The first socks of 2019!

If I had to come up with a knitting new year’s resolution, it would be to decrease the size of my stash. I think of myself as having a medium sized stash-it’s nothing in compared to my mom’s, for example-but I found my pet sheep (see pic) staring at it the other day, looking overawed. So the goal is to use yarns from my stash, which is what this pair of socks is. I’d been given these mini skeins several years ago, and they just sat there unloved until now. The US government shutdown is making it a bit harder to work, as I can’t go into the office, so instead I’ve been forced to stay at home and knit. I cast on this pair of socks on Jan 1.

white sheep and grumpy sheep

The yarn for these socks is Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock. It came as five mini skeins. To change from color A to color B, I knit with color A, then did 1 row B, 2 rows A, 1 row B, 2 rows A, 1 B, 1 A, 1 B, 1 A, 2 B, 1 A, 2 B, 1 A, and then continued knitting with color B. I think, in hindsight, I’d do at least one more 1 A, 1 B alternation in the middle, particularly with the more different colors. Still, I’m pleased with how the colors blended together, and I think they look okay. I used the same style of decreases after the heel that I’ve been using for the mosaic socks, so that I could see what it looked like without the mosaic hiding it, though it turns out the speckled yarn does a pretty good job of hiding the decreases too! I used just over half the stitches for the heel flap, as I wanted the heel to show up more visually, since it’s in the different color. In past I’ve sometimes been unhappy with how small the toe and heel look when they are the only thing in a contrasting color, but I think these socks are fairly well balanced.

I started knitting when I was eight, though it wasn’t until high school when I really started knitting frequently. I started with garter stitch scarves, and made one for all my family, including aunts, uncles and cousins-it was somewhere around 40 scarves. After that I decided I could move on to other projects, and I eventually settled on socks as the ideal project. I’ve had an in progress pair of socks with me pretty much constantly for the past 14 years. Some years I may have only knit 20 pairs, though I know some years I’ve exceeded 60 pairs. If we assume an average of 40 pairs of socks a year, that equates to 560 socks. So I’m not yet up to 2019 handknit socks, though just give me a few years! I think I’ll officially start counting with this being pair 561.

Mosaic 34: ducks on the water

The last pair of socks of 2018! I’m not sure that inverting the pattern worked as well as I was hoping it would. I much prefer the dark little boxes with light insides on the light background, rather than the reverse where the dark shapes are bigger. The yarn is knitpicks stroll, in the colors ‘granny smith’ and ‘pine’.

Imagine these colors as socks

So, in the hurry to finish these socks in time, I failed to take a picture of them. Thus we get to use our imaginations! Picture the dark blue as the top ribbed bit of cuff, heel and toe, and the variegated color slowly changing along the length of the cuff and foot. The variegated is a Cascade Heritage yarn, while the dark blue yarn is Masquerade yarn (80% Bluefaced Leicaster, 20% silk) from Lattes & Llamas, in the color Kasterborous. They were really quite pretty… the two cuffs looked fairly similar, but the foots were slightly different colors, because of the way the variegation happened to work out.

Cabled Christmas Socks

These socks were made out of Cascade Yarns Heritage 150, which is a sport weight. This is basically the same as the cabled Monet socks, but all in one color and with a slightly different heel stitch (and a different size). This way you can actually see the cables!

Mosaic 33: snowflakes!

After making the ‘Let it snow’ socks, where I duplicated part of this pattern as a snowflake, I focus on the snowflakes in this design. I like knitting snowflakes and looking forward to playing in actual snow… The navy yarn is from Kim Dyes Yarn, colorway: String Theory-blue, yarn: sourdough sock, and the tweedy white is from Yankee Dyer Yarns, colorway: In the buff, yarn: yankee tweed. 

All of the mosaic socks on this blog are currently going into a big box, awaiting the day when I complete the last pattern from Barbara’s book. A few of them go in with future owners identified, but mostly I just knit the pattern at whatever size is convenient. This pair is one of the (currently two!) with a future owner identified! It’s a surprise though. Now to finish up all the rest of the socks so I can hand these ones over.

Rainbow scarf/shawl

I was at the local yarn store, and someone was casting on a bobble cowl out of a yarn I had in my stash. I woke up the next morning with this project in my head, and had to cast on right away. As I was knitting it, I kept coming up with modifications, but in the end the finished product is exactly as I envisioned it that morning, complete with yellow stripe. The pattern is similar to the bobble cowl in that it alternates rows of garter stitch with a row of simple yarn overs, but instead of putting them at various angles (using short rows) I did them diagonally. The biggest design choice was whether I was going to change my mind and have the purple as a triangle in the center, instead of as a really wide stripe. I consulted, and was informed that the stripe would be better, so stripe it is.

The yarn is Wonderland yarns, Cheshire Cat base, color ‘Land of Wonders’, for all but the yellow. It was a rainbow mix that didn’t come with yellow! Online it looks like some of the orange skeins may be more yellow than mine was, so maybe I was just unlucky. In any case, I scrounged around at the local yarn store, and came up with two yellows that I mixed for the color you see here: copper corgi’s savannah sock in the colorway ‘Wearing and Tearing’, and jilly - dream in color in ‘pure sunshine’. The yellow is a bit thicker than the other colors, but not enough that it seems to have affected my gauge. I think the fact that the colors are along the diagonal helps make the whole feel like it uses the same weight yarn.

Mosaic 32

As with the previous pair, the purple is Bugga! from the Verdant Gryphon (70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon), and the light blue/grey is the meadow light base from Backyard Fiberworks (80% merino, 10% nylon, and 10% cashmere). Even though I know they are different weights, I don’t really see that in the finished sock, other than maybe in the striped bottom? Thus far mosaics have been very forgiving with me in terms of not needing identical yarns.

When I look at this pattern I keep seeing it looking back at me, so while I know that the pinwheels are probably the major focus of the pattern, I keep being drawn to some strange four legged critter whose staring at me. I’ve been enjoying the reinforced bottom, so I decided to keep doing that for awhile. It’s easier than some of the other methods in terms of the number of stitch markers and things to keep track of, which is really nice, plus I like the finished feel.

Mini hat

The local yarn store had a hat making party this weekend, with hat themed treats and a free stitch marker for those making hats out of store purchased yarn. I just finished making a bunch of hats, and so decided to make a mini ornamental hat. This is the result. Now it just needs a sweater and some socks and mittens to keep it company! 

Cabled hats

It’s holiday knitting time! And this holiday season, people will be receiving hats. Luckily they’re presents for people who either a) already know they’re getting a hat, or b) people who don’t read this blog.

This is a pattern I developed, and I’m really happy with it. It has a turned up brim on the inside, giving two layers over the ears. I really like that way of doing a brim, so that I can have all the pretty pattern on the outside, and that keeps the brim from rolling up and letting my ears get cold.

Mosaic 31: masquerade masks

I had trouble deciding if these were dominoes, peanuts or masks, but I like the alliteration of masquerade masks, so that’s clearly what they are. I did the reinforced bottom again, with the pattern decreasing into the bottom.

The yarns are two different cashmere sock yarns. The purple is Bugga! from the Verdant Gryphon, is 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon, and the color is called 'clown spikes orchid'. It's actually more of a sport weight than a sock weight, but it's knitting up for nice thick, warm mosaic socks. The light blue/grey is the meadow light base from Backyard Fiberworks, 80% merino, 10% nylon, and 10% cashmere, and the color is 'rainwater'. It's a standard fingering weight. Even though the two yarns are different weights, they seem to be working quite well for this balanced mosaic. I did find that I needed to purl the second pass on small grey dots, while the purple small grey dots stand out just fine even without a purl stitch.