Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Tag: Socks Page 7 of 14

On Toes…

Kim was curious about my basic sock recipe, especially how I’m starting my toes these day.

I use 2 circular needles. The cable is flexible enough for the manipulation of the small number of stitches. I’ve tried it on 4 dpn, and drove my self nuts. I just wanted to break those needles from sheer frustration.

Step 1: Make a slip knot and slip it on one of the circular needles, and start wrapping the yarn around both of the needles.

Step 2: Slide the stitches on the bottom needle to the cable. Knit the stitches as they are presented on the top needle with the other end of the top circular needle.

Here’s a picture of the completed first side.

Step 3: Turn the work upside down, so that the newly completed row is on the bottom. Slip the completed row to the cable part of the circular needle. You can see which is the recently worked row because the working yarn is at the end of the row. Slide the cast on stitches on the second needle onto the needle part of the circular needle, with the needle point on the right side, and cable on the left. Start knitting as the stitches are presented.

That’s all there is to it! You start increasing 1 stitch in from the edge, every other round until the sock is of the desired width. What’s the desired width? I find that by the time the knitted toe is deep enough to completely covers my little toe, it’s wide enough. At this point, you can start your desired pattern, if any.

There are several tutorials on Turkish cast ons on the web. There’s even a YouTube video.

Okay. I’m off to drill holes in my boat. In the meantime, Ellie will continue to amuse herself with her sheep toy.

Spring Bobby Socks

Socks 0806 - Bobby SocksSpecs:
Yarn: 3-ply handspun; Superwash Merino from Crown Mountain Farm in “Say A Little Prayer” colorway (retired colorway).
Needles: US Size 0 (2.00 mm)
Gauge: 7.5 spi
Pattern: My generic toe up socks, with 2×2 ribbing on top and up the leg; 64 sts.

Why Bobby Socks? I intend to wear these with the cuff rolled down. I’m showing it this way because the socks seem so oddly formed — very skinny and long. As I was knitting it, I kept thinking, “There is no way that this will fit. The foot is too long!”, even though I fitted the sock as I went to determine the location of the heel. That’s what 2×2 ribbing does. It pulls it up nice and snug.

This is a good thing to remember if you are making socks for someone as a gift. The 2×2 rib is very forgiving.

I’m now happy with the heel. I know why it does what it does on the k2tog side. My forward yarn-over is much looser than my backwards yarn-over, and the k2tog is loosey goosey, causing the ugliness. I fixed this by slipping the yarn-over stitch while maintaining the twist in the stitch. The twist tightens everything up quite nicely. Yes, the 2 sides do not match, but that’s only under close scrutiny. No one will be looking at my foot that closely, I assure you. If they do, they might get a swift kick in the nose.

As I was knitting the leg on the second sock, I realized that this is a perfect set up for the blueberry waffle pattern. (2 rows of 2×2 ribbing, followed by 2 rows plain stockinette.) I will have to try this next time, since I’ve never made the blueberry waffle socks before. I would most likely only do this on the leg portion of the sock, since I don’t really like any type of patterning on top of my foot. Even ribbing bothers me. I’m a princess when it comes to my socks.

I still have close to a pound of this colorway, spun in various weights: 2 ply DK, and 3 ply fingering. The 3 ply from the 8 oz. that I originally bought for socks (this pair and the tennis socks), and the remainder of the 1.5 pounds I spun for the baby blanket. While I love the spring green, I am getting a bit weary of all it. 3 projects out of the same yarn/color is a bit over the top. I can’t bear to think about a 4th or a 5th. I think I will be sending the remainder of this yarn to Kim, who is expecting a baby this summer. Since the baby room is Jungle themed, perhaps she can do something with the green. (Kim, are you interested?)

Too many projects

But I am getting some things finished.

Socks 0805 - ankle socks

A pair of ankle socks, using the remaining yarn from this pair of socks. Same generic sock recipe, but I added 3×1 rib to shake things up a bit. I knitted the back of the sock in plain stockinette stitch for about 3/4″ after turning the heel before changing it to 3×1 rib as well. I topped it off with 3/4″ of 1×1 rib at the top.

As it turns out, I could have made these socks a wee bit longer because I still have yarn left over. So, 5 ounces of fiber is enough for 2 full pairs of socks for me. The advantages of having small feet.

I made the second heel a bit different from the first. I knitted the first stitch of each short row. I didn’t like this. Also, on the k2tog on the nibble back, I slipped both stitches knit-wise, including the yarn over. This created a twisted stitch, but it tightened it up so that it is much neater.

I’m already on the second sock of the next pair, continuing on the heel experimentations. I’m still on course for 2 pairs per month!

I haven’t abandoned everything in favor of the sock needles.

Rovings - One of a Kind skeins

These are 3 ply worsted weight yarn from Rovings. The color way is called “One of a Kind”. As you can see, there were 2 distinct colors in this batch, heathered green and purple. I separated them. There is 1 lb 6.5 oz of heathered green, and 4.75 oz of purple. I finished these a few weeks ago, but just gotten around to the photo shoot. I bought this at SOAR in Tahoe (2006).

As if there isn’t enough fiber projects to distract me, a very heavy box arrived from Canada, just begging for me to open it up and start playing. Yup. My antique Circular Sock Machine has arrived (Legare 400). I’m being good. I’m holding off until I finish cleaning out the office.

Page 7 of 14

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