socks

Finished object number 7 – sucky socks which turned into unsucky socks

Posted on April 15, 2015April 15, 2015 by bekswhoknits

I hated knitting these socks.

Sure the yarn was squishy, the colours were pretty and the pattern was simple enough.

But the yarn was low twist so it kept a splitting, the colours pooled badly, and I stuffed up the pattern really early on in the sock and didn’t want to go back and change it.

So they’d been languishing on the needles for a while as I worked on other projects.

Then the needle I was using for Olivia broke (4th needle that has broken on that project!), the stitch pattern on the shawl I had on the needles wasn’t working for me, I didn’t feel like crochet and I didn’t want to start a new project.

I had already turned the heel (fish lips kiss style) so I picked them up again. Told myself that I would knit until the end of the football game and then bind off. By the end of the game they weren’t really long enough when I tried them on my foot but I was so sick of the bloody things I just wanted them finished and was not at all prepared to spend any time doing the usual ribbing required of a sock.

So on a whim I figured an I-cord bind off would add some extra length, plus give them a bit of extra stretch and stability around the ankle.

(The socks have been strategically photographed to not show off my giant pattern fail!)

I freakin LOVE these socks now!!!!

The fit perfectly under low topped converse which I practically live in.

I don’t mind the mistakes because they’re under a shoe, and the icord bind off makes the yarn colours look great.

I am definitely going to use this bind off for socks more often now. Plus no time consuming ribbing.

FO#24 – Elementary Watson socks

Posted on November 15, 2013November 15, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I have been killing it at being an adult this week. My giant to-do list is getting shorter, our new house is now insured, our apartment is one step closer to being rented out, and in a surprise twist almost all of my Christmas shopping is done.

Mums pressie has been done for ages, the family over east just needs wrapping, and a pair of socks for Dad came off the needles this week.

Although technically they are a birthday present. There are 3 December birthdays in my family which I tend to include as part of Christmas shopping.

The pattern is elementary Watson. It’s cables like this that make me wish I was attracted to solid sock yarn.
The pattern does get lost in the self striping, but it’s still there.

I particularly liked the fleegel heel. I think I’ll be using that again in the near future.
And as usual these are toe up, two at a time, magic looped on my trusty 2.5mm Addi Turbos.

This is sock number 7 this year! I have to get shuffle on if I’m going to make 12. Methinks slightly larger needles for the next pair.

Everything is almost right with the world

Posted on May 24, 2013May 24, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I have now completely my first ever provisional cast on.

I’m not sure it should have taken me 45 minutes and involved scissors, swearing, and cider.

So I have the toe of the sock completed and I’ve learnt something.
If you’re going to try a new technique don’t start with fingering weight.

So I’ve now starting on the foot part of the sock and immediately I feel calmer.
Like there was a something missing before.
This sock was chosen as my Team Bee mascot project. I am loving the pattern. It has one tricky row, and the rest is straight forward, I’ve finished one repeat and have got it down pat.

I am loving this yarn. It’s from yarn vs zombies and it is a dream to work with. It’s flying quickly through my fingers and I have to stop myself from pressing it against my face.

I’m no sure I’m loving the two together though.
I think the pattern is getting lost in the colours.
So I’m not sure what to do.
Do I start again with another yarn?
Do I give the provisional cast on another try?
Do I keep going and wait and see if I fall in love with the complete sock?

So everything is right with the world because I have socks on my needle, but I can’t shake this feeling that it’s not quite the right socks.

FO#4 Dangerous Turns

Posted on February 18, 2013February 22, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I had a non-monogamous weekend.
Friday night kicked off with a show at Festival Gardens, and knitted some rows on Parcel.
I learnt how to turn a back cable into a front cable one row after discovering it. Disaster averted.

Saturday night was spent watching Castle, before having a girly night and spending some time with my 10 Stitch Blanket (which is slowly getting bigger after being ignored for some time).

Then Sunday was all about the next step sockalong socksDangerous Turns. These socks fit like a glove.
The only thing I’m not happy about is the cuff. But I’m never happy with my cuffs, they hang of my ankle rather than hugging it.
Somewhere along the line I missed a cable repeat and I’m still deciding how annoyed I am about it.

So I’m not over the moon with these socks. And I haven’t weaved in the ends as there is still the possibility that I will frog them.

I don’t mind them, but I know how they should look.

I’ll look at them in a couple of days and see whether I can live with the mistakes.

Next Step Sock Sockalong

Posted on February 12, 2013 by bekswhoknits

I’ve gone a little cable crazy. I’ve cast on two cable projects in the last week, one of which is dangerous turns.

These are a good candidate for the Next Step Sock Sockalong (hosted by crafts form the cwtch and is about stepping out of the sock comfort zone and trying something new).

Firstly I’m knitting these out of cotton. Which I haven’t knitted with before. I have no idea if they’ll make nice socks but I wanted to give it a go. I’m a bit tired of using Noir all the time and I’ve promised myself not to buy it again, but I was in Spotlight and wanted instant gratification yarn, so I bought Panda Regal 4ply Cotton.

Secondly I’m knitting cables without a cable needle. I’m a cable beginner, who naively assumed that there was only 2 types of cables.
Well there aren’t. And last week they had me beat. The tutorial I used didn’t cover what to do when there was purling involved. And stubborn old me wasn’t about to use a cable needle.

Fortunately the answer came to me in a dream.
After nearly throwing them across the room, frogging them, and sobbing into my cotton, I wisely decided that I would sleep on it.
After dreaming about knitting (is this common?) I had the answer.

All of a sudden the cables fell into place and I knew what to do.
So I manually transposed the stitches. Once I had done that I could knit and purl as I pleased.

And then last night I figured out how to do it in one clean swoop, the grumperina way. And it seems so simple I don’t know why I didn’t get it before.

So these are my next step socks.
I’m hoping now that I’ve got the cables figured out for good and the early cables don’t look too rubbish in comparison.
Or that I forget it all and can’t figure it back our.
Or that I have actually ‘got it’ and haven’t just made something up which doesn’t work.

Eep, maybe I’m not as confident about cables as I thought I was!!

FO#3 socks like a waltz

Posted on February 8, 2013February 8, 2013 by bekswhoknits

1, 2, 3.
1, 2, 3.

Knit knit knit, purl purl purl.

And so it goes.

Knit knit knit, purl purl purl.

Until you shift it one stitch to the left and then start waltzing again.

Knitting heel-less socks felt like dancing.

The pattern is really easy. So easy I didn’t think it would work.

But it did. And just in time to.

I did manage to finish these last Friday. And I wore them last Friday as my gorgeous polkadot cons were hurting my feet.

I still need to weave in the ends but I have cast on new projects since so that’s just not a priority right now.

So the pattern I made is as follows. Cast on 60 stiches. (Next time cast on more but make it divisible by 6 – not 3 as the pattern says. That doesn’t work)

Work in rib for a while. I went the twisted rib route which goes like
Row 1) knit 1, purl 1 through the back loop
Row 2) knit 1 through the back loop, purl 1

Once there’s enough rib, start to waltz.
K3, P3.
Do that for 4 rows.
Then
P1,K3, P3 (keep repeating the waltz, you’ve just shifted it over).

After 4 rows shift it over again.
P2, K3, P3

And then you’ll have swapped over and you’ll be starting with P3 K3

Just keep on going, shifting it one stitch along every 4 rows.

Try it on and when you’re ready, make a toe.

I did a standard decrease every second row, toe.

Once you get to the end, say you have 16 stitches on the needles, panic because you don’t have a needle to do Kitchener stitch or a decent enough Internet connection to google it.

Instead decide to so a 3 needle bind off, with a bobby pin.

Later regret this decision because it was so freakin fiddly, but be grateful that you finished them and they could soothe your feet.

I’m at the cricket

Posted on February 1, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Today’s post comes to you from the WACA.

I have polkadot converse and I’m knitting socks.

Tube socks which I’m hoping to finish today.

Oooh a wicket! Excuse me while I pay attention.

Finished object #2 – Summer Sky Socks

Posted on January 25, 2013January 30, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Sock number 1 in my 13 in 2013 challenge is complete and I’m in love this pattern.

Two at a time, toe up socks, with little delicate cables, on my favourite addi turbo 2.5 circular, with moda vera noir ( which is always on special).

My Bloke thinks I’m in a rut because all he sees me knitting is socks.
But not all socks are created equally.

These summer-sky socks (yay! alliteration!) were a great cable project for me. After learning how to cable without a needle on my Christmas Spirit Hats, I wanted something so I could really practice.

And these are it!

The pattern has a yarn over detail in the centre, which makes it really easy to know where you’re up to in the pattern. It was easy to memorise and didn’t require a counter (always a plus in my book).

I really want to knit more things with this pattern. I’m thinking maybe a pair of fingerless gloves. Who knew I would like cables so much?!