Finished this pair last evening – for the moment it looks as if I’ll keep them for myself.
Yarn: Opal, Sweet & Spicy
I bought two more balls of yarn from this collection yesterday, one in shades of blue, the other with mauves. I now have the following yarns in my stash:
(The middle one is from a collection inspired by “Le Petit Prince” – the children’s book).
I’ve lost count of how many pairs of socks I’ve actually knit – this was somewhere around pair 300 – while I thought I might keep them, my sock drawer is full, I’ve added them to the give away pile.
Already started the next pair – can’t have the needles idle.
Another Pair of socks done!
I customized the yarn a bit here – I eliminated the multicolored band after the first one just to keep the rest of the pattern more subtle.
I have a second ball of this peach color – I’ll get to those socks after a couple in other colors.
Finished this pair of socks last evening. I like the pattern created by the yarn but this time there was an interesting variation – the variegation was obviously planned for 68 stitches – that’s what I started out with and you can see the blocks of brown and light colour. When I decreased to 64 mid way down the leg, the blocks of brown turn into stripes. I’ve never had that happen before – the “patterns” have all been more general and so the decrease in stitches hasn’t made much difference to how the overall pattern turned out.
I have a friend who wears holes in the heels of her socks. Rather than throw them away I repair them. (We joke about her having a “lifetime guarantee”—she loves to wear the socks and I enjoy knitting them.)
It used to be I salvaged the legs and reknit feet. But that’s wasteful—the feet often have another season’s wear in them. So I changed to fixing just the heel—first I tried darning the hole but often the hole is too large for a successful darn. Next I tried knitting a patch over the hole, but the sides of the patch created a strain on the sides of the heel and she ended up with holes on the side. Sometimes I’ve reinforced the bottom of the heel with a double strand of sewing thread but where the thread ended on the sides left that area vulnerable.
I have finally figured out a way to reknit just the heel itself.
The link above is to the complete set of directions (with pictures) showing how I replace just the worn heel of a knit sock!
If the hole is under the ball of the foot – no option, you can only really salvage the legs – ya gotta reknit the foot and of course by then you don’t have any of the original yarn left so you end up with something that contrasts well with the colours in the leg.
Finally got this pair of socks completed – I started them before I went to Portland, took them with me but didn’t knit much while I was away, or on the plane for that matter. And when I got back I started on the lace shawl (which I figure will take me about three more weeks to finish – I’m at the point where each row takes 10-15 minutes and I have another 60 rows at least to go).
This pair of socks is for me – I needed another “black” pair (didn’t want a solid black) and this combination of dark colours will be fine with black chorus apparel.
Shawl: Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/color-affection
I have the usual pair of socks on the go – I’ve just turned the heel on the first sock. But I’ve been sidetracked – while I was in Portland OR, I visited a yarn shop and found there a lovely knit shawl. The gal in the shop gave me the info on where to find the pattern online so I looked it up when I got home. I downloaded the pattern. Yesterday I visited my local yarn shop and picked up some lovely lace weight yarn in three colours and started the shawl. It took me three tries before I realized the shawl starts at the neck edge and not the outside edge – duh! So switching colours of yarn, I started over again (once more it took three tries before I got the shawl rolling.) I’m using a seafoam blue/green, white, and eggplant – starting with the seafoam at the neckline and working through white to the eggplant on the outer edge. I have no idea how long this garment is going to take me – but the socks are set aside for now – I won’t need them until the fall, anyway. And all this because I loaned my wool poncho that I made 40 or more years ago to a friend and it came back with an odour I can’t get rid of and which triggers my asthma. I’ve washed it twice, soaked it once; I’m going to try soaking again, this time in a solution of baking soda and put it out in a fresh breeze to see if I can get it to freshen. If that doesn’t work, I guess the poncho is a give-away.
Finished this pair of socks last evening. Never leave the needles empty – but I have yarn for just one pair in my stash. I have some leftovers – enough for some legs with solid feet, but I prefer to have most of the sock patterned. So it will soon be time to shop for more sock yarn.
Here is the latest pair of socks:
They found a home with a cousin who lives in New Zealand.
jmn 