While I was in Maine I did manage to get in some sock knitting. I even finished two pairs!

Gift Socks #1 – Summer of Socks Pair #4

Pattern: Plain stockinette toe up sock.

Yarn: Austerman Step (No idea on the colorway)

Needles: Size 1 addis

Knit: 6/17-8/10/2007

Yes indeed, I am already thinking about Christmas gifts and that is exactly what these will probably end up being. As you can see, these are definitely not my colors, but I think the recipient will find them to their liking. This is pretty much my usual pattern, which has gotten a few tweaks as of late.

Incidentally, I really loved working with the yarn. Maybe the whole deal of it being infused with Jojoba oil is a crock, maybe it’s not, but it is soft and strong and really lovely to work with. As you saw in the last post, I bought three more skeins, so it definitely grew on me! Now if only I had paid more attention to the stripes, maybe they would have matched. Ah well… I think they will still be appreciated.

If you really want to know who these are for, you can check my page for the project on Ravelry.

Purple Herring – Summer of Socks Pair #5

Pattern: Red Herring from Knitty.

Yarn: Tess supersocks and baby. 1 ball purple and 1 ball of black

Needles: Size 2 addis for the colorwork, size 1 for the foot and heel.

Knit: 8/1-8/13/2007

My first top down socks of the summer. I really enjoyed doing this pattern. It was interesting enough that I had to pay attention, but intuitive enough that I was able to memorize it for the second sock.

I modified the pattern slightly by using a size smaller needle to knit the foot. I prefer a sturdy fabric for my socks and it was just going to be too loose if I stayed with the size 2 needle. I switched needle sizes just a few rows after I put in the waste yarn for the afterthought heel.

I’m still not crazy about this type of heel, but it’s about the only way to get the heel to be a different color in the manner that the pattern calls for and I do like the use of the different color for the toes and heels. I think the toe came out quite nicely as written.

And I must say again that I absolutely loved working with this yarn. It has a good bit of stretch and is soft and oh so nice to work with. The dyeing is quite nicely done as well. You can see some slight variations in the purple in the picture of the cuff and while some might call that a flaw, I actually like it. I’m also a big fan of the yardage. After knitting this pair, I may almost have enough to do a second pair just like them if I reverse the colors. Not sure I’ll do that any time soon, but I always like to have plenty of yarn. I’m disappointed that I couldn’t secure some more while I was in Maine. I could get some at Stitches East, but I’m seriously thinking that I probably shouldn’t go to that considering it is the weekend before Rhinebeck (anyone want to bring back some sock yarn for me? ). Then again, can you really have too much of a good thing? Like socks?!?!

This puts me one pair away from my goal of 6 for the along. Not bad considering it feels like I’ve been very busy and distracted this summer. These will also qualify as my August submission to Sock a Month 4 (which I joined a while back and have yet to mention, much less get the button on the blog). If you haven’t had a look at that group, please do! Many beautiful socks being shown over there! I do of course have another pair (or two!) on the go again already. But you’ll have to wait for another day to see them.

Especially when they are knit mostly from handspun yarn!

Handspun Socks

Pattern: My usual toe up pattern with the exception of the use of an afterthought heel

Yarn: Dale Baby Ull for toes and heels, my own handspun for the rest (dyed fiber purchased from the Little Barn during Rhinebeck 2006)

Needles: size 1 addi turbos

Knit: 1/28-4/25/2007

It certainly took me long enough to finally finish these, but it still feels like a good accomplishment. My yarn works!! These are the first thing I’ve ventured to knit with all the yarn that I’ve been making and they came out pretty well. It is amazing how knitting at a tight gauge makes the yarn look better! I still decided to play it a bit safe and used commercial yarn for the toes and heels since the heels especially seem to get felted quickly on HWJF’s socks. We’ll see if that was a wise decision as time goes on. The fabric on these came out nice and cushy while still appearing to be fairly strong, so I’m hoping these will be enjoyed for some time to come.

The afterthought heel was new for me. I’m not particularly in love with the technique, mostly because taking out the waste yarn to open up the seam where the heel will end up is a bit of a pain, but I’m glad I gave it a try. It also amounts to a short row heel which is also not a favorite for me, but the recipient doesn’t seem to mind.

More on the Entrelacs

In a somewhat related topic, I wore my Entrelac Socks extensively and in shoes on Sunday. I’m happy to report that the patterning on the soul of the foot really wasn’t troublesome. I half expected to get huge blisters or something, but that wasn’t the case. While I did notice the texture, it didn’t make my feet sore or bother me. I didn’t exactly walk 100 miles in them, but I think they do pass the wearability test. I also think that a loftier yarn than the Dale Baby Ull might have minimized the feeling on the bottom of the foot even more. Maybe I’ll have to knit another pair sometime in another yarn to find out.

And more spinning

I also thought I’d share the results of sending my finished but not very nicely plyed yarn back through the wheel:

Definitely better. Not perfect, but better.

There is more sock knitting news on my needles right now but you’ll have to wait on that. Expect a big announcement in the next couple of days. See you then!

Pattern: Toes and heels from this pattern, cuff ribbing from Sensational Knitted Socks p. 37 Garter Rib

Yarn: Regia

Needles: Size 1 addi turbos

Gauge: 9 sts to the inch

Knit: 6/21 – 7/22/06

Another picture of a happy guy with his new socks. Despite the fact that the weather was in the 80s yesterday, HWJF just *had* to wear his new wool socks to work! Now that’s a satisfied customer!! I on the other hand am… well… freekin’ glad they are D-O-N-E. I once read about how colors have vibrations and that people are attracted to certain colors because they vibrate well for them and their aura (and now, of course, I can’t find anything about this phenomenon so I probably sound a bit deranged). Well let me just tell you, this color of Regia did NOT vibrate well with me. By the time the first sock was done I was totally sick of looking at it. I had to start something that was completely the opposite just so I could spell my extreme dislike for these colors. Hence the purple cable socks I posted previously. They were like a refuge from the green and brown hell on size 1 needles I was living. But I love my guy and he loves his socks so the suffering was worth it. Here’s a better pic of the socks themselves:

I’ve started two new pairs in colors I am much happier about which I will show you all soon!

I finished these up on the way back from our trip to Long Island on Saturday. We went to visit my grandfather and HWJF got to meet the family for the first time. It was a nice day and since I hadn’t seen any of my extended family since Christmas, it was well over due. The funniest part of the day was driving there. I was totally confused during the whole trip. Instead of names like TappanZee and Whitestone we were faced with Verrezano and Goethels. I’ve never lived “south” of anything before so it was a very new experience for me. The best part was the fact that instead of taking 3 hours it only took an hour and a half. Definitely a bit of a change.

On the way home we saw this boat:

It apparently had docked in NYC because it had tipped over on its side while out a sea. I didn’t find that out until I watched the news Sunday morning.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and making another pizza:

The main discovery here? It’s WAY easier to roll out pizza dough when you have a rolling pin!

Edit: Oh yeah. Almost forgot. I got promoted to Senior Librarian as of today too.

(They really are Purple. Dark Purple in fact. I just can’t seem to get a good pic of the color to save my life though.)

Pattern: Yarn Over Cable on p.43 of Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

Yarn: Cascade Fixation

Needles: Size 3 addi turbos

Knit: 7/11-7/19/2006

Specs: Short row toe and heel from the same book. 7 stitches to the inch using 50 stitches total.

Three words. So. Freekin’. Cute. I don’t know why but I am just totally enamored by these little cables on these oh so stretchy socks! This combination of yarn and pattern worked out really well in my opinion. I thought several times while knitting this that doing this pattern with regular yarn could have been a real pain (you have to psso over two stitches) but with the amazing stretch of fixation it wasn’t a problem. I also decided to give the short row toe and heel another go with these. I think the toe is just fine but I also think the only reason why the short row heel is comfortable on these is because of the nature of the yarn. Expect to see more combinations of short row toe and traditional heel flap on my socks in the future.

I am planning my next pair to be from this same book. I may just spend the whole summer doing socks from one book from the looks of things. I’m definitely going to get my money’s worth out of this one. You should also expect to see more Fixation type socks on the needles. It was such a nice change from Regia to knit with this yarn. So soft and easy feeling through the fingers! I have been reading a lot about Elann’s Esprit being very similar. Anyone care to share your experiences? I’ve heard many good things about Elann in general but I’ve never ordered anything from them myself.

By the way, I’ve updated my Finished Objects 2006 page if you care to have a look.
We have another farmer’s market run and a short trip planned this weekend. Hope you have a great one!

[Since we are still putting stuff away here in the new Chez Zarzuela and it isn't quite ready for "prime time" allow me to distract you with a post about the heel of my latest socks.]

My first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks was actually finished last Thursday night but I have one more thing to tell you about them before they make their FO debut on the blog. I decided when I came up with the Summer sockalong idea that I wanted to use this time as a chance to try new things. One of those things was some of the patterns from “Sensational Knitted Socks” by Charlene Schurch. I’m sure you are probably familiar with the book at this point since so many other bloggers have talked about it. Since I was using a self striping yarn I picked a chevron pattern and my new technique was to be the “In-Place Afterthought or Forethought Heel”. Looked simple enough. I figured why not.

Well. Can I just say that this particular heel will not be gracing my socks again? There. Said it. The results are nice but the process is so fidely and just a pain in the ass that I just don’t think I could knit this heel a third or fourth time. Without telling you all the instructions and thereby encouraging the copyright police to come knocking on my door (heh…if they could find me!) this heel involves knitting the cuff, casting on stitches provisionally, knitting those stitches in the round along with one half of the sock stitches while the other half rests, and then using kitchener stitch to join the two sides of the heel together.

First problem: this book is written for either dpns or two circs. I prefer to use magic loop and one circ which means that at some point the resting stitches need to go on to waste yarn themselves in order for you to be able to knit the other half of the cuff stitches. Result: PITA.

Second problem: Using this technique means you have to take the yarn out of the other end of the ball in order to match the stripes. What the book doesn’t say however, is that in order for the stripes to truly match, you not only have to find the right point in the repeat, but you have to make sure that you are using it from the proper direction or you’ll essentially be doing it backwards. For example, if you stripes are being knitted red, black, pink, purple and you find that area of the repeat from the other end of the ball and don’t wind it up to use it in reverse order, your stripes will come out purple, pink, black, red. Result: PITA.

Third problem: Using this technique means that you will have more ends to weave in since you have to go use another part of the skein. This also means that if you don’t have enough yarn, you may run out because of all the cutting. Result: Double PITA.

After all this messing around you end up with something that has about eleventy billion ends hanging out whilst you try and knit and not start using the wrong part of the yarn. It looks something like this:

Yikes I say. And in the final result, I really don’t find it all that comfortable. It’s much better now that I am properly executing the kitchener stitch, but I don’t find that it leaves enough depth in that area of my foot to be extremely comfortable. To me, it isn’t worth all the fuss. So in the end, I have learned something new and I am happy for that. But I don’t think I’ll be using it again. So what does it look like in the finished product? Next time my friends!

P.S. Hope you all of my U.S. readers have a very happy and safe 4th of July!