skein

Spring Forward socks

Pair number 8 for sos08 finished!

Pattern: Spring Forward
Yarn: Indie Dyer (shade is Tulips)
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Started: 19th July
Finished:26th July

Another great pattern. These are super easy and, in my opinion, look very effective when knitted.  The yarn is very similar to Fleece Artist, though mosgt of the shades I've seen have been more variegated than this shade. 

My next sock is going to be a plain one with variegated yarn.  I've set aside for SOS08 lots of variegated which might not show up as well in patterns, so now's the time to start some busy socks!

Trystero Socks

Pair number 7 for SOS08 finished.

Trystero by Cookie A.
Started: 19th July
Finished: 26th July
Yarn: Knitwitches sock yarn in shade Storm Foam
Needles: 2.25mm circular.

A lovely pattern, and lovely yarn.

Here's a close up of the cabling and travelling stitches.

I thought this might be a complicated pattern, but in fact it has a logic to it and I learnt the chart fairly quickly.   My second Cookie A pattern (first one was Monkey in Knitty).

Now to sort out pair # 8.

An odd pair for SOS08

How time flies!  I've not had an opportunity to take blog photos (and the sock knitting has been slow), and suddenly it's Friday.  I've just dashed outside before the light goes to get a quick photo of my SOS08 progress.

This week I haven't completed a pair of matching socks, but I have completed a pair of odd socks.
These are Trystero and Spring Forward.
 

 

knitted in Knitwiches sock yarn and Indie Dyer sock yarn respectively.

Tonight I'm going to try to finish one pair of matching socks, and will work my fingers to the bone on the second pair tomorrow, I'm falling behind my personal goal!

SOS08 Spring Forward and Trystero

I suppose these are pairs 8 and 9.  Pair 7 is unfinished (Switchback) but I do intend working on them this week sometime.

So far these two new pairs are going well.
1) not too small
2) no violent pooling

I wanted to knit a leg on each before I blogged  this time.

Spring Forward

Pattern: Spring Forward
Yarn: Indie Dyer in colour Tulips bought at Woolly Workshop.
Started: Saturday 19th Jully

The pattern is very easy to memorise.  The yarn is gorgeous. I had to check the label, as it reminds me of Fleece Artist's sock yarn.  

Trystero

Pattern: Trystero by Cookie A.
Yarn: Knitwitches sockyarn.
Started: Saturday 19th Jully.

Another great pattern and this yarn is divine. It's a blend of Bluefaced Leicester and nylon, and is wonderfully soft.  It's been a bit of a problem with all of those twisted stitches though, the yarn is a little slippery, and I've had to resort to a dpn for a cable needle (yes I have stacks, but I usually grab the first thing to hand if I need to use one_.

I can't decide which one to work on this evening, they're both such pleasant knits!

Trekking dk socks

What, two posts in two days? 

Trekking dk socks (told you I'd finish them last night)

Pattern:  Top down, 3x1 ribbed leg.  52 stitches.
Needles: 3mm dpns.
Yarn: Trekking 6-fach (dk), shade 1808, a brown mix.
Started: 14th July
Finished: 17th July
That's three evenings!  We went out on Wednesday for a cruise up the Thames, lots of cider and wine consumed, no knitting at all.

I needed to get a pair of socks finished this week after my disastrous choices, and these fit the bill exactly. 
After I'd finished these last night, I had another look at the Switchback socks.  I've cut the yarn of sock #1 (which is about 4" down the foot now) and have cast on sock #2.   I'm going to knit this leg, then do a different heel (which will mean I'll have to frog  some of sock #1 back to the start of the heel) - probably either a short row heel, or, more likely, an afterthought heel, so, if I run out of yarn, I can have heels and toes in a different shade. I'm 85% confident that if I do knit the heels and toes with different yarn I'll have enough.  Next time I'm using 2.25mm not 2mm needles. How on earth could I not notice that I was knitting on smaller needles?

I'm not going to start any more socks until Saturday.  This time I'll try to do a little more thinking before I pull out a project.  I have at least three patterns I've resisted so far, and I'm sure one of these will be the next SIP.

I blogged too soon.

Having had a bad weekend with my sock projects, I thought I'd done ok in choosing pairs six and seven, and happily blogged about them on Monday.

Not so!

On Monday at work I weighed pair number six, the Switchback socks. Yes, I'm going to run out of yarn!  It's Regia, and usually the yardage is just enough for a man's pair of socks, but in this instance, not.  I think my ball is less than 100g, and my 2.25mm dpns are, in fact, 2mms.  I like the fabric though, it's very firm.  So these
are on hold whilst I decide whether to buy another ball or knit matching toes.  I like them a lot, and think they won't be frogged.

And these ones

are frogged.  Well not frogged, but off the needles and the yarn is cut.   I tried them on on Monday evening and couldn't get them over my instep. 

Summer of Socks week starts each Saturday, so, for this past week I've not knitting any socks!

Fortunately, I'd ordered a bag of Trekking yarn from Astrid's Dutch Obsession, and it arrived on Monday.  I've pulled out the one ball of dk and am knitting away on a very plain sock for Chris. These are a very quick knit and are now pair number six.  I hope to finish these tonight.

I've managed to knit this much in two evenings and one lunchtime. Not bad!

SOS Pairs 6 and 7 (works in progress)

This post should also include pairs 8,9 and 10.  I spent the entire Saturday knitting on pairs 8 and 9.  Morning, afternoon and evening (with the weekly shop and some basic housework thrown in) and then frogged them on Sunday morning.  Yarn and patterns just didn't go together.  Of course, I gritted my teeth and worked two sock legs before packing in. 

Sunday I started pair #10.  It's a chevron pattern, and was working out well, until I held it up and thought 'hmmm, very snug'.  The chevrons looked lovely, pooling in a striped pattern, but when I checked my needles they were 2.25mm, too small for this pattern.  So I started them again. Great, wide enough. But the pooling isn't striped anymore, it's patchy.  I've not frogged them, but they're on hold.

So that leaves pairs 6 and 7.  Pair 6 was started last week, but it's not very appealing, after all of this yummy yarn. It's regia, a dark colour, and one of those ribbed patterns which travels.  I'm great for lace and cables, but knit-purl combinations usually leave me cold, and I'm always finding the odd purl stitch where it shouldn't be. 
I've gritted my teeth and worked the first leg.  I'm a bit concerned about running out of yarn though.  At the half way point I'd used about 30% of the yarn. I'm hoping my scales are wrong!

Mind you, this photo shows the pattern up very well!  I'm quite pleased with it.

My camera is being a lot more co-operative since I altered that awb! This is a close match to the colour of the yarn.

Pair #7 have been started too.
It's the Nutkin pattern, using Violet Green Stroud Wool, with a 2.5mm circular.

I'm going to forget about a third pair this week, as I've had such bad luck choosing, and concentrate on finishing at least one more pair!

Twining Leaves Lace Socks

These are are fifth pair of socks for SOS08.

Pattern:  Twining Leaves Lace Socks by Evelyn Clark.
Yarn: Shibui sock, bought at Stash.
Needles: 2.5mm dpns.
Started: 29th June
Finished: 12th July
A lovely knit, the pattern's clear and easy to understand, there's charted and written instructions.  It can be purchased as a download from her site. 
I very much enjoyed knitting with Shibui. It's gorgeous, a wonderful soft, springy yarn.

I found out this evening why my camera is taking such washed out photos, it's due to some scale (awb I think) which was on the + side.  The photo above was taken before I discovered this., and the one below afterwards.

What a difference!  This is a truer colour, though it's also showing up the mad pooling.  In the skein and wound up it looks pretty solid. 

A close up of the lace pattern (very easy to memorise)

I've spent all day today knitting sock #7 (6 is already started but boring) - and I'm not sure if I'll keep it yet.  The last two  pairs have been knitted with gorgeous yarn, and this one's just a wool/nylon mix, I'm spoilt!   I'll keep going and see how it progresses, so far I've not had any major ripping out and I'm trying to stick to the pattern and yarn combinations I chose before the start of SOS.

Firestarter socks

Fourth pair of SOS08 socks finished!

Pattern: Firestarter by Yarnissima
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Louet Gems Merino
Needles: 2.5mm dpns
Started: 5th July
Finished: 10th July
Modifications: none (well I changed the method of short row shaping - wrap and turn - to Japanese short row shaping on sock #2)
This is a great toe up pattern, with just enough detail to alleviate boredom.  The twisted stitch pattern is a mere 7 row repeat, and 3 of those rows are just knit the knit and purl the purl rows.  Very easy to memorise. 
My one complaint?  If you haven't spotted it yet is that the two skeins of yarn are not identical, hence one sock is pinker than the other!  No problem, they're for me and I love 'em.

The details aren't as clear as in the previous post.  I think I need to ensure that I have daylight on one side and indoor light on the other. (I.e. take a photo at the door!)

Firestarter progress photos

One sock down and one started.  Another lovely pattern.

This is a toe up sock, with gusset and heel flap worked in reverse, and a pretty twisted stitch pattern on the foot and up the leg.  The pattern's free, and can be found here.

I'm amazed.  Today in London we've had torrential downpours,  and the day's been very gloomy. Yet I quickly grab the camera and try to take some photos standing at the door, holding the sock (not blocked, just off the needles) in one hand and snapping away with the other. 

And I have captured the pattern!
Here's the twisted sttich patterning on the foot, which is otherwise plain.

The gusset

And the leg

No second sock syndrome in this house!