8 posts tagged “socks”
Even though it's the end of January, it's never too late to write up my knitting recap from the holidays, right? :)
For Christmas, I planned a variety of knitting projects to go with my gifts. Since this was something I was going to enjoy, not feel pressure with, I kept thinking of other ideas along the way of things I could gift instead of my knitting if I didn't get it done. But actually, I ended up making additional knitted gifts because I got done *faster* with most things that I thought.
Happy Clapotis Scarf. For a gift for my mother-in-law, I wanted something fairly light because she's in CA, and so a regular warm scarf was not going to be great. I didn't think I had the time to do a full clapotis wrap, but I found a scarf sized version that looked more usable. And then for the yarn, I did some research (Knitty Boards, membership required to view) because I wasn't as excited about the chunky look from the scarf pattern, and the Lion and Lamb that the wrap had was nice but not from a yarn store I normally shop at. I found that Knit Picks had some great colors of their Shimmer, and I was sold, it had beautiful color options and was baby alpaca and silk which seemed like it would be light. Then I found someone on Ravelry (CaseyK's clapotis) who had used the same yarn and colorway triple stranded, and that looked like a really nice weight, so I went with that.
Actually knitting this was a joy. I had so much fun figuring out the stitches and anticipating when the next drop happened. It curled up a bit while knitting, but then blocking it made all the difference in the world, the drop ladders turned out all straight and perfect and much more beautiful than I thought. I would seriously consider making myself a full Clapotis wrap if I could think of somewhere to wear it.
Stripey Anastasia Socks. For my mom. I thought she might be the only person who would appreciate socks, and plus with our drawing names, I wasn't sure who I would get to have enough time for this project. I knew that she had slightly smaller feet than me (and in hind sight, I probably still should have made them a little less long), and so that helped for knowing what measurement to use.
I found the yarn before picking a pattern. When I saw the Felici yarn from Knit Picks when they introduce it, I knew the Firefighter colorway was totally her. So then I just had to find a pattern that would work okay with this yarn and be a little more interesting than just straight stockingette. The Anastasia pattern had a spiral that was reversed on the 2nd sock, and that looked like fun to knit (it was).
I started these when I first got the yarn, but then did them slowly alongside all the other gifts, so it was the last thing finished of my gifts. They blocked up really nicely, although my k2tog/yo and ssk/yo aren't exactly the same size, so the holes on the 2nd sock are slightly bigger, and that was a little sad. It's certainly not as noticeable when the socks are on.
Chocolatty Armwarmers and Scarf. For Lisa, who works in the family business in an office/warehouse that is cold. I figured she could use these armwarmers when driving and typing in the cold. I saw someone on Ravelry (lixolux) a while back that had armwarmers with plaits (braids) instead of the fancy flowery cable from the pattern, and I really liked that. My Stitchionary comes in handy for that, and I'd used the plaited cable on an afghan square already, so I knew I could do it. And I was more comfortable this time around with doing cabling without a cable needle, which came in handy!
And then instead of looking for the suggested Noro online, I found some people making things out of the new Debbie Mumm yarn, which I could get at Jo-Ann's w/o stressing about finding a real yarn store. This yarn was not great to knit with, but the finished product was pretty good. The repeats in colors weren't the same anywhere in the 2nd skein so I had to do a lot of work to make them look the same.
These were such a fast knit that as I got to the end of my holiday knitting, I decided to make a really skinny scarf to go with them. I did it in the same rib as the armwarmers, and every once in a while, I put the plait cable in. I made it nice and long and I enjoyed trying it on for photos :)
I love the construction of these. I've finally gotten very comfortable with short rows, and so this was easy. I made the ties a little longer, but I still wish I'd gone further, they didn't wrap around twice like ballet slippers very easily. The stretchy yarn was fun to work with, and they really did strech well. Of course, this made them look little in the package! I think I could have made them a little bigger and had them work for longer, but I made the kids size already, so I was scared I was overthinking it.
Then when I was shopping for the Cascade Fixation, I thought I'd also get some yarn and make some stretchy legwarmers to go with. I used the Fixation held with a variety of other worsted weight yarn (Wool-Ease, the Swish Superwash, and some Knit Picks Twist I picked up on clearance). They didn't quite come out as strechy as I'd hoped, and it took me a little longer due to wanting to weave in ends as I went but not detatch yarn. I should have done them on dpns, but I was trying to get a feel for using circular needles on small diameters, so this also took me a lot more adjusting than I wanted. Overall, I wish I'd made them a little bigger and even maybe just with the fixation instead of stripes.
Also, I found patterns with some sort of neat stitch patterns on them, and I liked those, but I was worried about getting his little fingers caught. So I came up with a slip stitch pattern that looked like it was fair isle instead. This made for a nice warm and pretty mitten. I had a hard time with getting the placement of the thumb right and the length of the mitten to actually look like the length of his hand. It took quite a few tries to get it right, but I really like how it turned out in the end. The thumb was stripey to keep the bulk of the fabric down, and that looked super cute.
The thing I was most disappointed with was my i-cord. I still don't feel like my i-cords are very even, and I tried to jazz this one up with alternating the colors, which made for ends to weave in and potentially look funny after some wears.
But the best thing was Leonard wearing the gloves around his neck from the i-cord on Christmas Eve. Even if he doesn't wear them much, that picture in my head was worth it!
- What are your knitting fears?
- What would it take for you to become a truly fearless knitter?
I'm still such a new knitter that I do still have quite a few things that make me nervous. There's a ton of techniques that I know are supposed to make my (knitting) life better, but I am scared for whatever reason. Here's an example - I know that the idea of knitting two socks on two circulars should really help me get a pair done both the same way for each and probably more quickly. But I'm scared that I put my money into buying circs for the technique and then don't enjoy doing it.
One thing that is nice about knitting is that it can always be ripped out, and this removes some of the fear that normal crafting has (glue or cutting are more permanent).
I also am scared of picking the wrong colors or the wrong yarn. I don't always like the yarn in a pattern, and so I want to substitute, but i'm always a little nervous doing that. Right now, I'm trying to pick out the yarn for a sweater I want to make, but I'm just not sure if the yarn I want is going to pool. Some pictures it does, and others it doesn't (obviously, different stitch counts, but that doesn't necessarily give me confidence). For socks, pooling is okay, but on a sweater, not so much.
So yeah, all good thoughts! Check out this daily email, it really has nice thoughtful content that I enjoy receiving.
Note: This is the fourth in a series of posts looking back at 2007, in some key areas of my life that were important to me.
I knitted this year.
Everything I finished my first year of knitting (2006) was very basic. I'm ending out 2007 with a ton more knowledge and skill under my belt. I well exceeded my goals, which I found were setting the bar pretty low in the grand scheme of things!
I learned what to look for when purchasing yarn and how to substitute. There were 3 different online stores (KnitPicks on many occasions, TheLoopyEwe, and Little Knits) that I've ordered from, as well as the local craft stores, branching out from only really knowing about Lion Brand and Lily's Sugar 'N Cream at the beginning of the year. I'm starting to learn about combining colors, with some success and some turning out less than what I expected (Leah's pinwheel sweater was a success, but my in-process heart socks aren't as perfectly color coordinated as I hoped).
In mid-January when Vox introduced Groups, I created the Knitting group. Even though I'm not as active in adding content as I wish, the great thing about this is that you don't have to do much to make your content part of the group, and there are a lot of people who are members (around 375 right now), so it's really a fun way to browse people who are knitting on Vox. (I still like to zoom through people who tag things as "knitting" and invite them to the group whenever I can!)
Starting in March, I began going to the library's knit-in every 2 weeks. I tried to bring easy projects I was working on at the time and found myself enjoying the company even when the discussion was not usually about knitting. I became known as someone who had a basic grasp on knitting and towards the end of the year when I joined the Friends of the Library (the group that puts this on), they made me a leader of the group as well. I've helped people who didn't know how to knit yet, and contributed to knitting discussions as well. It feels good to be part of this!
The roundup: 4 pairs of socks (and almost a 5th), 2 sweaters, a doll with a full wardrobe (among my very favorite thing I knit this year), a turtle, booties, 2 bibs, 2 hats, 3 scarfs, 2 shawl-like scarfs, 10-15 dishclothes, a potholder, 2 different pairs of slippers, armwarmers and legwarmers, mittens, part of two afghans, border and several squares of a patchwork afghan, and probably some other small things.
Ravelry: I did some tracking of my progress on my blog, but many of my knitting projects were gifts, and needed more privacy. Enter Raverly (my profile, if you have an account), a new site this year for tracking projects, stashes, and more. For the first few months they were around, I helped on the forums quite a bit and helped with bug tracking. I'm still watching a few groups, but mainly I'm using it to track my projects and my queue, as well as inspiration for new projects! Super awesome site, if you aren't on the waiting list, get your name on there!
Media: I've read a lot of books about knitting, above my skill level to try and start absorbing what's out there. I've purchased books about knitting for reference and patterns. Watched Knitty Gritty on HGTV for as long as they had it, and this was so helpful to see visually how things were held. Listened to knitting podcasts inspired me to think about knitting too.
Techniques: My colorwork experience has grown, attempting fair isle, multiple colored slip stitch patterns, stripes, and a little intarsia, as well as plenty of projects that used multiple colors and were seamed together. I've also tried entrelac, and short rows, and plenty of different shaped pieces. Some i-cords, but not as neat as I'd like them to look yet. I've adjusted patterns, and come up with my own and even written them out in a readable fashion. Different bind offs and castons, and plenty of increases and decreases. I've used straight needles, circular needles (interchangable), and double pointed needles. I'm still not an expert at all of these things, but I feel great for having tried so many things that I can work to improve!
I've been knitting these pink socks for quite a while now, as my alternative project to whatever else I'm working on at the time. I was thrilled by the yarn when I got it, and knitting it up was just as nice.
Pink Socks
Started: early May, 2007
Finished: September 5, 2007
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Iris Garden
Needles: Knit Picks dpns, size 1
Pattern: Knitty's Universal Toe-up Sock Formula
This is the smallest yarn and needles I've used yet, and my first pair of toe-up socks. I love toe-up, I think this is definitely the way I'll try to go in the future (that being said, I have some top-downs on my needles already!) I feel like a better sock knitter after making these because of the time involved in doing such little stitches. The short row heels with wraps made a lot more sense now that I've done short-row dishclothes, actually.
I definitely like the "leaves of grass" pattern that I picked from the Stitchionary better than my first try of the hearts. I just had too many difficulties with p4tog with these fine stitches. I just did it on the leg, but if I had it to do again, I would have done it on the top of the foot too.
They fit nice. The first sock was a little long , and so I reduced the length by like 1 or 2 rows on the second. They still look the same, but one will not bunch as much in my shoe as the other!
I wore them for the first time to the library the day I finished them (moblog post) to show to my knitting group, because they'd seen how long I was working on them because they were the best portable project I had for a while!
Here's a few more pictures of the progress. If you are on Ravelry, the project page is here.
I definitely would use this pattern and this yarn again. It's all good stuff!
I've just been too tired and busy actually knitting to write about what I'm doing. So here's a preview. I also have pictures on my camera because I've been diligently taking in-process photos, but they just aren't on my computer yet to even upload! I'm also quite behind on actually reading the knitting group and other Vox updates, and I miss being my normal comment-y self.
- I finished one big secret project. Beautiful, I'd like to take a few more pictures. It's even blocked and in tissue!
- I started and finished a pair of socks with one of my discount yarn finds. The colors aren't really as exciting as I'd hoped, but it was my first try at customizing the size of socks. I've got the pattern I used on this scrap piece of paper that's such a mess I should scan it in so you can see how my brain works. ;) I did the first one on my days off around my birthday and then was a little slower on the second.
- I did a few squares for my afghan and got a new book for my birthday with more ideas.
- I started on another big-ish secret project that I can't stop touching. I love love love it: the yarn, the pattern, my progress, the whole thing.
- I went to the yarn store (okay, just Michael's, no where fancy) and got some on-sale cotton (4 for $5), some extra wool-ease for charity squares, and one skein just for me hopefully to become some sort of a needle holder.
- I've been to several more knit-ins at the library.
- I'm swatching for the next pair of socks and trying to find a pattern that I want to use. I think I'll try toe-up so I can make them as long of a leg as possible, probably using the equations from Knitty's Universal Toe-up sock formula, but I'd like a pattern in the leg. Possibly a heart lace, which I swatched on bigger yarn to try and figure out how to make it work well with the smaller yarn (Lorna's Laces).
- I'm beta testing Ravelry. No, I don't have invites, and No, I don't have enough content to show off yet. I'll play more and let ya know. It's very neato, they should somehow link up and use photos from Vox instead of just Flickr :D
I'm struggling on how much to write about my knitting on my public blog and how much to just put in the group. I really like having all my posts here publicly for searching so I can tell crafty people my blog URL is kristine.vox.com and have them find my knitting stuff, but I hate to "spam" my neighborhood who may not all care about the details of a project. Tough one.
I've started on some projects and gotten yarn for other ones. I had the beginning of the week off, so I spent more time on all of it this week anyhow :)
Some of the things in my last project post are definitely in the works now.
I'm working on a shawl for my mom from this kit. I went ahead and ordered it with needles because I didn't have any 10.5's. They sent me interesting novelty needles! Also, this was the first time taking a hank and turning it into a ball.
I'm a little further than that now, but I'm still not quite envisioning how it's going to look when I drop the stitches!
My ever-constant project of knitting squares for my afghan is still in full storm, although when I'm working on other things, I tend to slow down on this. You might be excited to see where it's at so far, with 46 of the planned 96 done at this point:
I got an order of Sock yarn from Little Knits, where they had some clearance yarn and I thought it would be a good way to practice on some colors I wasn't absolutely in love with.
I started in on the Skacel because the size 2 needles worked well with it and I already had those. There is a slightly blurry moblog picture of my progress here in Sock on. As of the end of yesterday, I'm actually much further, almost done with the foot and getting ready to go onto the toe of the first sock.
I'm also working on finding the perfect pattern to go with the yarn I ordered from The Loopy Ewe - the beautiful Lorna's Laces in Iris Garden.
And then just on Monday night, my order from KnitPicks came with yarn and needles, but that will have to wait for another day to be photographed. :)
I''m trying to think ahead to the early-summer birthdays and things I want to knit for me. Of course, my afghan squares will be a constant throughout, I've got probably 40 of them 96 now, woo!
Beyond that, I'd really like to make a few things:
- Some sort of dishclothes or potholders for my sister-in-law's birthday (April 19) to go with her present (easy, out of cotton which I may already have enough of)
- A shawl or lacy scarf for my mom's birthday or Mother's day (end of May)
- I'm leaning towards this kit (Morpheus Scarf) because it's light and airy and would knit up quick with 10.5 needles, and plus my mom loves black and white... even if she didn't wear it often, it would look pretty in her room.
- Something neato for Leah's birthday (mid-June)
- I'm thinking right now I'd really like to try for a pinwheel sweater (pattern, knitalong with pics) I think I have enough time between now and then to work on this, it seems like it's within my skill level, I *think*. Probably out of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes because it's a little cheaper than the Elann, and I like the color selection more.
- Maybe something fun for Baby Leonard while he's still little (socks and/or a bib?)
- Socks for me - I'd like to do one simple pair out of a varigated yarn, and another pair with a small fair-isle heart detail on it - both using patterns from Socks, Socks, Socks, which I re-checked out of the library last week.
- Maybe a sweater or top for me. There are two I have in mind - one is the Bergamo Cache-Couer from Weekend Knitting. The other is Poppy from Yarnplay (authors's blog, knit-along). I'm not sure I'm talented enough to make either yet, truthfully. The C-C has the added benefit of not being long enough to hit my tummy, so I wouldn't have as much shaping worry. But the Poppy obviously appeals to me more, it's SO beautiful, and if I could get it done by fall, I'd have a lovely homemade sweater to wear then.
Does anybody have any opinions on any of these projects? :)
What: First pair of socks
Started: February 21, 2007
Finished: March 1, 2007
Pattern used: Moda Dea's free tear off pattern, also available on their site.
Yarn used: Moda Dea's Sassy Stripes in Crush
Needles: Clover Bamboo size 5
What for? Myself!
I finished my first pair of socks a few weeks ago, but really wanted the time to write a nice post, so I kept putting it off :)
I initially wasn't sure what to start with. I asked the knitting group for help. I'd been reading a book from the library and it made me really excited about the prospect of knitting socks.
And then a few days later, I went into a knitting store, just to see what they had. I still didn't have a pattern in mind. But on the shelf for the Moda Dea yarn, they had a pattern that you could pull off. And that gave me a starting place, so I knew for sure that the yarn in front of it was going to be enough and the right kind. It showed me what size of needles. And I liked the color of the crush yarn, so that made it an easy choice.
Casting on wasn't hard, I figured that out. It did help that I had watched the video on KnittingHelp. :) It didn't take too long before I felt like I could hold the needles and knit. I made good use of the Socks Socks Socks book as an alternate reference instead of just using the skimmy instructions for the short pattern.
(I got this little basket on sale for like 63 cents and it made a perfect place to keep all the things I was using for the socks!)
I was doing good as I made the leg, just lots of ribbing around and around. I sure like the idea of not having to turn over, just around and around. And then I got to the end of the leg, and I started on the dividing for the heel. I realize now that I was probably knitting around the wrong direction, and actually was knitting from the inside of the circle instead of around the outside, and this was problematic when I had to knit around one time before starting on the heel. I see now that it made little bumpies out because I was knitting on the inside instead of the outside. Because I hadn't done this before I couldn't tell if that was normal or not!
When I divided for the heel, I got confused at which of the two needles was actually being worked, and so I didn't have enough stitches once I started on my heel. Took me a few times of unknitting (tink tink) until I realized that was my problem. I didn't really have any problems once I got that going. The pattern didn't tell me what type of increase to do (inc 1), so I tried a few until I finally stuck with knit in front and back. It made a little bump, but this ended up helping me see where I did this, and the bump isn't really noticeable on the finished product.
As I was turning the heel, I got confused about where I was (darn post-its only work when I use them!), so I ripped out a bit and tried again. That's where the k in front/back bumps came in handy :) I started again and it worked perfect the second time. I was quite excited to see how this looked when I got done, a very proud moment because I wasn't sure if I could figure out these short rows where you turn in the middle!
The next challenge was picking up stitches. There were too many holes for how many I was supposed to pick up. But I had read something somewhere not too long before that it was better to have closer pick-ups than further away. So I was a little brave and picked up more stitches than I was supposed to, just to make it less likely there would be holes. The next time around, I just k2tog or ksp'd a few extra times to get how many stitches I should have. That took some math. Quite challenging, but it turned out just fine, and there's no evidence of this, it just looks like there was never a problem.
The rest of the sock really just flowed. I wasn't 100% sure how to measure my foot to figure out the length, so I grabbed another pair and held it up for measuring, that helped. The toe decreases made good sense, too. For the grafting, I felt like the instructions on the pattern were so misleading. I ended up starting, then ungrafting, then starting and repeating a few more times. The thing that helped me the most was knitty's Techniques with Theresa. I finally figured it out!
I started on the second sock pretty immediately after the first, because I was so excited that I wanted a pair. I realized that the skein was wound oppositely, so I turned it into a ball the other direction, and it came out pretty close to perfect in striping that way. This time went much more smoothly. I still had to increase the number of stitches I picked up, but I understood more what I was doing. I thing I worked right side out on the ribbing this time, because I was sure to make my knitted ridge at the end of the row in the correct place. And somehow, I ended up with my ribbing on the top of the foot being k2,*p2,k2* instead of p2, *k2,p2*, which looked better in the end, but that was weird, I'm not sure how I did that.
Then I finally got a chance to wear them. They were a little too warm, the ribbing probably made them moreso. I walked w/o my shoes on when we were at my brother's house for a few hours, and afterwards, the heel is a little fuzzy. I think I'll mainly wear them at home now to keep my feets toasty. :)
I'm already excited about what I'll make next. I liked doing top down. I'm interested in doing something with smaller needles and lighter weight yarn to make them a little lighter. Maybe less ribbing on the legs. I'm excited about learning about different sock yarns, too.
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