Here they are. Finished last evening. The yarn was dyed to produce the spiral stripes. Overall, I find the black overpowering the white/pink/rose. So these would be socks to wear with black, rather than pink, say.
Into the give-away pile… (which is growing – I’m going to have lots of socks for Christmas presents, coming December).
These are the socks for my friend Sab (who works for Lufthansa). She asked me for a pair of socks she could wear with her uniform – indigo and red – but Lufthansa’s colours are indigo and a golden yellow, so I incorporated both the red and yellow into the socks, making sure there was a reasonable amount of navy at the cuff end so she can wear them in her boots without the colour showing! At least I hope that’s what will happen.
Now to pack them up and get them in the mail to her. That’s for tomorrow.
The pair I started last evening I’m calling black/white cow – the yarn colours are white/black/grey with some pink – they just remind me of a cow. The yarn seemed so silly I couldn’t resist it. 
See what I mean – at the moment I’m knitting on 68 stitches – the “pattern” will change when I reduce to 64 in another 10 rows or so. Then I suspect there will be a set of spirals that appear. That’s the pleasure of knitting with variegated yarn – I love seeing what pops out as I knit!
The variegated yarn consisted of shades of grey with some soft burgundy and a grey/white mix. I extended that yarn with more white, a much stronger burgundy, with cuffs, heels and toes in a dark grey. It worked.
I did portion out the patterned yarn into two equal amounts before starting so if I ran out I could balance the two socks. I actually was able, in this case, to make it all the way to the toe!
This was the last of my leftover yarn. I went to the yarn store last Tuesday to pick up some new stock. Sab, my friend in Munich has asked for a pair of navy with red to keep her feet warm while working. There wasn’t any patterned yarn in those colours so I picked up some navy and red (I had some white at home) to see what I can concoct. Started this afternoon.
This is the pair using leftover yarn. I interspersed the variegated with a solid peach for the leg and instep. When I ran out I added a solid light grey. The point is to stretch out the variegated as far as it will go. I suppose I could stretch it further were I to use a third inserted colour.
This was the original pair knit from the variegated with contrasting cuff, heel, toe.
Just the heel in a contrast colour this time. I wanted to use up as much of this yarn (Opal: Sweet ‘N Spicy) as possible to have the least left over (still probably enough for a pair of legs).
This is the only yarn I’ve used for three pairs of socks – that’s why this pair seemed to go so slowly – I knew what was coming.
That was the last full ball of yarn in my stash. Time to visit LK Yarns in the north end, my local yarn shop.
Finished last night – decided to continue with the variegated yarn for the toe rather than do it in red although I like how the heel (with stripe over the instep) in red ties the colour progression together.
I’ve been knitting socks for myself and others since 2003. So far I’ve probably knit about 350 pairs of socks – of which I have 42 pairs in my sock drawer, including the latest pair I finished last night.
Socks drying after being washed
I started knitting socks for myself because I have always found the seam across the toes of ready made socks uncomfortable. I’d read about “self-patterning” yarn and when I came across some I thought I’d give sock knitting a try.
The great thing about knitting with variegated yarn is that a pattern emerges and I keep knitting to see how the sock will unfold (the first sock is always an adventure, the second sock is boring, but hey, it doesn’t take a huge time investment before a new sock adventure begins!).
Within a couple of months I had half a dozen pairs of socks; within a year I’d got rid of all my store-bought socks and I just kept knitting.
I produce about 26 pairs a year on average, some years a few more. I always have socks on the go. I find the act of knitting very relaxing. I’ve never knit the same pattern twice so each new pair of socks is a new exploration. Making something interesting from leftover yarn is the most enjoyable – I really never know how they’re going to turn out!
So as long as my hands will allow I’ll have socks on the go.
“These socks are very needed in this Arctic cold weather!!! Thanks again !! ”
Poonam stopped by for a visit during the Christmas holidays. The weather was cold so I pulled two pair of socks from my sock drawer and gave them to her. Her feet are a bit smaller than mine so I selected two of the smaller pair.
This was the first pair of socks I knit – in 2003! Because I have so many pairs of socks they don’t get worn heavily so these were still good as new.
Glad they’re appreciated and doing their job.
I may have been quiet for the last three weeks but I’ve been knitting and sewing away each day!
Finished this pair of socks from leftover bits of yarn. I find I enjoy turning those bits of yarn into something that’s even more interesting than some of the variegated patterned yarns.
I like this pair so well that they’ve gone in my sock drawer instead of the give-away pile.
Of course I started a next pair straight away.
So it started out like this — the heels were worn (in the blue pair the wear extended into the instep). I’ve created a way of replacing heels so that was what I was planning on doing. I picked up stitches around the worn out heels, ran a holding thread through, cut out the worn part a short distance away from the holding thread, then removed the excess knitting until I reached the holding stitches.
The procedure then involves picking up the stitches at the leg edge of the heel, knitting a regular heel, then grafting back the instep to complete the sock. That worked on two pairs. Shaved the nubbies off the socks and they’re like new.
The blue pair required a bit more extensive surgery! I knit the heel and the gusset and was set to graft back the toe when I discovered the toes and underside of the foot were too threadbare to warrant using. So I continued knitting the entire foot. I scrounged around my leftover yarn but I had no variegated yarn to blend with the leg so I elected to finish the foot in a solid dark grey yarn.
These will now last another couple years of hard wear!
jmn 