Five pair!

These were giftie socks, started in August and done by Thanksgiving. No one read blogs, so I *could* have posted sooner, and in fact had every intention of doing so, but the picture sat on my camera until last night!so, without further ado, I give you five pair:
From left to right

• Louet Gems Sport in Linen, Cat Bordhi's Riverbed Master pattern, for the FIL's size 9 feet
• Louet Gems Fingering in Champagne, Cat Bordhi's Cedar Master Pattern, for Mom's size 8 feet
• Louet Gems Fingering in Teal, Beaded rib with short row heel, for the MIL's size 5s
• Louet Gems sport in Charcoal, Cedar Master pattern again, for grandpa's size 11s (!!)
• Lang Jawoll Color in faded lime, Embossed leaves pattern, for grandma's size 7s

I learned quite a bit making these. The Embossed leaves were the first, and I used the Italian Tubular cast on, which I plan on using again and again. It's fiddly, both to learn and use, but it looks so professional and doesn't bind AT ALL. Plus? Using Cat Bordhi's new book is so much fun! Really makes you think about how the sock can be put together. And they feel heavenly, what with the heel flap that doesn't need stitches picked up. And either of the cuff downs feel really nice on the ankle, too!
So, that makes eight pair completed for me this year. Not one every two months, but at least I met the total count! (I'm not counting the pair of Sockotta mit Bambou that I made over Thanksgiving and I can't locate in the laundry to photograph!) Thanks for the KAL! I had fun everyone!

The "mardi gras" socks

(as named by my husband)

These would have been done in under a week (hurray!!!) but I broke two of the DPNs so I put the project on hold while I awaited replacements...and ended up getting bored waiting (they were backordered) so I bought a set of Crystal Palace #2s and finished that last sock off so I could be done!

These are my absolute favorite pair so far--I love the way they fit, I love the short-row toe...LOVE them.

Pattern: adapted from the Priscilla's Dream Socks pattern in IK's Favorite Socks book (I used a heel flap to help them last longer and cast on 56 stitches but then decreased after the gusset down to 60). Next time I'll probably carry the ribbing down the instep.

Yarn: mediumweight Socks that Rock in Scottish Highlands (lots more purple in them than the thumbnail really shows)

Needles: Sox Stix #2s (and then supplemented with the Crystal Palace DPNs)

This was my first pair on DPNs and I actually really enjoyed it. I prefer the Crystal Palace needles, but do wish they were only 5" like the Sox Stix. For some reason that extra inch makes a difference!

Pair No. 3 - AKA, the "I Hate Sockotta Yarn and Finished These Socks Out of Pure Spite" socks

Catchy title, eh? This yarn was the first sock yarn I bought. I do still love the colors, and as I've mentioned before, I'm big into stripeys on my feet. :-) But I hated working with it. The first sock attempt I made with this yarn (my first sock ever, for that matter) was a total disaster. Well, unless you are Shaq. It probably would have fit a pro basketball player's foot. So I bought some different yarn and tried again. Then I came back to the Sockotta and made a different sock pattern, thinking maybe the pattern was the issue. It turned out OK. So I had a bigfoot size sock, and a slightly better sock of a different pattern. I ripped out the bigfoot sock and set the yarn ball aside because I had bought my lovely Austerman Step yarn and wanted to knit with it. After I finished that pair of socks, I picked up the Sockotta again to make the second sock of the pair. And I still hated it.

Yarn: Sockotta (in case you haven't noticed) in an unknown colorway.
Needles: Brittany DPS's, size 2
Pattern: Retro Rib from the Interweave Knits book. Love the book, Tracy!

Now I am going to cleanse my sock palette and knit some pretty pink socks with Tofutsies. I actually made a gauge swatch and everything. :-)

PS: No offense meant to anyone that loves Sockotta. I just personally didn't like it. :-) But that won't stop me from wearing my slightly oversized socks on a regular basis. Ha!

Finished pair! (1/6 done with the challenge)

Pattern: Diagonal rib from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Denim from Oldfield Creek Sock and Yarn

I originally planned to make these for my husband, but I was worried about running out of yarn, so they ended up a bit too short for him. He also wanted thicker, wear-around-the-house socks, so these are mine. I liked this pattern because it was different on the right and left foot, thus helping with second sock syndrome. The yarn is a pretty colorway and they feel nice on my feet.

Up next: my younger daughter Meredith convinced me to knit up my Tofutsies yarn for a pair of socks for her. Planning to try a toe-up pair.

One Sock Down

I have finished a sock. This is another pair of Austermann Step Jaywalkers, only I have made some modifications to the pattern based on my experiences with first pair. With them I found the ankle slightly tight and the foot slightly loose, so I went down a needle size and made the ankle in the larger sock size. When I got to the foot, I just did the double decrease on the first knit row to get down to the right number of stiches. I also carried the zig-zag pattern about halfway down the heel flap for better shaping. My last modification was to replace the ribbing with a ridge that would bend with the zig-zag. Initially I was pretty pleased with this change, but as I got farther along, I noticed it was curling too much. For the mate, I am trying a second row of all purl to see if that helps. In the meantime, I am contemplating the merits of a simple crochet edging to keep it from curling.

Yarn is Austermann Step in Erde (#12). Needles are size 0 Sox Stix. Pattern is Grumperina's Jaywalkers.

Pair No. 2

I love the colorway of these, but I don't think I'll be doing plain stockinette stitch for the body of the sock again. I got bored and was tempted to not finish the second sock. I love the self striping, though. I have another sock done in self striping yarn and did the retro rib pattern from the Interweave Knits book, and it got lost in the stripe. Thus, the reason for the stockinette socks this time. And this yarn has aloe vera in it - is that typical? The yarn is super soft and feels nice, albeit a bit slippery.

I am still getting ladders where I pick up the stitches on the gussett area ... any suggestions?

Needles: Brittany DPNs size 2 (3 of them)
Yarn: Austermann Step (I think this is the name?? the label is mostly in German) in Dune (11).
Pattern: The Yarn Harlot's "sock recipe" from diynetwork.com (also handy to have the episode tivo'd and be able to watch the parts that I have trouble with!)

Tofutsies

I had bought a skein of this yarn a couple of weeks ago, but left it at a friend's house. I saw her last night to get it back, so this is the sock yarn that will be up next on the needles. Looking for a pattern now. I'm not crazy about the free pattern on the tofutsies site, so I need to find something else. Let me know if you have any suggestions. These socks are for me!

My very first ever pair of socks!!

Yay, me! I think I have found the beginnings of a serious addiction here. I loved doing these! They are an Ann Norling pattern that I got at my local place (which I'm not going back to because they were rude yet AGAIN). The rude yarn lady told me I'd have enough yarn for 2 socks, which I didn't (a nifty little fact I learned after making the first one). And of course, they are out of the yarn they sold me. Of course. That lonely sock was a disaster, and is going to be unraveled so I can use the yarn for something else. But I digress. :-) Anyway, I stopped at another yarn store to try to find more of the yarn that the rude store was out of and the uber helpful lady looked at my disaster sock, gave me some nice tips and suggestions, and told me to try elasticized yarn for my first pair. So I picked out some elasticized yarn (Crystal Palace, I think? My Griffin-monster "organized" my yarn for me and the label is MIA) and this is what I got - yay! Can you tell I'm stoked? I've made my boys look at my feet a half dozen times already. Noah (my 6 yr old) was impressed that both socks were the same height. Of course, they are probably all just happy that I have 2 matching socks on and am not wearing the single knitted sock with whatever else I happen to grab out of the drawer.

I have the Sensational Socks book reserved at the library, so I'm excited to get it and start my next pair.

1 down. 11 to go...

The stupid pointy toe, short-row-heels-that-almost-killed me, ran-out-of-yarn-so-they're-way-shorter-than-I-like-handknit-socks-to-be socks are finished. I am so psyched to have these behind me. Actually, now that they're on my feet I'm really enjoying them, but I didn't enjoy knitting them. Kinda a disappointment all the way around.

I had to knit them on #3s (I would have preferred #2s) because I knew I wouldn't have enough yarn. I used Mountain Goat from Mountain Colors (unknown colorway--the skein was mis-marked), and the garter stitch rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. As it turns out I'm not so crazy about the garter stitch rib...I think I would have preferred regular ribs.

Umm...could I complain about these any more? :P

Here's a photo of my feet modeling them. It's a tough colorway to photograph, but I think that first photo captures it best. You should know that my feet aren't really fat. Dunno what is up with my photography skills today. ;)

But they're done. Wahoo! It's on to my next pair now...I'm actually thinking of trying a plain stockinette pair. I'm using some variegated yarn from Socks that Rock, and I always like the way the variegated yarn looks in stockinette on the sole of my socks. We'll see...I'm off to swatch it.

Finished Socks

I finally finished these socks last night - the pattern is Knitty's Pomatomus and the yarn is from angoravalley.com (lacewing sock - 100% superwash merino, color citrus). I started out on size 1 needles but had to rip them out and move up to size 2 because they were too tight. They took me 3+ weeks, which is about the quickest I've ever made a pair of socks. This pattern was really fun - clear, easy to follow and just a little challenging. I will probably be buying more of Cookie A's patterns soon. Now I have to go check my stash and decide what socks to make next.

heels turned, smooth sailing now.

I almost had a nervous breakdown, but the heels are finally done on my I-now-hate-them-so-much-I'll-never-want-to-wear-them socks.

Have any of you tried the short row method from SKS/MSKS? I might be missing something here, but isn't it horrible trying to purl three stitches together through their back loops? I ended up not using her method and trying the short row heel technique I linked in the "technique" sidebar...but I don't think I even did that one correctly. They've beat me, though--they're good enough and I'm pressing on. :P I can't wait to get back to my regularly scheduled top-down socks!

As for our KAL button, it's coming soon. DH got distracted with other more pressing things...like killing all the monsters in World of Warcraft.

Sockies

Here's my first sock of the KAL, which I actually finished last week. I still need to make the mate.

















The pattern is Pomatomus from Knitty, and the yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Seduction in Puck's Mischief. I. Love. This. Sock. So. Much. It's seriously just the best sock I've ever knit.

Next up...















Bayerische by Eunny Jang in Ruby Sapphire Luster Sock.

Socks in Progress...

Along with introductions, I thought we should start sharing what's currently on the needles!

These are my two-at-a-time socks that I'm making from Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn in an unknown colorway. I picked the garter rib stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks and am following the toe-up pattern from More Sensational knitted socks (that's one of my favorite parts about the books--you can pick a stitch from either book and plug it into the instructions in MSKS). So far, so good. I've done another couple inches since I took this photo--I'm nearing the heel.

It's my first short-row heel, so we'll see how long the "so far, so good" progress holds out!

What are you guys working on?