Southern Summer of Socks [08-09]

I seemed to spend more of my summer knitting lace than socks; in total I managed three socks!

The first was the second of a pair of self-striping grey socks which will go to charity. Strangely enough, since I have a few balls of the same yarn, the third sock was also a grey self-striping sock and the end of the first ball.




The second sock was Waving Lace from "Favorite Socks". It was both a lace project and a sock project.

So, not much sock knitting from me but I actually produced three more socks than I completed last summer when I was banned from knitting on two separate occasions because of frozen shoulders. It has been fun watching others knit socks and especially to be introduced to the concept of the Personal Sock Club.

Thanks Rose Red and Bells for hosting Southern Summer of Socks again this year. My goal for next summer will be to improve by at least one sock! LOL

And now I'm off to cast on for the second Waving Lace.

Goal #1 reached! Topsy Turvy Socks

The second sock of the Moda Vera in the grey colourway is finished. They are fraternal [not identical] twins. I call them topsy-turvy socks. Why? The self-patterning of the yarn is upside down in the second sock.

You see, I made a simple error. The first sock was knitted cuff down. When I frogged it, I did so using my ball winder. Therefore the centre of the ball was the toe end. I cast on from the centre of the yarn cake [as one does] never giving a thought to the fact that I was now knitting with the pattern "upside down". When I cast on for the second sock, I began with the leftover yarn from the frogged first sock. When that ran out, I blithely carried on using the yarn as it pulled from the centre of the original skein. I was aware of what I was doing, but the socks were never going to be identical so I decided to keep going. Perhaps I've created the first ever pair of topsy-turvy socks! Unlikely I know, but it amuses me!

This sock took eight days to knit [not monogamously]. Given that I hurt my neck on Friday and didn't knit at all, it really took a week which is the length of time I thought a sock would take. I've achieved my first goal! That's 100% better than last summer's Southern Summer of Socks!

Socks!

I have signed up again for Southern Summer of Socks. Last year I didn't finish a single pair in the six months the KAL ran due to being diagnosed with a frozen left shoulder in October [no knitting for eight weeks] and a frozen right shoulder in January [no knitting for five weeks]. Gripping those tiny needles [2.25mm] is still very difficult and causes me a great deal of pain if I knit for too long. People have suggested to me that I learn to knit without moving my shoulder - I can and do but most people are not aware that the shoulder is involved even if you think it's not. I can't, for example, roll my hand over to face palm upwards due to the restriction in my shoulder. One would think that involves only the elbow and the wrist but it doesn't. I'm much better now than I was at the beginning of the year, then it was almost impossible.

Enough of the frozen shoulder problems - as I said, I've signed up for Southern Summer of Socks. Socks are great for summer knitting, they're small and light for hot weather and easily portable for travelling. I just have to remember not to knit them for too long. My sock yarn stash seems to have multiplied greatly this year; I have enough yarn to knit at least twenty pairs of socks! Even at a sock a week I can't use it all this summer!! And a week to knit a sock seems reasonable given the stress to my shoulder and forearm from knitting with small needles.

On Saturday, I ripped out a sock that had been finished for several weeks [except for the toe grafting]. I had mistakenly used provisional cast-on instead of invisible cast-on and when I pulled out the waste yarn I lost several stitches [sock yarn is so fine!]. I couldn't remember the vital statistics [no I hadn't written them down; how often do others think "I'll remember that" and later find they don't?] so I pulled the whole sock out and started again with an invisible cast-on. My Fair Lady screened on television on Sunday afternoon [man, that’s a long, but enjoyable, movie - 3 ½ hours with ads] so I spent a leisurely day in front of the television knitting about half a sock. But I paid for it later; my left forearm was so sore I could knit no longer and since I'm left handed, I couldn’t crochet either [boo-hoo]. But, here it is - the first of my Moda Vera socks. They're charity knitting - possibly for the homeless, possibly for an Aboriginal community. It depends which charity comes up first on our 2009 calendar.

This afternoon, we are off to visit the parents in Bingara [north-west NSW]. We are staying in Nundle tonight and spending the morning there tomorrow which includes a trip to the Woollen Mill [my second in six months]. Last time we went, it was only DD and I; she wants to spend more time looking around the town with her dad before she gets married in January [one last family break, so to speak]. My dad turns 80 this Friday but is having a low-key celebration. There are some jobs that need doing around their place so my WM has taken a couple of days off work to do them - that's one reason why he's a Wonderful Man!

See you when we get back!

Still here, still knitting, still tired!

More than a month since my last post! Thanks to those bloggers who contacted me to see if I was okay. Where have I been? Well, the redecorating continues but living in a constant state of mess is really getting to me!

Work has also kept me very busy - the more volunteers, the more preparation I have to do to keep them all busy!

But, all is not lost - I have been knitting. Clapotis is finished and blocked. I may even be able to convince WM to stand still long enough to take photos then I can post them here and post the real thing to its recipient.

I have also made two 'scrap' cardigans; one is completely finished, the other is at the finishing stage. Again, hopefully photos this afternoon.

As for socks, the less said the better. Apparently they don't feel comfortable because they are too big! So the finished pair and the almost finished pair need to be ripped out and started again! :-(

Sad to say, the socks will have to wait - so much for SSoS. I'm giving up knitting for a month! My shoulder isn't getting any better and I want to see if knitting aggravates it [or not knitting helps!].

What's a girl to do?

Tofutsies finished! and the first of the Supersocke Cotton socks

This is an example of what I mean - this post was originally written on 12 October and has waited patiently in the draft folder for a week!

After two months languishing on needles waiting for the grafting [Kitchener stitch] the Tofutsies socks are finally finished. And so is the cold weather I think!! LOL

I wore the Tofutsies socks on Friday - I didn't like the feel of hand-knitted socks under the soles of my feet. They're knitted in stocking stitch - does anyone have suggestions? It never occurred to me that I wouldn't like hand-knitted socks; I've bought more yarn for at least another three pairs! What can I do?

I have also finished the first of my Supersocke Cotton socks for SSoS and cast on the second sock. No sss for me*!

*sss = second sock syndrome
SSoS = Southern Summer of Socks

Southern Summer of Socks Ready? Set? No go??

The Southern Summer of Socks KAL started on Monday 1 October. How many pairs of socks do I have on the go?

None! That's right!! She who was sock obsessed just a month ago has no socks on the needles. Why?

Three distractions:

First, there was Rugz4Kidz. The rug arrived here last Thursday. In theory I have two weeks to knit 7cm and I was considering using acrylic [to lighten the overall weight] and doing a lace pattern. Because I was still undecided, I paid her little heed. On Monday, her cries for attention could not be ignored; and somehow I knitted a stranded colour pattern in wool! I got her finished more quickly than I expected and she's impatiently waiting to strut her stuff for the camera before heading off to Donni in Wollongong.

Once Rugz was finished, Clapotis started to whimper, then started in with those long heavy sighs, and I just had to cast on! Even if it was late at night and time for bed! She wasn't giving me any rest until I completed at least section #1. On Tuesday afternoon I finished section #2. But, at bedtime, she whispered: "Just a few rows of section #3, you know you want to see what happens when you drop those stitches! It's only eight rows!"

Despite the thickness of the yarn, the weight of the wrap and the unseasonably hot weather [it's never too hot to knit remember!!] - Clapotis keeps calling, she won't leave me alone! Maybe if I took her off the lounge and hid her... LOL
Anyway, I have a deadline to get it from Penrith to Newcastle by 15 October.

Yesterday, it was the lace wrap - "block me, block me" she screamed from the lounge. I succumbed - and she looks wonderful. She's ready for a second blocking but, since she's quiet, it can wait till tomorrow.

Block more than once, I hear you ask. I'm told by a knitting guru [at the Guild] that blocking several times will teach the knitting what shape it's supposed to be so that it won't reduce to its unblocked size when the recipient washes it!

I'm off now, to cast on those socks. Online Supersocke Cotton is calling to be turned into a pair of toe up socks with short row shaped heels - challenges #1 and #2! Bring it on!!!!

Be quiet, Clapotis, or I'll put you in a cupboard!

Southern Summer of Socks KAL

I've joined the Southern Summer of Socks KAL. Shouldn't be too difficult, considering my current addiction to socks! LOL

I'm also hooked on lace at the moment, so lace socks? Maybe I'll try Lacy or Fancy Feet. Anyone know any other good lace sock patterns?

My first goal is to knit a pair of toe-up socks for me. Pattern? Probably my usual basic pattern from Lynne Vogel's The Twisted Sister Sock Workbook. I may consider knitting socks on two circulars, and perhaps two socks on two circulars. I've tried both these techniques at the Guild workshops but prefer my dpns.

I have only two balls of sock yarn in my stash but yesterday I ordered Cascade Fixation in two colourways [Plum and Wisteria] so soon I'll have four! Not that the amount of sock yarn I own counts, I knitted seven pair of socks for charity in 8ply acrylic between June and August! I can almost see the end of my acrylic stash but there may be one or two more pair of socks before it's over!

I've also [jokingly] told Bells that I knit sock dolls - they are knitted on dpns, include increases, decreases and grafting [Kitchener stitch]. Like socks heels, the face and the rest of the head are knitted flat and then joined again to continue working in the round. These dolls are socks without heels!! LOL

And, if you haven't seen the SSS KAL blog, tell me please: what's your favourite sock book and why?

Socks! Socks! Socks!

Some time ago - just a few months actually - I was sure I would never knit socks. Why knit socks when you can buy them for $2 a pair? WM even gets his free as part of his uniform! But I was intrigued by the idea and seduced by the beautiful colourful socks in Lynne Vogel's The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook. I borrowed that from the Guild library to read about dyeing and colour theory but got sucked into socks!

I knitted the first pair from 8ply acrylic. I was curious to see how the new Effects range from Carnival would knit up in a sock. Very nice! The photo's a bit green, but I needed to bump it up to reproduce the colours more accurately.

WM saw that first pair and wanted some. He can only wear them on Sundays because he works six days a week and has to wear regulation issue socks! Here's his first pair. They are knitted from Heirloom Jigsaw colour #26.

If he can only wear handknitted socks one day a week, why did he need a second pair? Here they are - Heirloom Jigsaw colour #29.



I was addicted but WM didn't need any more handknitted socks, and DD refused to consider the idea! I wear conservative black or brown socks and didn't even think about a pair for me! So, it was back to the charity knitting. This has advantages: warmth is the issue so 8ply is a good thickness, and 8ply knits up quickly; I could try all kinds of stitch patterns; and whatever size I knit them, the socks will always fit someone!

First off the rank: a brown fair isle pair which, like the blue pair, knitted up very softly considering the size 3.25mm needles [8 ply is usually knitted on 4mm]. Then I cast on a pair of navy socks in a beautiful soft acrylic I bought in Spotlight for just $2 a skein. I knitted those socks while staying with my parents for a few days. Mum loved them so much I gave them to her [before I took a photo]. She assured me she would only keep them for 'good' and would handwash them! Mum, they're acrylic! Throw them in the machine and when they're worn out I'll knit you another pair!!

Another navy pair followed, this time in stocking stitch, which didn't photograph well. Then a black pair in a moss stitch rib, shown here in close up. This pattern is similar to the one I used for mum's socks - for her it was broken rib [also known as mistake rib]. And then, another pair of black socks in a rib pattern.

Then came the experiment with different coloured toes and heels which was not as successful as I would have liked! Think I'll stick to single yarns in future!

These socks are mostly in dark colours because they will be going to homeless people and somehow I just think dark colours would be more useful. They're acrylic because it's inexpensive for me and hardwearing for the wearer - and acrylic doesn't need careful handwashing and blocking!

That's nine pairs of socks in three months! Oh yeah, I have the tenth pair of socks [from Tofutsies yarn] on the needles waiting to be grafted [Kitchener stitch] and they're for me! :-) The only reason they're not finished is because I'm not sure if the foot length is right - I don't want to graft, sew in the ends and then find they're the wrong size! Any suggestions for getting a good fit while there are still needles in the toes?

Now I've learnt how to do a provisional cast-on, I won't have the above problem any more because I'm going to try toe-up socks. And, to feed my addiction, I've joined Bells and RoseRed for the Southern Summer of Socks KAL. Why don't you join us too?