Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label amazon. Show all posts

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Socks for Everyone (except Dad) - Yay!!!


This will be known as the sock post!  I knit up three lovely pairs of socks recently, and for some reason, hand-knit socks make me so happy - especially when the socks are for Camden and Tiberius.  Something about wee hand-knit socks on little kids....

My fancy socks are the Kai Mei pattern by Cookie A.  (She is well-known for her awesome patterns, but maybe most famous (aha!) for the Monkey Sock, which is a free pattern - and which I have yet to knit.)  Kai Mei can be found in her book, Sock Innovation.  (THIS link on Amazon shows that you may have to buy it used, though I'm sure it can be found new SOMEwhere, LOL.....It is also available on Kindle).  I have knit one of her patterns before, but I can't, for the life of me, find a picture...and the socks were a gift for a friend.  There is errata for this pattern.  You can find a link on the pattern page on Ravelry and go from there.  In this case, where the pattern comes from a book, I just pen the correct information directly onto the page in the book.


The pattern is very easy, and with this particular pair of socks, I wanted to do them concurrently, sort of - LOL....I did the leg portion of each one first, before going back to the first sock to finish it.  I never cut the yarn, nor did I have to balls with which to work, so, I just knit from either end of the cake.

The yarn is Black Trillium Fibers, though I am only sort of sure the base is Pebble Sock, and I can't recall the colorway name at all, though surely the tag is somewhere in this house....It is a gorgeous blue with purple sort of peeking through.  I purchased it years ago, and I'm glad I finally used it!  The socks did take forever, though, in terms of the fact that I knit the legs months ago and only just got back to finishing them...like I seem to do with adult socks.  I stuck with the original cast-on amount, as that is a good number for me, and I did add a repeat at the end - and added a few stitches for my bunion on the right sock.  Of course.
Awesome!
As for Tiberius's sock, I can't remember the name of this yarn, either, as it seems it was an "extra" with something...I think it came with one of my Knit Purl sock club installments back in the day.  I do know I purchased the orange at a local yarn store...why I purchased one 50 gram skein, I have no idea, but it works for heels and toes, eh?  For his socks - and Camden's - I used Knitting Pure and Simple Easy Children's Lightweight Sock pattern, which is a paper pattern I'd picked up at a LYS back in the day.  I love that I can use this pattern for them through part of elementary school!  Camden's sock was knit using the orange and the Madelinetosh sock yarn used in socks I knit for Tiberius before he was born.  I will totally be able to get one more pair out of this yarn, I am hoping....we will see!  Even if it's just heels and toes for a sock for ME, LOL.

Tiberius's socks took six whole days, but Camden's seemed to drag on a bit...apparently, 52 stitches, as opposed to 44, is a difference of a MILLION :O  They took almost a month, but they ARE pretty stinkin' cute.  I'm noticing, though, especially with her socks, that my row gauge, as is always the case, seems especially tight when my STITCH gauge is on.  It isn't a big deal, normally - except that we have a whole instep to consider.  I really think I need to start lengthening the heel flap because of this.  I did lengthen it a row or two on Camden's socks, but it probably needs to be more like four rows longer.  The socks fit great around her foot and around her ankle/leg, but getting them up and over is a pain.  I'm sure a soaking will loosen them up a bit, but something I need to remember, anyway.
Chubbs!
I LOVE these!

On another note....poor Matt needs hand-knit socks.  I started some for him years ago....and have basically ripped them out and need to start over.  Sad times.  Soon enough!!!

And more family shenanigans....
Rock piles....good times
Seriously
For real....
His sister has a bike.  The end.
Good 'ole family reading time
Poor kitty...


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wool Socks....Score! Just in Time for Summer!!!

I am MORE excited than anyone can possibly know!  I'm done with my Basket Weave Rib Socks by Sarah Ronchetti of Sezza Knits.  Strangely, this felt like QUITE the undertaking.  I have done SEVERAL pairs of baby/toddler socks, but I've only ever completed ONE pair for myself.  I've been WANTING to knit socks for myself, but I always find more important things to work - namely clothing for Camden, aha!

Clearly NOT as excited as I am!

The pair I did for myself several years ago was the Knitting Pure and Simple Lightweight Sock Pattern, and it's lovely enough, though I know better now that I'm not into a gathered-close toe finish, so, if I did a vanilla (all stockinette) sock again in the future, I'd finish it with a kitchener or something else equally as awesome, LOL.  This first pair of socks I made myself were knitted out of Misty Alpaca fingering weight yarn, and they fit nicely, actually.



As for this new pair, I knit it out of Black Trillium (Ravelry group) 100% superwash merino (Pebble sock base) in the Cherry colorway, though this colorway is so NOT a real red to me, aha!  I bought it yearsssss ago, and there are SO MANY BT colorways I wish I could have - of course!
Good times taking pictures of socks on your OWN feet!




These are SOCKS, for the love of my grandmother, so, there aren't too many exciting things to report, BUT.  I did do the basic gusset decrease/heel flap, and I knit cuff-down on size 000 needles (YES, you read that right...TRIPLE ZERO.  EFF my loose gauge, people!).  I purchased Karbonz DPNs from HERE on Amazon.  It was my first time using them, and they definitely have a little more give than a steel needle (my Hiya Hiyas), but they worked pretty well - debating getting a second set each of 000 and 00.

I know there are tons of fancy ways to do heels these days, but I like the standard heel flap, LOL.  I'm not sure I'm an old dog, needing to learn new tricks right now.  I have huge calves, though, so, I did the leg at 5 inches, rather than 6, as I worried about the ribbing fitting if I knit them any longer.  I also did a 2 by 2 rib, rather than a 1 by 1, as I like how it looks better.


As for the toe finish, I decreased to 8 stitches per needle on one foot and 10 stitches per needle on the other (right) foot.  It was sort of an experiment, to see how it'd fit, but I guess my toe box isn't as pointed as I pretended it was, LOL.  So, I'll do 12 next time - and make sure to do the toe box longer.  Also, I DID add 4 stitches to the foot near my bunion (totally guesstimated the first food and waited too many rows, so, I remedied that for my second sock, which will forever be my right-foot sock) for a little more ease.  I am thinking I should make the foot a tad longer next time I do a pair of socks for myself.

Otherwise, the pattern is lovely and easy/straightforward.  There are three sizes, and it's a FREE pattern, so double bonus!!!  (Or triple, aha!)


.... Speaking of, I would LOVE to do a pair of socks this month, too, but I don't know if I should do a practice shawl in preparation for doing a shawl KAL in the MarigoldJen group in July.  If I do this, I will be using a Colinette Tao silk base for the Beithe shawl by Susanna IC.  Not sure my silk will do the pattern design justice, but we can always hope for the best!  LOL.
Beithe

Some socks I'm NEEDING to do in the near future (and by that, I mean SOME DAY, aha!):
Think Spring

Dragonstone

Walk Now