Frogging

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I quickly realized that I wouldn’t have enough yarn to finish the sock I was working on and then knit up the second one. So I frogged this sock and restarted it, to make the leg section shorter.

So I wound it from the end that had been on the outside of the ball of yarn, which was the most colorful, so now this sock has the most colorful part at the top.

The pink sock is coming along great, I got the heel turned and the gusset done.

With starting two new sock back to back, the second grey sock I have had in the works has been sitting. I really want to get it done so that I have another pair complete. Having three pairs of socks and like three shawls going all at the same time is crazy, but that is how I roll. Not to mention all the yarn I have stashed, waiting to be knit up into something amazing. I guess that is how life is for a knitter, a zillion projects going and a plethora of yarn waiting in the wings for its turn to be used.

The Sock Gauge Swatch

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Over the course of the last couple of days, while having the second Cobblestone Heather Stroll sock in the works, I have also cast on another couple socks for two different pairs of socks.

I cast on the first sock of a pair of socks using KnitPicks Palette Yarn in rouge, as well as the first sock of a pair of socks using Black Trillium Fibres Fingering weight yarn in Morgana.

For the Palette yarn I am using my second pair of 2.50mm size 1 double pointed needles, and for the black trillium fibres yarn I am using my 2.00mm size 0 double pointed needles.

Each of the three socks have a bit different of a pattern for the top parts of the socks. My Cobblestone Heather socks have a 10 row ribbed cuff and an 80 row leg, while the Rouge Palette socks have a 20 row cuff and a 50 row leg, and and the black trillium fibres socks, have a 20 row cuff and I am aiming to fit the leg to the sock blockers.

Beings that the black trillium fibres yarn is thinner than either the Stroll or the Palette yarn, and I didn’t like how it was working out when I was work it up on either of the size 1 needles, the 2.25mm or the 2.50mm, I am giving it one last try with the size 0 needles. I am hoping they turn out better being knit up tighter. Though I am not a fan of how rough they are working up, I am hoping that will work itself out with being washed, and line dried. It also may be partly due to the fact that the yarn is 25% nylon. I don’t know what’s worse, rough socks or gaping holes from the slipped stitches along the sides of the heel where you pick up to knit the foot, that is the issue I am trying to resolve by using the size 0 needles. I am also winging the pattern on this first sock since I haven’t worked with the yarn enough to know how many rows is enough to make the leg of the sock long enough.

As you can see in the picture above the difference between the two yarns and the gauge difference between the two needle sizes. When you are working with Fingering weight yarns and making socks, half a millimeter in needle size and in gauge / tension is huge. In the picture above, both socks have a 20 row cuff and are sitting at 30 rows in the leg. While I have more to knit on both before I get to the heel, I figured that this is a good starting comparison point to show you all. I should also mention, the sock on the left has a total of eight more stitches (2 more on each needle) than the sock on the right does, and still looks and feels narrower.

When I get the Black Trillium Fibres socks done, I will definitely update on that.

I am making the rouge socks a bit shorter because I had to cut one of the balls of yarn in the winding process, and I doubt I have enough yarn in the larger of the two balls from that original ball without tying on more, and I don’t want to have to tie on the smaller ball if I don’t have to.

Testing out a Different Sock Pattern

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Since I started knitting up socks I have always done a k1p1 cuff pattern until I am about to where I am going to knit the heel flap. Just before I would knit the heel flap, I started out with two rounds of straight knitting and eventually went to ten rounds before starting the heel flap. While having a 40 – 50 row ribbed cuff plus 10 rows of straight knitting before the heel flap made a good length for me, I don’t like how my sock blockers stretch out that cuff as it is drying.

While the socks that Reese Witherspoon wears with her Danner’s in the movie Wild are bulkier than what I like for hiking, that scrunched down sock is something that I want to try, and I like making my own hiking socks, so I am in the process of trying out a bit of a new sock pattern for myself.

The biggest changes I am making on my go to sock pattern, is that instead of 40 – 50 rounds of ribbing at the top, I am only doing 10, and then knitting the rest of the leg portion of the top just normally. I am using my sock blockers as a reference guide, so the ribbing will end up drying on the slanted area at the top, and the leg part will just be straight and not be stretched out much by the blockers.

Part of my goal with this as well, is not having to use pins to secure my socks to the blockers while they are drying outside. There will really be no chance of them sliding off the blockers if it happens to be windy and they are hung on the line.

I am also testing out if this pattern will still work with the quantity of sock yarns I have. I tend to have leftover Palette and Stroll yarns when I do the 40 – 50 row cuff, I am going to see if this pattern will help me get more of each color used up without having a whole lot left over.

If you knit socks I would love to hear about what you do when you knit socks, and what patterns you use.

Creating more Work for Myself

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I was finally able to order some more of the KnitPicks Simply Wool worsted weight yarn in Wordsworth. I had only ordered four Hanks of this color when it first came out, and it sold out quickly. I had also quickly realized that four Hanks of the worsted weight yarn would not be enough to knit up a shawl that would fit me. I had gone in and went through the process to have them email me when more of the color I needed became available.

What had happened with the Simply Wool had also happened with the Autumn Heather Wool of the Andes Tweed worsted weight yarn I had ordered a while back, and I knew that I wanted to have 10 balls of each of the Wool Of The Andes yarns I am wanting to use to shawls in my stash. I would rather have extra and have to make a matching hat or fingerless gloves than not have enough yarn for the shawl.

When I was in the process of ordering these two types of yarn, I had also seen one of the Dishie multis that I liked, it’s the colorway Cabin, and I added one to my cart, then I got looking at the bulky yarns, and saw that there was a Wool of the Andes bulky yarn, so I also added six Hanks to my cart, which also got me to over $50 and got me free shipping.

So, this order arrived today in the mail.

And now I have enough yarn to keep me knitting for a very long time.

Ironing Out the Kinks

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Over the course of the past couple of days I have finished up two projects.

The first project I finished up, I was up into the wee small hours of the morning finishing up this shawl.

This shawl is about 38 inches from the tip to the cast off edge. I used four balls of KnitPicks Simply Wool Bulky yarn in the color “Wilbur”. I used a pair of 10.5 (6.5mm) straight knitting needles.

Last night (Thursday night) I finished up the second sock of the pair of socks I knit up out of KnitPicks Palette Yarn in Ash.

I used my set of size 1 (2.50mm) KnitPicks sunstruck double pointed needles.

I have come to love using the 2.50mm size 1 needles versus the 2.25mm size 1 needles for both the Palette yarn and the various Stroll yarns I have been using. The socks come out a little looser which is fine, the gauge is still tight enough that there are no real issues with the tension or being too loose. I also haven’t had the issue of my needles breaking either. Which makes me think that the 2.25mm needles were just too small for what I was doing, and I have also gotten better at knitting socks.

I definitely wanted to get the shawl done, as far as getting it knit up anyway, this week. I have some more bulky yarn coming in, in the next few days. I only have the one set of size 10.5 needles and I wanted to get the big project off them before the new yarn comes in, so I can get it cast on pretty soon. I do still have one ball of the bulky Simply Wool left, which I am using to make another pair of fingerless gloves.

Dishcloth Yarn

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I decided to order some of the KnitPicks Dishie yarn, since I also enjoy knitting dishcloths, and they are something easy to knit and work on while I have to wait somewhere.

I have been using the Lily Sugar N’ Cream yarn for years. What I got looking at today, of the balls of the Sugar N’ Cream yarn is how inconsistent the sizes of balls are. I have one of the twists that is 56.7 grams (2oz) that has 86 m / 95 yds, then a variegated that is 56.7 grams (2oz) and 86 m / 95 yds, as well as a variegated that is 85 grams / 3 oz and 138 m / 150 yds. I also have 4 solid balls that are 70.9 grams / 2.5 oz with 109 m / 120 yds and a super size solid that has 113 grams / 4 oz, with 184 m / 200 yds. It’s all over the place and kind of random how inconsistent the weights and yardages the balls have.

That is one of the things I just looked at, that all the KnitPicks Dishie yarn (variegated and solid) comes in 100g balls that have 190 yards each of yarn.

I am also loving the colors that the KnitPicks Dishie comes it. It seems of late anyway (like the past 5 – 10 years) that the selection of the Sugar N’ Cream yarn has been slim, with few choices, and even fewer that I like. Or maybe that’s just my local craft store. That’s why I ordered some of the Dishie yarn, to give a try and compare the two brands. At least the needle size recommended across the two brands is pretty much the same. As is the fact that they are all a 4 / worsted weight yarn.

The colors I had ordered of the Dishie yarn are: Ash, Azure, Conch, Douglas Fir, Eggplant, Fiesta, Mulberry, Pomegranate and 2 Kenai.

I will be writing up another post once I have knit up a dishcloth or two out of the Dishie yarn, so stay tuned for that post.

Houston; We Have a Problem

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Today, I had another KnitPicks Package arrive (and have two more that will be coming in the next week or so). I definitely am a yarn addict. I have enough yarn to keep me knitting for years, which is a good thing.

In my order that came today, I got four balls of Stroll Fingering weight yarn, two balls each of Ash and Cobblestone Heather. I also got ten balls of Flagstone Heather Wool of the Andes Tweed worsted weight yarn.

Yes, I am well aware that I am ordering a lot of Grey yarns. I love grey yarn. Greys, natural tones and blues are my favorite colors at the moment. These are the colors I love to work with.

Most people are not a fan of grey, especially around here where we get so many grey, overcast, rainy days. That is exactly why I love grey. I love the grey, overcast, rainy days. I love them because (at least in this part of the country), they are cooler, and you don’t have the sun in your eyes. For me they are more enjoyable. As someone who doesn’t handle heat very well – it’s currently about 64 degrees Fahrenheit, and I am about at my upper limit for being comfortable – I prefer the cooler overcast days. As long as it’s not pouring down rain, I enjoy going hiking when it it is cool and overcast as well as just getting out and doing stuff.

The days that it is pouring down rain, are best spent inside with a nice hot cuppa tea and knitting. Or going and getting lost in my favorite yarn and craft stores.

Earlier this week, I had to go and run a couple errands and decided to get out of the city. I wound up in the foothills of the cascade range (the mountains that divide Western Oregon from Central and Eastern Oregon). I started seeing snow at about 1400 – 1500 feet. That day I would have given about anything to live out that way, and be able to have a fire going in the woodstove, a pot of soup going, a nice hot cuppa tea, Call The Midwife on the TV and my knitting.

While I grew up in the city, the older I get, the simpler / more old fashioned kind of life I want to live. The kind of life where I have a nice big garden in the summer, and some chickens, maybe some goats, and so much more.

When I started knitting when I was 10, I had no idea how learning a craft out of boredom would become a passion.