Size 11 done

Oh, what a feelin', my size 11 socks are done!! Not my socks but paul's and he's very happy to have them.

I was running out of one colour in the foot, just ahead of the heel and realizing it wasn't going to make it til the end, I broke it off when I still had a little ball left and hoped it be enough for the toe. Knitting the rest of the sock with my fingers crossed was rather difficult but it worked!! I caught the ball in time and had just enough to do the toe. I subbed in a slightly redder colour in thinner sock yarn in the foot and it worked out just fine, gauges between sock yarns not being so very different, although it did feel thinner. When I feel the socks I can't tell.

So this is pair #4 of the Spiral Sock stash busting collection finished. Now I will get back to a pair for myself which I have most of the way done and had put aside to finish these. Woo, hoo, feelin' good.
-Deb

Knitting for Summer

I am still working on the size 11 Spiral socks which seems season appropriate but slow going. What doesn't seem appropriate is to be working on a summer sleeveless top. But that's what I'm doing. I'm knitting for the Summer issue of Cast On magazine put out by The Knitting Guild of America. I keep referring to it as a vest because I can't quite get my head around knitting for summer while I look outside at this.

So far, 6" done. You may notice that it's bottom-up. Yes, I know, a departure for me. I did give it quite a bit of thought but it fits with the I-cord edging which will border all the edges so here I go. Switching away from top down has been interesting since it has been quite a while since I tackled this and my first stumble was where the buttonholes go. No knitting on automatic for this project.

Here is a schematic of one side of the front.

I am knitting this for a 5'11" model so it's going to be long. Right now I'm looking forward to the cable crossing. Yippee, fun with cables.
Deb

One Sock Done

I'm congratulating myself because I finished one size 11 sock. If you don't knit socks or men's socks, a size 11 sock is no mean feat! LOL. A 10" leg plus the heel make these socks really tall. On me they would be knee socks but on my husband they go to mid-calf. Yes, he's over 6' tall. Then there is the 11" foot. I made him try them on before I did the Kitchener Stitch to finish the end of the toe. Kitchener Stitch is hard to take out. The socks fit perfectly. Pat, pat, pat on the back. One Sock Done.

Now, to avoid Second Sock Syndrome. I cast on immediately after finishing the toe, almost in one action. The next day I was fortunately on the GO train commuting to the city. That was 3 more hours of knitting time plus knitting in the meeting. Now that I'm a goodly way down the second leg, it will keep me keeping on. I'm also trying not to call it the second sock, not to keep reminding myself I have already knit one. I'm just enjoying looking at the colours as I knit every stripe.

This is my carry around project which means sporatic knitting. I'm trying to prioritize finishing it or winter could be over before I get this done. Of course, there is always next winter. Shhh, I didn't say that.
Deb

Onward with Spiral Striped Socks

My stash reduction continues with Spiral Striped Socks. I just can't let this spiral thing go. So here I am knitting a fingering weight sock with three balls of yarn hanging off my needles. If you're interested in getting started with me this is how I got started on my socks.

Since this is stash reduction I dove in and found 3 x 50g balls of sock yarn. Why I have single 50g balls is a mystery to me because a pair of socks they do not make. But I found a whole bag of them. I may be making many pairs of these socks.

I choose 2 solids,an eggplant colour and a blue, and 1 variegated in blue/green/yellow. There is some overlap of colour between the variegated and the blue but for these socks it doesn't matter.

  The trick for these socks is now to divide the sock into 2 sections. Half the stitches for the back of leg and half for the front of leg. The stripes work because I have 3 colours and have divided my sock into 2 sections. For these stripes to work you need one more colour than you have sections.

I knit the cuff in Colour 1 (eggplant).
Begin the stripes: with Colour 2 (variegated), knit across 1/2 the stitches (section 1).

With Colour 3 (blue) I knit across the second section, the other 1/2 of my stitches.

Now I am back at the beginning of the round and there are two stands of yarn there. The Colour 3 (blue) I just finished knitting and Colour 1 (eggplant) which I worked the cuff with. With Colour 1 (eggplant) I knit across 1/2 of the sock.

Ta, da, first stripes.

Now pick up Colour 2 (variegated) and knit across section. Pick up Colour 3 (blue) and knit across section. Pick up Colour 1 and knit, pick up Colour 2 and knit, pick up Colour 3 and knit. You probably got the picture by now. At the end of each section (each 1/2 of the sock) you will pick up the new colour which is conveniently sitting there and knit. The trick is DO NOT TWIST the colours when you pick up the new colour. The new colour should flow from the row below the needle you just knit and the first stitch of the new needle. Twisting the colours as we usually do defeats the spiralling of the stripes.

In this photo of my first pair of Spiral Socks, I finished working with the Light Grey and now am going to work with the Dark Grey which I will not twist but pick it up so that it flows from the stitch the yarn is attached to.

Several stripes later and I'm happy with the results. They are a little dramatic but really fun looking pair of socks.

Happy Sock knitting,
Deb