Fancy Feet

Tags

charts, lace patterns, Pattern, Regia, socks, toe-up, yarn

There’s been some white Regia 4-ply in my stash for a while, waiting to be turned into the right pair of socks. Lace socks. Like these socks.

The pattern is Sprig by Wei Siew Leong (aka KiwiPurler who blogs here). Mine look a little bit different because I started them at the toes. I didn’t turn the chart upside down. The lace pattern works well viewed in both directions. The only slight difficulty I had was in reading my knitting. It was a little tricky to anticipate which round was next without referring back to the chart. Of course once the lace is stretched across a foot, it all becomes clear.

I knitted these socks as part of the Aussie Sock Knitters first knit along of the year: undiscovered gems (patterns with fewer than 20 projects). Now as far as I’m concerned this is really a gem of a design. In fact I think these would look beautiful in black (sharp intake of breath at thought of knitting lace in black yarn on 2 mm needles). A friend helpfully pointed out that knitting them in grey and dying them black might be better. I think she’s right.

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This is the moment for fanfares

Tags

4-ply, socks, texture, toe-up, Wei S. Leong, Wolle Rödel

Let the drums roll and the trumpets sound!

Okay, so that’s gloriously dramatic for simply having finished a pair of socks. But there are socks and socks and, despite saying this myself,  these are good!

Of course it’s all down to the pattern. I was taken with the Wei Siew’s Bark pattern as soon as I cast on, now I am truly smitten.

This pattern is the perfect combination of not-being-bored-silly knitting and easy-enough-for-social-knitting. I really like textured socks that aren’t too bulky and this design fits the bill perfectly. The pattern is well-written and the stitch design is only a four-stitch repeat so you could make these socks in any size you liked. The yarn I used was given to me by Older Soknitsome Daughter and it’s just perfect for showing off the texture and yet still providing some interesting colour variations. It’s Sport & Strumpfwolle Classik (75% wool, 25% nylon, 4-ply yarn) by Wolle Rödel. I used each 50g ball as was and didn’t worry about perfectly matching socks. The one big deviation from the pattern was knitting them toe-up. I used the heel instructions from Cassandra Dominick’s Early Bird Socks to make a slightly dense heel flap with gusset which fits well and should wear well too, as the ‘knit one, slip one’ part starts on the base of the heel.

The big question is always, would I knit these again? The answer is a resounding yes!

News flash! Pattern love!

Tags

Ravelry, socks, texture, toe-up

Click photo to go to my Ravelry project

This isn’t the post I was going to write but I just have to share a sock pattern. It’s called Bark by Wei S. Leong (Kiwipurler on Ravelry) and it makes such  lovely fabric for your feet!

This is a very gratifying project. The textured pattern is easy to knit and doesn’t require too much attention. It’s a very motivating ‘just one more row’ kind of sock and the size is easily adapted, too.

Please note this is actually a cuff-down pattern which happens to work well toe-up!

Leaving on a jet plane…

Tags

aeroplane, Cologne, Noro, Regia, shawls, socks, Stitch 'n' Bitch, toe-up, trains

Not quite but soon! The top of my Ravelry queue reflects that too. 

First up Jeck. I’ve used this pattern before for Strrripes! which were also a travel project: Stripes – the love affair continues and for Making Merry. It’s mindless but not so mindless that you go crazy. Every second round has a little bit of activity with a few stitches to be slipped or purled. I’ll be starting at the toe (as usual) and working up so I’ll use Wendy Johnson’s Gusset Heel. I’ll be travelling on planes and trains for over 24 hours so that’s a lot of knitting time. You get a lot of knitting hours out of a ball of sock yarn!

Second in the queue is TGV. I have a ball of Noro Taiyo  for this.

Again this is very straightforward knitting; the first half is a garter crescent followed by a two-by-two ribbed frill. It will be perfect for when I visit my old Stitch ‘n’ Bitch group in Cologne as I’m sure there will be lots of chatting! After that? Probably more socks. This journey is the first of several…

Socks to brighten the doomiest day

Tags

6-ply, autumn, Lana Grossa, Mount Tomah, patterns, Ravelry, socks, sport weight, the Blue Mountains, toe-up, Wendy D Johnson

So we headed up to the Blue Mountains hoping to see some autumn colour but the day was wet and misty.

This photo shows part of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah. We had a walk, sticking to the tarred and woodchip paths.

There was some colour – two beds of lovely dahlias.And here’s another splash of colour

These are my Socks to Brighten the Doomiest Day, knitted from Lana Grossa’s Meilenweit 6-Fach. This was given to me as part of a leaving present by my dear friend A. The pattern is Wendy D Johnson’s Sport Weight Toe-Up Socks with Gusset Heel.

Since the colours repeat back on themselves before moving on, I decided to knit the second one so that I’d have one of the centre colours (blue and purple) across each foot.  

The fit is not quite perfect but my Ravelry project page has notes to remind me of changes for next time!

 

Yarn today, sock tomorrow

Tags

6-ply, Lana Grossa, patterns, Ravelry, socks, sport weight, toe-up, Wendy D Johnson

A slight exaggeration… but not much of one.

I can see why people enjoy knitting socks out of 6-ply/sport weight sock yarn. It makes for very satisfying and speedy results!

This is Meilenweit 6-Fach from Lana Grossa. It’s a typical wool and nylon blend for knitting socks.

And here’s a sock. I’m using Wendy D Johnson’s pattern, Sport Weight Toe-Up Socks with Gusset Heel (Ravelry link to free pattern).

 

A bit of a sock as light relief

Tags

knitting, lace, lace weight, socks, stripes, texture, toe-up

Sometimes you need something a little simpler. This sock has been knitted on at knit night, and on buses. I’ve even knitted a bit at home, too, when the lights were dimmed and I didn’t want to concentrate on lace work in a dark lace weight yarn.

This is my upside down Primavera Sock. The pattern is written cuff-down but I started at the toe. Why? I like knitting socks toe-up. When I first began knitting socks I was drawn to the idea of being able to try them on as you go. This has turned out to be a good thing. I knit socks on skinny 2mm (US 0) needles and only need 60 stitches to get a snug but not tight sock. Sometimes I have to fiddle with a pattern. Here I switched the decreases and increases to keep the directional shape of the design as it kind of grows up your foot.

The greenish section came as a bit of a surprise.

I thought I was knitting something similar to the pale lilac but lo and behold in daylight it looks quite different. I’ve been knitting from the centre of the ball and from the outside it looks like this:

Its partner clearly shows this green and I had looked inside both balls to check that they were the same colours when I bought them.

It appears, too, that the colour sequence is now reversing. This could be a very interestingly striped pair of socks!

Knitting in Sydney … but not mine

Tags

cardigan, Coogee Pavilion, knitting, lampshade, progress, Ravelry, socks, Sydney, toe-up

Isn’t this just a great piece of knitting?

You can see it in all its glory hanging from the ceiling in the Coogee Pavilion. (The Pavilion is an 1880’s building that started life as an aquarium and swimming pool and now houses a restaurant, café and more. Coogee is a beach suburb situated to the south-east of Sydney.)

This lampshade is a good metre in diameter and if I lived in the kind of home that had space for a giant chandelier I would definitely consider a lampshade like this one.

I have been knitting. I have. But nothing as spectacular as lampshades. Just chugging along with my cardigan which I’m now keen to finish so I can start the next project I have planned.

There’s another toe-up sock on my needles, too, but goes without saying and, anyway, I needed some easy and portable knitting to take to the Thursday night knitting get-together.  All will be revealed soon.

In the meantime, did you know there are 156 patterns for lampshades on Ravelry?

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FO Friday – Pink Mix Possums

Tags

cables, FO, FO Friday, knitting, socks, Socks with Sarah, toe-up, yarn

It’s far too warm for socks right now but I know I’ll enjoy wearing these pinky-red beauties in the winter. The pattern is Chain Drive Socks and it’s by Heather Sebastian (aka Joey’s House). It’s a little bit like Socks on a Plane but with a smaller cable twist down each side of the leg and foot. This means there’s no left nor right sock which will even out wear so they should last longer, too! The colour is Pink Mix and these socks mark the start of my plan to broaden my sock colour horizons for the year.

I knit socks with a fair bit of negative ease so they fit snuggly but not tightly. As a result, there’s always quite a bit left over. I think this yarn would be perfect for a pair of fingerless mitts!

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Instant Gratification

Tags

bag, DPNs, key cosy, knitting, Sock, toe-up

Keys are sharp little things and mine were digging into my leg when I carried them in my pocket. They probably weren’t doing the linings of my handbags much good either. The quick fix solution? A simple tube sock with an i-cord to keep the keys and sock together.

         

I used Cat Bordhi’s version of Judy Becker’s Stretchy Cast-On. I use this for toe-up socks but here I cast on the total number of stitches straightaway. The start is a little fiddly on DPNs but nothing too tricky.  The tube is a good half-inch longer than my keys and the stretchy two-by-two ribbing pulls the top in over the keys.