Knitting Socks

Time to finally knit up the yarn (wool) I dyed last year. Only took a year to get to this stage...LOL
This is what it looked like after the first session...then I decided I wanted more blue and definitely darker, so I dyed it again. I used food colouring and basically used all the blue I had and was much happier with the result.

I used Sock-Ease by Lion Brand. Colour way 'Marshmallow' which is near white.

Doing my version of TAAT (TwoAtATime)- two sets of needles, two balls of yarn. Works for me...

Also I divided the fresh skein of yarn into two, by weighing it, and then dyed the yarn side by side by dipping the strings together. So although the 2 balls are similar, they are not the same and that is exactly what I was going for. It is interesting to see how it is striping and how different it looks.

After about 1.5" of k2p2 ribbing I did about 3.5" of double moss stitch. I wanted a texture, without a pattern and I am very happy with the way it is looking.

Turning the heels

I like the look of the gusset and the reinforced heel area. It also makes a bit of a cushion under the heel.

Unfortunately my camera panics at the sight of all this blue...

I am very pleased with how these turned out and how the fit so well. I think I'll keep to the same formula for the next pair, maybe just changing up the pattern stitch area.

This last picture is also pretty close to accurate on the colour.

I knitted along with Jana from Purl Together, following her on YouTube.

Knitting - Socks

Finally - the socks are done. In the end I knitted more than 2 socks what with taking out, changing the plans etc and decided to stay with the 2.25mm needles.

I ended up going with The Moccasin Toe by Donna Druchunas on Craftsy.
Craftsy had a time of free access to their classes, which I took advantage of, in early March. I don't know what the alternate name for this style of toe would be. So far I have not been able to find another example of it. I definitely like knitting it, and assume that it will wear just fine.

And here is the toe, side and top view, on the finished socks.

The heel I did in German short rows. I like the way Arne (Arne & Carlos) explained how he knits them. Personally I like his no fuss, no nonsense approach to knitting. Here is the video

For the leg bit I decided on a k4, p2 rib. I like the look better than the k1,p1. I made the ribbed area quite long and with the right side showing. On the picture I folded the cuff over but in real life I never do that, so knitted the rib accordingly.

All done and ready to be worn. With spring taking it's good time to show up, I will be getting use out of these before long!

I think one should be careful with knitting socks. It is the sort of thing that could become a bit of a habit. Fortunately, like a good pair of mittens, they will make great gifts!

I'm looking forward to knitting my next pair!

Knitting - Socks

It's been decades, literally, since I've knitted socks. It just never seemed important enough to take the time to knit those when one can buy then and I figured I'd rather spend the time knitting for the boys when they were little and lately knitting scarves and mittens and goodies like that, but the wanting to knit socks again has been lurking in the background so at the end of last year I bought some yarn from Michael (Sock-Ease) and figured I'd give it a go again. Never got to it though until February!

First time doing toe-up. I like the idea of simply dividing a skein of yarn in 2, then start knitting and stop when the yarn runs out at the leg. I hate the idea of knitting a sock only to run out of yarn a few rows from finishing the toes.

I used a pattern for a basic sock. Nothing fancy while I figure out the sizing. I used this pattern on Ravelry as my starting point and am pleased with how it turned out. However it is too big for me so I did not cast off at the leg. The yarn did not turn out looking as nice as I had hoped. But it isn't exactly ugly either.

Next I decided to knit a 12 sts swatch just to see how that would look and what the gauge difference is. I do like the resulting weave I got so am thinking of changing the needle size first.

Here is the swatch on top of the sock, The yarn wrapper calls for 2.75mm needles. The sock was knitted with 2.25mm and the swatch with 2mm. That is quite a difference!

Anyhow, I'll make comparisons and careful measurements and see how it goes. I do have a ball of beautiful purple sock yarn waiting for me too...

Warm Winter Feet

These are the snuggliest socks!

I found the pattern here : Bulky Yarn Booty, (the pattern is free btw!)and admittedly, they don't look like much at first glance, but when you slip them on, they are just perfect!

See what a nice shape they have? Also  although the ankle rib fits snuggly, it is not tight and slips over the heel very easily. I was concerned that it might be a bit awkward to pull over, so I was very relieved about that.

The yarn I used is Bernat 'Roving' which I found at my local Walmart. It's a lovely yarn, soft, silky and warm. I bought 3 colours for the main 'boots' (1 skein each) and a neutral grey for the finishing. It worked out really well and with 3 colours, the recipients will have no problem knowing which is theirs when these come out of the wash!

Best of all - with the bulky yarn and the easy pattern, these are super super quick to knit.

Go ahead and give them a try! Bulky Yarn Booty