Tag: socks

Thockies, i

Recently, I bought some lovely vegetable dyed Finn sheep yarn from Leena Riihelä in Finland; her company is Riihivilla.  She blogs and writes in both Finnish and English. Her service, communication, packaging, colors and yarns are fabulous! She also designs mittens and other items, and sells complete kits with enough yarn to complete the project.

I chose her purple colorway, dyed with cochineal and Japanese indigo, which consists of three skeins in three colors.  Two of the colors are solid, a rather deep wine rather than violet, and they are different in shade so that when knitted, there will be definite color contrasts.  The third skein is multicolor, and ranges in violets to the reds of the solid skeins.  Together, the three are very attractive and coordinate well.  My plan for them is to make socks, but I want something that will help set the colors up to be seen and appreciated.  Because these colors are so beautiful and the yarn is so nice, they definitely need something special to show them off!

My first inclination was to pull out some white sock yarn close to the Finn in weight, but the white was a very bright white, and rather harsh a contrast as far as I was concerned.  I thought maybe black, but that was too grim.  Other considerations were a warm cream color or a heathery grey, such as found in natural sheep wool colors.  As I’ve been spinning for years, I rummaged through my handspun stash, singles and plied, and came across a large ball of 2-ply in a light grey.

The ball I’d wound the yarn into was falling apart, so I decided to rewind it into new, tidy balls.  This is when I realized that the yarn as it was would not work.  For a while, I was into making very fine, very softly spun yarn, to ply together with the goal of cobweb or lace weight yarn, and this yarn is representative of that time period.  Rewinding it into new balls brought out the fact the yarn was weak – the spin too soft – and it would break apart – really, just slide apart – as I was rewinding it.

Given the time it takes to spin up yarn, I decided to recycle it by plying it into a 4-ply with a tighter twist, and a lot of knots.  I can always weave in ends where I untie the knots.  The result is a very twisty, fine 4-ply which is about the same width as the Finn.  As I write this, the final skein (185 yds) is soaking in warm water with hair rinse before it is hung to dry and set the new twist.

Meantime, as the grey yarn dries, I plan to design a sock which will show off each of the three colors in a stripey way, with a pattern of some variety in there using the grey yarn.

Trout Season Socks, i

In the California Sierras, trout season begins around the last week of April, the first week of May.  Snow is possibly still on the ground.  Certainly, the weather can be chilly!

A very good friend of mine has been providing me with some of his catch every year.  One day he mentioned cold feet from a day of fishing.  That thought has been in the back of my mind for quite some time, and the other day while rummaging through the stash, I found some yarn that made me think of the beach.  From there, tropics and fish, and from there, fish and feet.  So, as a surprise thank you, I’ve begun some socks for him for his next trip.

Here is the pattern thus far, with the complete pattern posted online later on.

Trout Season Socks

Use two different shades of yarn, held together.   Here I am using Baby Ull, by Dale of Norway, which is machine washable, 100% merino.  The colors are a royal blue, and a bright turquoise.

Gauge: 5.5 st / inch on US 3 needles

CO 52 stitches; 1 x 1 ribbing for 1.5 inches.  Stitches are distributed over 3 needles.

Drop turquoise yarn, add second royal blue skein, k using doubled yarn 5 rounds.

Drop second royal blue, pick up turquoise.  K one round in doubled yarn, then 1 x 1 rib for 2 rounds.  Make sure to leave a loose strand where you knit the blue, so that the stripe is not puckered.  Repeat as necessary.

Cut turquoise yarn, pick up second royal blue skein.  K using doubled yarn 5 rounds.  Cut second royal blue skein, leaving a tail to weave in later.

Once more double up with the turquoise and royal blue yarn.  2 x 2 ribbing to desired sock length, beginning with k2, p2.  (I did 8 inches.)  Drop or cut turquoise yarn when ready to begin heel flap.

Heel Flap: 26 stitches.  Double up the two royal blue skeins.  K 25 st, end p1.  Turn.  Slip first stitich on heel needle purlwise, k3, purl to last four stitches of heel flap, k3, end p1.  Repeat these two rows till piece measures desired length (I did 2.5 inches).  End ready to purl.

Note: At this point, I redistribute all my stitches so that one half are on the heel flap needle (26), and the remaining 26 are divided over 2 needles, 13 stitches on each needle.

Turning the Heel: P 14, p 2 tog, p 1.  Turn work.  Slip first stitich purlwise, k 3, k 2 tog, k 1.  Turn work.  Work back and forth until all stitches worked up, with 14 stitches remaining on needle, ready to begin next row knitting.  Cut second royal blue and attach turquoise.

Note: If you don’t know too much about turning the heel, this is a good site for some instruction.

Gusset: Using double stranded turquoise and royal blue yarn, pick up 10 stitches along heel flap, and one more in the turquoise-royal blue yarn by instep, 11 stitches total.  At this point you can choose to knit across the 2 x 2 rib, or continue in its pattern until you reach the toe.  I am continuing in the rib, which across the instep is p2, k2 rib, ending p2 before the third needle, which holds heel stitches.  Pick up 1 stitch in the turquoise-royal blue yarn, then 10 more along heel flap, for a total of 11 stitches.  Knit 7 more stitches (1/2 of the remaining heel flap stitches).  From this point forward until the toe is reached, the doubled yarn is the turquoise-royal blue.

Note: At this point, I redistribute needle stitches.  I have 18 stitches on needle 1 (heel) , 26 for the instep on needle 2, and 18 on needle 3 (heel).

Gusset Shaping: First Round: On needle one, k 15, k2 tog., k1.  Knit or follow ribbing across instep needle 2.  On needle 3, k 1, ssk, k 15.  Second Round: K all stitches on needle 1 (17 sts), follow pattern decided for needle 2 (26 sts), k all stitches on needle 3 (17 sts).  Continue these two rounds until there are 13 sts on needles 1 and 3, and 26 on needle 2, for a total of 52 stitches.

Foot: Continue in established pattern until 1.5 inches short of desired foot length.

Inside out, these socks look the Space Needle in Seattle, but the design idea is to allow a muscular calf to have some comfort, while the 2 x 2 ribbing helps keep the socks up.  Also, these socks are not reinforced with any nylon, so the owner will be told to wear them with care, not to go hiking down the driveway in them, and so on.  Hopefully he will get many years of good use out of them.  And we will continue to get fish!

I’ll follow up with more later on.  In the interim, the Buttoned Cardigan is moving along nicely, as well as several other pairs of socks!

Flight of the Albatross*

Whew!  What a relief it is to get those socks out of my life!  I’m glad I did them, but the frustration – combined with guilt – about finishing them was a burden.  I had no energy to do anything.  And now they are gone I’ve been on sort of a rampage – cleaning house – gardening – and finishing up a heap of UFOs.   I’ve got a number of berets and a pair of socks now, with loose ends woven in and toes woven shut, and a dropped stitched secured.  That makes me feel really productive, and here are the results:

A grey Meret for a birthday last February:

Two berets for a friend’s May birthday:

A Porom for myself, out of handspun grey yarn plied with an orange (sounds ghastly, but really very nice!):

A watch cap for a different February baby, to match Christmas mittens:

And socks for me – or maybe a gift for someone with the same size tootsies:

And finally, a model for a pattern which I may post, or submit to a magazine . . . . but that picture will remain a secret for now!

Ah . . .

A Foray into Toe-Up Socks: The Pattern, Version I

I haven’t quite finished the socks, but thought I would create a rough pattern for those who might like to have it. It is just too hot to knit wool socks, and as it is also summer, the urge to be outdoors and wandering around is far more attractive than sitting still.

I think that, overall, the socks are rather pretty. Will I become a toe-up convert? Not sure.

Given that, you may find it in the Patterns section of this blog!  Or, just click here.

A Foray into Toe-Up Socks, v

This past week I really have not done much of anything except munge around.  The highlights of the week have been watching the very funny Betty la Fea – in English, and the American version – on DVDs from Netflix.  What is there not to enjoy?

The second of the toe-up socks have been progressing over the past week.  I’ve turned the heel using the Fleegle Heel, which is the reverse of a top-down sock gusset, but without the need to pick up stitches along the heel flap.   The body of the sock measured 7 inches when I started the heel.  Most toe-up recipes with gussets say to begin it 2 to 2.5 inches before the total length.  I make my socks 9 inches long, so 6.5 to 7 inches would be fine – in theory!

Having turned the heel, before trying it on, just an eyeball of the sock told me that 7 inches was too long of a sock length.  It should have begun at 6.5 inches, or maybe even 6.  Another element of the heel was its angle, especially when compared to the short-row heel of the first sock.  Additionally, I usually turn my sock heel on about a third of the total stitches, not the traditional one half.  My gusset is a lot shorter as a result, and I am pleased with the way my top-down socks fit.

Still, the fit of this second sock, is not bad.  The problem, in my opinion, is the tediousness of turning the heel.  It was a lot easier to do, in some ways, than the short-row heel, but that is because the construction of the heel is one with which I am familiar.  The heel flap construction of a top-down sock requires picking up stitches, but the Fleegle heel does not, so the overall product is a bit tidier, though longer in doing.  

I may attempt to do this heel, if I do another toe-up pair of socks, on fewer stitches. It will be interesting to note at what point along the foot to begin a Fleegle heel with fewer stitches – I think the length of the sock may need to be a bit longer than when you use half of the total sock stitches. I also think I saw a reference to a Dutch heel for toe-up socks, which is not as fitted as this particular heel. Hmmm.

This second sock of this pair is made with only 54 stitches, not 60.  The reason is that I don’t really think that 60 is good for the lace pattern here.  The lace is stretchy, and doesn’t stretch out on my foot or leg.  I’d make that for a large leg, and use 42-48 for a young girl or small woman.

Here, you can see the difference between the two socks, especially at the heel. The short-row heel sock is a bit too short, and the Fleegle heel sock is a bit too long. Still, I have no plans of ripping out either sock, and will wear them as a pair!

My inclination is to go with a Fleegle heel as preferred method, but use maybe a third of the stitches, instead of half. Also, fewer stitches for this lace pattern. The fact that knitting is stretchy allows for errors like this, and I can wear them before I decide I don’t like toe-up socks. Right now, I’m just now sure I like making them….