to be fair game.  Caleb has another month before he heads back to College Station.  It looks like things will be interesting around here!

Letterpress Socks

I finished my Letterpress Socks.  These are the June socks for The Handmade Sock Society, Season Six, and I wanted to share them before we get the next design tomorrow.  These are knit in Hue Loco's Merino Sock in the Ohana colorway.  I also used a tiny bit of Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Natural at the very beginning of each sock (details are in the previous post).  Just a note: this photo is probably the most accurate for the yarn color in these socks.  This has been a surprisingly difficult colorway to photograph!

I'm looking forward to seeing the new design tomorrow!  I have five or six skeins of yarn set aside for this series, but I've found that if I try to pick yarn before I see the pattern, I end up changing my mind.  It's just easier to decide once I've seen how intricate or textural a design is.

In other very big news, Caleb was accepted for graduate school!  He'll be starting his MS at Texas A&M this fall!  We're all very excited, and we've already got the A&M t-shirts around here!

Sock Progress!

I'm on track (at this point) to finish the Letterpress Socks before the July pattern is released!  These are the June pattern from The Handmade Sock Society Collection 6.  I'm finishing the second sock now and only have a few more rounds before I start the toe decreases.  The next pattern comes out next Thursday!

These are knit in Hue Loco Merino Sock in Ohana, but I added a little accent stripe at the top of the sock in white.  This was not in the pattern, and I can't take credit for it, because I got the idea from some other people's project, but it was just too cute not to add.  Basically, you work the cast on and the first round (in ribbing in this case) in the accent color.  Then start round two with your main color - but you just knit it (no ribbing).  Continue the ribbing on round three and onwards as necessary.  Working it this way gives you a clean line between the two colors.  The single knit round sinks into the ribbing and isn't visible at all.  I haven't double checked, but I'm remembering this as Elizabeth Zimmermann's Purl When You Can.  It's a great technique to know for color changes on ribbing!

The Handmade Sock Society Season 6: Letterpress

As I mentioned last time, the June sock design - the second of the six - came out last week.  The Letterpress Socks are all about texture - no lace this time!  You're actually looking at the second try on this one, because I didn't like the way the yarn was working with the pattern the first time.  Sometimes that happens, so I frogged what I had and started with another yarn.  This is Merino Sock by Hue Loco in Ohana.  There's kind of a lot going on in the colorway, but I'm happy with how it's knitting up!

The Handmade Sock Society 6: Flourish

I've finished my May socks for the Handmade Sock Society 6!  These are the Flourish Socks and they are a really lovely mix of lace and simple stockinette stitch.  This is one of those designs where you get a lot of drama for very little work.  I knit them in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Arapey which is a muddle of blue, mauve, gray, and some purple tones.  The value (light/dark) of the colors is very close, so even though there are lots of colors involved, they don't overwhelm the stitch pattern.  This is definitely a sock pattern I will revisit in the future!

This morning the June sock design was released, so I will be picking my yarn soon!  This month's design is the Letterpress Socks. 

A New Pair of Socks

After finishing a pair of socks, I almost always cast on for a new pair of socks!  This is the start of Flourish, the first design for The Handmade Sock Society 6! I'm knitting them in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Arapey, which reminds me of a Mourning Dove, or a Lump Bird, as we call them.  When Caleb was little he noticed that the Mourning Doves would just sit in front of the bird feeder all afternoon.  Not really eating, just sitting and making it difficult for the other birds to get to the food.  He was watching them and said, "Mommy, those birdies are lumps!"  So they've been Lump Birds at our house ever since!

The socks are fun to knit, with the lace panel down the front and stockinette stitch around the back of the leg.  The lace stitch pattern is easy to memorize, so you get a lot of fancy for very little work on these.  I'm actually not going very fast on these because I've been working on the Linearity MKAL and I'm trying to get that shawl finished.  I'll show pictures next week, since the last clue was launched early this week!

Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

It's been a minute since I've been here!  Overall things are fine, there's just been a LOT happening.  I won't bore you with all the details, but I hope to be back for regular blogging.  I have been knitting this whole time, and I have a couple of finished objects!

I finished my Astrid Socks, knit in Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Charcoal and Dream in Color Smooshy in My Fair Lady.  I only did the stranded colorwork on the legs of the sock and just knit the foot in solid Charcoal.  Since My Fair Lady is a multicolored yarn it kind of fades in and out of the Charcoal, but I like the effect.

I also knit a pair of Footie Socks and added a bit of colorwork on the foot.  I used one of the patterns from the Basic Doodle Socks and I used the same yarns from the Astrid Socks.  This is a sock pattern I've been knitting for years (according to Ravelry, I knit the first pair in 2014) and I really like it.

Finally, since it seemed like a good idea, I started the Go Go Dynamo Shawl - Stephen West's MKAL shawl for this fall.  I'm using Malabrigo Mechita in Natural (Main Color) and Aniversario (Contrast Color).  I bought two skeins of each color in 2018, planning to make a striped sweater.  I never made the sweater, and when I saw them in my stash I knew they'd be perfect for this project.  I'm hoping to finish the first clue today and I'm ready to move straight into the second clue.  (The third clue comes out Thursday, so I'm running a little behind, but there's not really a time limit.  I'll get there when I get there.)  I probably won't show any actual photos of the shawl until November.  That way I don't have to juggle spoiler alerts and worry about ruining the surprise for someone else, but you can at least see my yarns!

As I said, I hope to get back into the habit of regular blogging.  We'll see what my life has to say about that, but hopefully I'll be here a little bit more!  Hope you're all doing well.  It's supposed to cool off here tomorrow and we'll get a real taste of fall!  (For those of you wondering what fall looks like in north Texas, it's supposed to be in the high 60's tomorrow.)

We're Still Knitting Socks Around Here

I've finished my first Astrid sock, and I've started on the second one.  I'm about two rounds into the colorwork at this point, so you can just barely see some floats where the knitting is rolling a bit.  These are not complicated socks, and by working the foot entirely in Charcoal it does go pretty quickly.  Unfortunately, this is one of those times where life is really crazy and I'm just not doing a lot of knitting right now.  I'm hoping to get these finished by the end of the month because then I can submit them to ESK for the third quarter Craft-A-Long (colorwork socks), but honestly, if I don't get them done it's not the end of the world.

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'm hoping I have time for a nap!

New Socks!

I went ahead and cast on for a new pair of socks after I finished my Mischief Socks, but these have less colorwork.  This is the Astrid Sock, and I'm using Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Charcoal and Dream in Color Smooshy in My Fair Lady.  I plan to skip the colorwork on the foot and just work it in the solid Charcoal.  Theoretically, these should go faster, but the rest of the month is going to be CRAZY around here, plus I'm still working on my Sous Sous pullover, so who knows how long they'll actually take.

Finished!

I finished my Mischief Socks!  These are such fun socks to knit, and great for practicing your stranded colorwork knitting.  I added some contrast cuffs, toes, and heels just for fun.  The pattern uses two colors only.  For the cuffs and toes I used Cascade Heritage Sock in 5629 Citron.  The main part of the sock has the background color as Cascade Heritage Sock in 5618 Snow and the main color as Sweet Georgia Yarns Tough Love Sock in Secrets.  The heel (which was a last minute addition, I had originally planned to use the Citron here) is Lady Dye Yarns Sock Yarn in Benedict.

I love my finished socks, and while this is the second time I've knit Mischief Socks, it probably won't be the last!

Now With 50% More Sock!

I'm working away on my second Mischief Sock, and as you can see, I'm past the halfway point and working on the foot.  I actually just finished the gusset decreases last night so it's straight to the toe now.  This is such a fun sock pattern, and in addition to mixing the two designs within a pair, you could also just use your favorite design for both socks in a matching pair.  Options are always nice!

As much as I'm enjoying the socks, I find myself wanting to finish my Sous Sous sweater and start other sweaters.  I'm going to get the socks finished first (they're technically for the ESK Third Quarter Craft A Long), but then I think there will be sweaters happening around here!

Socks!

Eat Sleep Knit's Third Quarter Craft-A-Long is colorwork socks!  I love colorwork socks - they're fun to knit and they use up the little partial balls of sock yarn you have left after single color socks!  This is the first of a Mischief Socks pair.  I've knit this pattern before, but only using two colors (see below).  This time I decided to use three colors, but as I was partway down the leg I found the turquoise blue and realized it would be perfect for heels, so four colors it is!

Someone had to get into the photo this morning, so you get a silver beak as bonus today!

Finished Socks

I finished the Hibernal Socks.  These were an easy pattern that was great for starting and stopping as life and other projects interrupted.  It's always nice to have those types of projects around!  I knit them in Yarn Love Oliver Twist in Pizazz.  The yarn was maybe a little too busy for the stitch pattern, but I'm happy with the finished socks!

Also, we have gotten SO.  MUCH.  RAIN.  That is all.

Finished Gnome Socks

I finished my Hidden Gnome Socks!  This was such a pretty pattern and I'm really happy with my finished socks.  The pattern is Zwergenaufstand and I knit them in Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Magenta and Natural.  

I mostly followed the pattern - all stitch counts are straight from the pattern, but I did need to make a few changes to fit my feet.  I started with US 0's (2.0mm) for the top ribbing and then switched to US 1's (2.25mm) for the stranded colorwork on the leg.  Then I switched back to the US 0's for the rest of the sock.  The pattern suggests going back to the larger needles for the colorwork on the foot, but since I have narrow feet, I got a better fit by staying with the smaller needles.  This did change the gauge of the colorwork a little, but unless you know to look for it, it's not really obvious.  I also did my usual toe instead of the one used in the pattern.  Again, it fits my foot.

This is the same designer who did the Winter Dudes socks I did at the first of the year and while these will be the last project for ESK's Gnome Craft-A-Long this quarter, I might be doing some more of her designs later this year.  Third quarter is Colorwork Socks! 

March Socks!

I've finished my first Zwergenaufstand sock and I'm halfway down the leg of the second one!  I need to get these finished by the end of the month in order to get credit for the Craft-A-Long.  As I explained on a previous post, for the most part I'm knitting these exactly as the pattern is written.  I worked the cuff ribbing on Size US 0's (2.0 mm), then I switched to Size US 1's (2.25 mm) for the leg.  I went back to the smaller needles when I started the heel flap and used those all the way through finishing the toe.  I didn't change any of the stitch counts from the pattern, I just used the smaller needles on the stranded section of the foot because I have narrow feet, and by trying on the sock-in-progress, I could tell that if I worked the foot color work in the larger needles, I wouldn't have a snug fit on my sock.  

The only big change I made to the sock was using the toe decreases I've used on 99% of my socks instead of the pattern's toe.  I don't know the name of "my" toe, but you work decrease rounds every other round until you've decreased half of the total foot stitches, then you work the decrease round every round until your stitch count is one quarter of the total foot stitches, then you Kitchener stitch the toe closed.  Occasionally, I have to juggle the numbers a bit if the total number of stitches doesn't divide out neatly, but that's easy enough to do, and knitted fabric is very forgiving. 

Socks Finished, Socks Begun

I have finished my Winter Dudes Socks.  These were a fun pair of socks to knit and I tried a new-to-me heel (short rows with a gusset) and toe (star toe)!  The stranded color work was all on the leg of the sock, so once I got through that, the rest of the socks went pretty quickly.  There were some long stretches of colors and I had to twist my strands to keep the floats from getting too long, but I just worked slowly through those parts and made sure to keep the stitches on my right needle as spread out as I possibly could.

I used Cascade Heritage Sock in 5629 Citron (green), 5607 Red, and 5618 Snow.  I'm thrilled with my new Christmas socks and I know they'll be fun to wear!

As soon as I finished weaving in the ends on the Winter Dudes, I cast on for the Zwergenaufstand socks by the same designer.  Zwergenaufstand means "A Fuss About Nothing" according to the Google.  I don't speak German.  I'm using Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in Magenta and Natural.  I prewashed both skeins - the Magenta to get rid of any extra dye, and the Natural because I washed the Magenta.  These have an all over geometric design with only minimal long color stretches that need anchored floats (I've only found one round so far), and a cute little hidden gnome on the heel.  This designer has some other, similar sock designs with little hidden surprises on the heel as well.