Category: FO Page 28 of 48

Spring Bobby Socks

On 31 Mar, 2008

Specs:
Yarn: 3-ply handspun; Superwash Merino from Crown Mountain Farm in â€œSay A Little Prayerâ€ 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

By Ann

On 27 Mar, 2008

In FO, Knit, Spin

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.

Flat Feet — Part II

By Ann

On 3 Mar, 2008

In FO, Knit

Flat Feet socks are done!

On the left are the socks in their pre-blocked stated, along with the remaining flats. The socks weigh about 30g each, leaving about 2 – 25g flats for a pair of footlets (or a scant 6″ each). Editor’s Note: I wear US Size 6 / EUR Size 37 shoes (when wearing socks). I also prefer short socks (4-6″ above ankle bone). So your personal mileage will vary, depending on your foot size. There is definitely enough yarn for average sized feet. This is a guess, since I don’t really know what “average” is.

In the photo on the right, I have a sock (left) that has had a nice hot bath in Soak, and hung up to dry overnight; and one unwashed sock (right). You can see that the sock grew slightly, and most of the texture has been removed by its hot soak in the bath. Had I used a sock blocker, I’m sure that all the texture would have been removed. But since I don’t own any sock blockers, this will have to suffice.

Update: Grace said that she couldn’t see the details on the pre/post blocking well, so I have included a full sized photo.

Some additional notes and thoughts on knitting these socks:

I finally read all of the fine print on the tag that came along with the Flat Feet. They recommended US #3 (3.25mm) needles with a gauge of 8 spi. They must knit very tight or I’m a very loose knitter. I used US #0 (2.00mm) needles to achieve a post block gauge of 8.5 spi. As I said in my earlier post, I couldn’t accurately measure my gauge pre-blocking due to the puckering effect of my knitted fabric. I had to go by look and feel. But if you force me to give you a number, I’d say it was about 9.5 spi.
I knitted the first sock with my KnitPicks Harmony Wood needles. I have to tell you that it was a chore. The combination of the extra pointy ends on the KnitPicks needles and the knit then unraveled yarn made for a lot of swearing when I split the yarn. I switched to my Addi Turbos (regular, not lace) for the second sock, and all was well. No more splitting the yarn. I was able to go back to mindless knitting while I did other things. Don’t get me wrong. This is not the fault of neither the KnitPicks needles nor the Flat Feet yarn. It’s just a case of wrong equipment for the task. You’ve been warned.
I did more research on the knit-dye-rip-reknit thing, and found that this technique was first published by Rebekah Younger in a July 1995 issue (p. 68) of Threads, not invented by Nancy, as I stated in my earlier post.

I’m very pleased with this pair of socks. It has given me some wonderful ideas. Fortuitously, my sister just bought a knitting machine, and has offered to put my niece to work on knitting some blanks. Perhaps I can get some sock blanks for further experimentation. Maybe I can even knit some lace shawls.

Final Project Notes:

Yarn: Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations
Needles: US #0 (2 mm); KnitPicks and Addi Turbos
Gauge: 8.5 spi
Pattern: Variation on my generic toe-up socks with turkish cast on; increased up to 64 sts; yarn-over short row heel over 50%; and sewn bind-off.