It’s been almost 2 months since I cast on this lovely blue 4-ply sock yarn by West Yorkshire Spinners.
I’m feeling guilty about my lack of progress since then on socks for my DH. It’s been very cold here and he has nearly worn out all the other socks I’ve knit for him.
In early January I picked this project up again and I hope that they’ll be finished soon.
This photo shows the toe-up method using two size one needles. Gauge is about 12 rows per inch. Because the stitches are so small, I find it difficult to work on this in low light.
But Ta-Da! I have one completed sock.
Today I worked on sock 2 during Westham United’s game against Darby. At the whistle, I had completed another 1 and 1/2 inches on the foot section. I’m hopeful that cast-off will take place before another week has passed by.
Moving on – no time like the present! You see here the beginning of the next sock in my holiday gift-giving series. This time I will be making knee-highs for my daughter. The two yarns I have selected are Bare Hawthorne dk by KnitPicks and Soft Twist in bronze by Hayfield.
This project has two experimental facets to it. First is the yarn selection. I am marrying together a mostly Highland wool superwash (Hawthorne) with a mostly acrylic (Hayfield.) I have no idea what that will do to the quality of the socks in the long run. I made and washed a good-sized swatch, which appears to have survived with little impact to its look and feel. That’s a good omen.
The second experiment is the pattern. (And the fact that I haven’t knit a pair of knee-highs before.) This vertically striped pattern is European, therefore written using metric measurements. But that’s not the real problem for me. It’s the shaping. In order to fit comfortably around the calf, the circumference must be greater than typical. Using the bigger circumference suggests to me that stitches must be decreased while working down to the ankle. Otherwise, the foot will be too wide. And yet the pattern is written without the necessary decreases.
” When I am an Old Woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat – which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me “ – Jenny Joseph
I don’t know if this is the sort of hat that the poet had in mind. But perhaps if she had lived in the 21st century, in a cold climate, and was 3 and 1/2 years old, she might have chosen it.
Despite my playful suggestion about an old woman, this hat is indeed meant for Laura Lu. In my determination to use stash yarn, I came to the conclusion that red would work perfectly fine with purple yarn and a purple sweater.
The pattern, which includes a picot edging and very deep ear flaps, is Cameron’s Cap by Sarah Peasley.
My week-end has been crazy busy, so this post of a finish is coming out today. I bound off the second pocket on the Lavanda little girl sweater on Friday.
One of the things I like most about this pattern is that when you finish knitting, there’s no sewing up to do – only weaving in ends and sewing on buttons.
Here’s how it looks before washing and blocking.
Despite the fact that I had found my gauge before starting to knit, the finished sweater looks very narrow. Will it in fact block out several inches wider?
Well yes, Yes it did.
A fun feature of the after-thought pockets is the one-inch seed stitch border. It is made by knitting up from held stitches before knitting the interior of the pocket.
This gives a finished look and little extra depth to the pocket. Those rainbow-swirl wood buttons came from an Etsy vendor in the British Isle. They were surprisingly affordable. She must have been reducing her inventory.
Sadly, I did not have enough yarn to knit the attached hood. The sweet seed-stitch collar is a minor consolation. To complete the outfit, I’ll work my purple yarn left-overs into a warm, wooly hat – one with ear flaps.
I can hardly wait for the moment I will give this to Lu. (sigh) I’m afraid that it’s going to be a long summer for me.
I was determined to complete all three pair in yarn sourced from my stash. Fortunately, the pattern does not require much yardage. The trickiest part is getting the right sizes for people with vastly different foot lengths.
The fun part was choosing yarns that mirrored my loved ones’ tastes.
First the soles. In the waning days of Bluprint.com, they were trying to unload all of their product, including yarn. I bought two skeins of a blended yarn – part wool, part acrylic. It turned out to be a disgusting color and very rough. So it lanquished for a year in my stash closet.
Eventually I tried it out as the sole section of a pair of dorm boots I made for myself, where it revealed itself as made to be crushed under foot.
With a proto-type complete, I moved on to the Christmas knitting. First up was a pair for 13-year-old grandson, H.
This yarn selection was dead easy. In my stash was a half-complete shawl knit from bluish color-changing acrylic blend that I had purchased in Milwaukee. It was incomplete because I had run out of yarn. With no more available, it was evident that unraveling the shawl was necessary. It yielded more than enough for the boots. And blue is H’s favorite color. He also likes multi-hued garments. Win-win.
Next came my son-in-law. A tall, slender guy, he wears pretty big shoes. The challenge here was getting enough length.
I chose to marry together two cotton/acrylic yarns. Both of these had been purchased to make things for their new baby, who arrived in 2018. I had used the white to make a stuffed toy in the form of a snowy owl. The grey had been knitted into a bunting. Lo and behold, the boots fit and SIL was delighted.
Finally came my daughter’s pair. I was running out of obvious choices in the stash. Would I break down and buy yarn? Nay, make it be not so! Adjusting the pattern by adding more stitches to the upper section, I was able to use some dk weight yarn leftover from a top-down sweater knitted for myself.
She is fond of warm brown shades. In tribute to her bohemian nature, I added some beaded ties at the ankles. She loved them!
Thus all is well that ends well.
Warm feet in Wisconsin and a happy heart in Oklahoma.
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