Tag: sock yarn

Posted in knitting, painting

Unraveled Wednesday from Here

Posted on by Laura Kate

Waking up again to new snowfall. The wind blew it all about, and it’s clear that we are in for some of the coldest weather I have ever experienced.

Not to fret, I have my yarn (and blog friends) to keep me warm. Here’s what’s on my needles today.

In December I promised Bill that I would knit him a pair of socks. At Christmas, I formalized the promise with this gift, wrapped up with a swatch of the yarn.

This yarn has been in my stash since last January. It is Regia, by Schachenmayr. I have wanted to try this classic self-striping sock yarn for a long time. It was a bit fiddly getting started. I chose to knit from the cuff down using a 1 by 2 rib pattern. Getting cast-on with four sock needles was hard and the first few round tedious. But now I have my rhythm going.

As far as reading goes, the desire to stay inside and curled up has me almost desperate for new reading material. Succumbing to the stacks of detective novels that Bill has sprinkled throughout the house, I chose StillLife, by Louise Penny. I pretty much raced through it in two days. As murder mysteries go, it was fairly gentle, with more writing about relationships than graphic descriptions of violence and cruelty. It turned out to be just what I needed to get through the long, cold nights of January.

To read about posts by Kat’s other Unravelers, visit her site and link into the party.

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Back to my Stash

Posted on by Laura Kate

At one point, I was interested in working with yarn that has a very long color transition. One summer, when Knitpicks has its yarn on sale, I picked up this skein of Stroll. The colorway is called Beach House – hard to resist! But when I started to knit it, I noticed that it was very thin and quite light. I put it back in the yarn closet while I had a good think about what it could become.

Flash forward to this year and the Summer of the Stash Bust. Way in the back of the fingering weight yarn cubbyhole, I came across the skein on the left. It is 100% alpaca lace weight in a warm white color. It is languishing, because I found it impossible to work with yarns that light. As I made my loops, they had the predilection to float right off of my needles. I grabbed this featherweight and decided to knit the alpaca and the Beach House Stroll held together as one strand.

Finding a garment that I can make using only the 450 yards of fingering weight is tricky. It should become a shawl, but I have way too many of those. So I came up with a pattern for a tiny, short-sleeved lace cardigan by Susanne Sommer.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/arrowhead-lace-cardigan-3

Here is my swatch and my cast-on. The pattern is worked top down.

Based on the swatch, I am thinking that I will have to add a few additional repeats of the lace to get the cardigan to fit. SO, a game of yarn chicken is afoot. (sigh.)

Posted in knitting

Friday Finish: Sock Challenge

Posted on by Laura Kate

The fourth and final pair of socks worked to fulfill my sock challenge posed in July is now complete. You see before you a triumphant stack of socks.

The final pair is second from the top in the photo. Made from Wisco sock yarn by Ewetopia in a colorway called Caterpillar, the pair are earmarked for my grandson. He participated in choosing color, yarn and pattern, so I will assume the gift will be welcomed by him. The question is, will they fit?

I know that his arch is slightly wider, and his foot is slightly longer than mine. At least that was true when I measured his foot last July.

These fit me nicely but have plenty of stretch left and a little more room in the toe.

I knit these socks using two 16-inch cable needles in size 1. They were made toe up, using the turkish cast-on. The bind off was Jeny’ surprisingly stretchy 1×1 rib bind off. I enjoyed using this method so much I will likely forsake my double-point sock needles for good.

Posted in knitting

F.O. Friday – Hermione Socks

Posted on by Laura Kate

This project is finally off my needles.

Not sure why it took so long. I guess that I was having too much fun on my recent vacation to focus on knitting. I also had no internet access for almost two weeks.

The pattern is Hermione’s Everyday Socks (for some reason, I am unable to pronounce that name!) I made no adjustments to pattern – just knit exactly as written.

I enjoyed this pattern and would consider using it in a future project. They feel a little loose – guess I should have used a smaller needle size.

The yarn is Wisco Sock from Ewetopia in colorway Superior.

Here’s the link to the pattern. There are 34,000 projects attached to this pattern in Ravelry. Even for a free pattern, that’s a lot of endorsements. If you feel compelled to give it a try, click here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hermiones-everyday-socks

Posted in knitting

Cast-on Monday: Sock Time

Posted on by Laura Kate

With the heat of the summer beginning to settle in, it’s time to start projects that are A: not heavy in your lap. B. suitable for year-end giving and C. car trip worthy. Socks fit that description beautifully.

Today I am starting a sock pattern that has been in my library for some time. Hermione’s Everyday Socks, available on Ravelry, are simple to knit, but have a lovely texture created by working purl stitch sprinkled evenly throughout.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/hermiones-everyday-socks

I have chosen to use a monochromatic colorway from Ewetopia that drifts from light to dark and back again. I’m hoping that the color doesn’t vary so much that it overwhelm the subtle stitch pattern. This yarn is called Wisco Sock, and is milled and dyed in Wisconsin.

Here is a link to the yarn producer: About — Ewetopia (ewetopiafibershop.com)

The colorway is Superior, as in, the Lake. I’m very drawn to it – not a green but not a blue, rather a cool-ish grey such as how the lake surface may appear on a cloudy day. While I started these socks as a potential gift, it could be that I will selfishly keep them for myself.