I finally finished the sixth pair of socks last evening. Done. Completed.
A friend asked to make 6 pairs of socks for her daughter and granddaughter for Christmas sometime in June (July, August, September, October, November, December – 6 months) – enough time to make 6 pairs of socks.
But the “job” felt like it was taking over my life. This wasn’t relaxed knitting. I felt compelled to knit at least 20 rows every evening, if I was to meet this deadline. I have knit a pair of socks in 2 weeks, but that was because the TV program I was watching was particularly interesting, or my knitting stamina was better at that particular time. While relaxed knitting it probably takes me closer to 3 weeks, maybe even 4 – although I knit most evenings, some evenings I might not.
Even though I actually had enough time, I felt the pressure. It was a relief, last evening, to finish the toe on the final sock!
Now I can return to the socks I put aside when I started these 6 pairs.
I finished this pair a couple of nights ago (4th of October, I think). I immediately started the final, 6th, pair. That means I should be finished all six pairs of Christmas socks for my friend’s order by the end of October.
It will be a relief.
Although I usually knit for a couple of hours almost every evening, knitting on these socks has been working under pressure and has made it harder than usual. I have often felt I can’t put them down, I need to knit a few more rows, I have to keep going…
I’ve enjoyed the yarns. Because these socks are a tad smaller than my usual women’s size 7 1/2-8 socks they’ve gone a bit faster. But that hasn’t mattered. I’ve felt the pressure, nevertheless.
I’m looking forward to getting back to knitting when I feel like it, and not knitting when I don’t!
(As the Monty Python gang used to say “And now for something completely different!)
I’m working away at those six pairs of socks I agreed to knit for a friend for her daughter and granddaughter for Christmas. I will make the deadline – two pair left – three weeks/pair. I’m hoping to be finished by the end of October/first week of November!
I’ve already started pair #5 – in green.
My only concern is whether the foot is long enough – if it isn’t – I’m going to have six pairs of socks with feet I’ll have to lengthen by around 4-5 rows.
(I’ve started thinking about how to do that – like by cutting the foot open, adding the rows to the foot, then reattaching the toe end using a Kitchener stitch! It would be less work than unravelling the toe, knitting the extra rows, and reuniting the toe!)
While watching the election coverage the other night, I finally finished a pair of socks.
I was’t sure I had enough of the mauve yarn to complete two toes – so I dug through my stash for another leftover. Came up with the turquoise. There was enough in that ball to finish the pair of socks.
Well these socks turned out well. The peach solid blended nicely with the peach in the variegated yearn and the other colours are bright and serve as accents for the main colour. And believe it or not, there was exactly enough of the peach solid to finish the second toe. I was prepared to add some mauve, orange and yellow to the toe if I had to. That meant I would have to undo the toe in the first sock so I could match what I did with the second sock. But none of that was necessary – there was enough peach solid to do the job.
Leftovers for next pair of socks
There’s enough yarn left in the ball to make a pair of legs, for sure. I’ve added a mauve solid for cuffs, heels and toes. I have a second variegated yarn that I’m going to interleave with the peach variegated which will give me more than enough for a full pair of socks. The socks I want to make are a slightly smaller size for a friend who wears a size six shoe. Plenty of yarn here.
To prep for the socks, my next step is to divide both variegated yarns exactly in half so I know how much I have for one sock (and be assured there will be the same amount available for the second sock)! Now, to divide the yarn and get going!
I’m working away at my yarn stash – these yarns are turning out interesting socks. I like how the golden pair has dark accents. The long repeat on the blue sock creates an interesting colour flow.
The blue sock was a surprise! I knit the contrasting cuff from a 4-ply yarn in my stash – that’s all I ever use. However, I’d bought the blue yarn at Woolworks in Mahone Bay not realizing it (and the three other balls I had picked up) were a 6-ply! When I started knitting the leg the yarn felt funny…heavy in my hand, uncomfortable. I’d probably knit close to 20 rows before I thought to look at the label – only to discover I was working with 6-ply yarn. I had three choices: unravel what I’d done and substitute a different 4-ply, change my needles to a larger size (needing to unravel what I’d done and work with a different number of stitches), or keep knitting the socks. I decided to keep knitting.
As it is, the cuff, heel and toe are knit from 4-ply; the rest of the sock is 6-ply. I’m confident that whoever gets these socks won’t ever notice the difference. What surprised me was how different the heavier yarn felt in my hands. I didn’t like it. And of course, using the smaller 2.5mm needles I’ve used to knit at least 100 pair of socks made the sock more dense than if I’d knit using 3.0mm needles. The problem with the larger needles is having to use fewer stitches if I wanted the socks to turn out the same size – the number of rows would also be different – everything was an unknown. I kept working with my 2.5mm needles.
I knit almost every evening for relaxation – the sock production is a by-product but not my primary motivation. I find my mind slows down when I’m knitting in front of the TV. My attention isn’t on the screen entirely and at the end of the evening I’ve another 20-30 rows completed – I’m not wasting my time but I’m also not rushing to finish the socks – I’m just relaxing!
I returned the other three balls of 6-ply yarn even though they each had a lovely colour scheme. I exchanged them for 4-ply balls. I didn’t like the colours as they appeared in the ball but I’m discovering they’re knitting into interesting socks! I’ve one sock completed, the second half done – a pattern I didn’t expect emerged. It was challenging finding a starting place to match the first sock but I succeeded in the end. I will end up with a pair of matched socks from this new ball of yarn.
A couple of weeks ago I went to put on this pair of grey socks only to discover a hole in the toe of one. No big deal, I thought, I’ll just darn it. I didn’t like how the darning turned out (I used Swiss darning) so I cut off the toe. Then I decided to check the heels – they were pretty weakened as well. I cut off the foot.
The thing about salvaging legs is that at least half the job is done – it’s just a matter of knitting new heels, foot and toe. I picked up the stitches at the open end of the leg and got to work. I was about half way through reknitting the foot of the second sock when I realized I probably would have ended up with a more interesting sock had I done the foot in navy blue to pick up the accent colour in the leg – but grey socks these are.
Finished last night and back in the drawer.
It’s rare for my socks to end up with holes because I have so many pair and each gets worn just a few times a year. Obviously this grey pair was worn more than the others.
I’m conducting a workshop on Saturday with a group of women interested in learning how to do heirloom sewing. In preparation for the day I made a new panel myself (in part because I need a couple of new nightgowns to replace two that are just about to rip apart from long wear).
I started the panel with a lace insert, added pintucks to each side, followed by a row of decorative stitching, then tucks, some hemstitching, more decorative stitching, finishing with a final row of hemstitching. I added an entredeux to the bottom where the skirt of the nightgown will be attached.
This panel is ready to be made into a nightgown.
A couple of weeks ago, in preparation for a workshop on constructing a small bag with lots of zippers, I made this embroidered iPhone Case. I used a scrap of linen I had on hand, did a cross stitch embroidery in a contrasting thread, then made the bag. I chose zipper tape that blended with the fabric colour, but added contrasting zipper pulls. Because I have made so many, I can whip up a zippered bag in under a half hour!
Also, I always have a pair of socks on the go. This pair took at least a week longer than usual because other things kept getting in the way of my knitting time. They are now done.
And last, I had two pair of socks with holes in the toes – first time in 25 years – since I started knitting socks!
New Toes!
It takes me an evening to knit a new toe. These socks are repaired – like new – and back in my sock drawer. I’m working on the second pair – they needed more radical attention – both toes and heels were seriously weakened – I decided to salvage the legs and knit new feet. The first of that pair is getting close to finished.
So Saturday I will be helping the gals with their heirloom sewing. On Sunday I hope to cut out a tailored shirt from a very wild linen print I’ve had in the stash – my intention is to wear it as a light summer jacket.
An update on the “log cabin” quilt – I’ve been building light blocks to fill in around the coloured ones:
Filling In
Eight of the light blocks are only partially constructed – I hope to complete them today. I think I’m also going to add one more row to the top end which will mean three more light blocks – that addition will add 6″ to the length of the quilt which will give it better balance: ~50″ (width) x ~68″ (length).
To be able to continue making the fill-in blocks I went shopping two days ago to pick up a half-dozen more light fabrics. I wanted a bit more variation in the colour pallet for those blocks than I had. Hard to tell from the photo but I’ve blended those fabrics into the blocks as I’ve been constructing them.
This project is coming along block by block. I’m not pre-cutting pieces, but rather working with the long strips and trimming after I’ve attached each piece to the block. When the blocks are finished, I need to do the triangle elements for the edges – those will be tricky because I want to include narrow contrast elements in them and will have to anticipate placement as I construct each of the large blocks (10 1/2″) from which the triangles will be cut!
When this yarn arrived, I thought I’d never bother knitting it into socks because the black was such a stark a contrast to the red and orange. But as my yarn stash has dwindled (I’m trying to use up what I have) I picked it up and started working on it. The dark red cuff/heel/toe balanced the black nicely. I finished the socks and put them in my sock drawer – perfect to wear with burgundy, or black, or dark grey pants.
JoAnn’s Socks Finished
JoAnn is a member of our Friday afternoon knitting group here in the building. Since everyone is knitting, she wanted to knit, too. Her hands no longer coordinate well enough to work with needles, but she was fine with a knitting “loom”.
Knitting Loom with Stylus
She’s worked away at her socks for the better part of two years, I’m sure. But last week she completed the foot on the second sock. I took over from there, taking the sock from the loom and knitting the toe for her. Then I washed and blocked the socks. I decided to add a row of single crochet to the top of the socks to stabilize that edge (careful not to make it too tight).
[I also knit the heels – I couldn’t figure out how to do that on the loom, so when it came time to turn each heel, I took the sock from the loom, put it on needles, turned each heel, then restored the sock to the loom so JoAnn could continue her knitting.]
JoAnn’s Socks
I was happy with how they turned out. I’m sure she will be, too. The mismatch happened because the pattern didn’t play out precisely the same in each ball of yarn and when she got to the second toe (the one on top), I had to work with a small ball of yarn leftover from the first sock so the pattern didn’t synch. Who cares, right? The toes are inside her shoes.
The Certificate of Completion
I even did up a “Certificate Of Completion” to celebrate her accomplishment!
More Sock Repairs
Debbie’s Heel RepairRuby’s Toe Replacements
My friend Ruby slowly knits away making socks but when it comes to repairs, forget it. The socks on the left belong to her daughter Debbie. The heel (of the sock on top) came to me with a very large hole in the heel (why one heel and not both I can’t explain). So I cut out the old heel and knit a new one. I had more yarn like the original (it’s no longer in production), just not in the same colour. Same with the toe replacements on Ruby’s socks – the mismatch is less obvious there because I was able to find a spot in the yarn that kind of matched with the original socks.
I still have one last repair job waiting for me. My very old LL Bean cotton sweater has worn out in one arm – I discovered a large hole the last time I wore it. The question is whether to do a visible repair, or to see what I can find in a matching yarn, to close in the hole. I want to get to it soon so I can clear off the table beside my chair where I knit in the evenings (while watching TV, of course).
One Last Thing
Today my boomerang quilt was showcased in Nancy’s Notions Thursday Newsletter! I submitted the information (with photos) a couple of weeks ago. I’m delighted the quilt will be seen by a lot more people. It may inspire some to improvise from quilts they come across, or at least try to replicate them without a pattern. As a teacher my aim is to help people learn to deconstruct how a quilt is assembled so they can improvise quilts of their own based on traditional quilting techniques. In the piece, I explain how I made this quilt so others can give it a try themselves.
I finished this pair last evening after having done absolutely NO knitting for six days. I came down with a norovirus a week ago – vomiting, diarrhea – which lasted four days and then I was too lethargic to do anything but binge watch a TV series on Britbox – Waking The Dead. I finally picked up the sock again (the second sock just needed a toe), finished it, then put stitches on for a new pair.
That’s how it goes – no empty needles in my apartment. Otherwise, how would I rationalize evenings watching TV? I can knit through just about any genre, except tennis! I can’t keep track of the shots and miss the best rallies if I don’t keep my eyes on the screen. I was delighted Sinner defeated Djokovic in the Autralian Open semi-final and then went on to win the tournament Sunday. It’ll be very interesting tennis over the next few years with Sinner and Alcaraz competing – they’re both such young, yet wonderful athletes. Great variety to their games (not just slugging it out from the baseline – no fun watching that). I’m looking forward to the unfolding tennis season this year – lots of great matches to come.
Back to the socks, I realized after the first sock I was probably going to put this pair in my sock drawer. Now that they’re finished, that’s where they’re going. I was even going to put them on this morning but didn’t because they’d have been too loose inside my boots. In the end I haven’t gone out in the storm, I worked on the current quilt (more on that in the next post).
jmn 