Adding interest

I bought four balls of reasonably boring variegated yarn during the summer. The challenge has been to come up with ideas to liven up the color contrasts. In this case, what works is the single row of turquoise near the top of the sock and again in the instep. The rows of burgundy and rust add very little contrast. 

So the next pair in shades of blues and greys will want something that pops out – need to think about a bright green or a red.

This is the pair of socks I finished last evening. I had only a single 50g ball of the variegated yarn so I extended it using a complementary turquoise. In this case, most of the sock was knit with the two yarns interleaved.

Along the way I made a mistake on the first sock – I decreased a second time in the leg (going from 68 stitches, to 64, and ending up at 60), making for rather snug ankle fit. I had knit too far beyond the second decrease to bother going back and removing it, so instead, I just made a somewhat smaller sock overall! Instead of my usual sock sized for a woman wearing a size 7-8 (8 1/2)shoe, this pair will go to someone with smaller feet (a size 6-7 1/2). I even remembered to knit the second sock to match!

And BTW, I finished edge stitching my way around ALL the circles on the Double Vision Quilt – I worked on that for four days. This evening I finished quilting the complete sandwich having done a very simple piecing on the back (pictures tomorrow). In the end I did rows of straight stitching between the circles in both directions. Tomorrow I intend to embroider the border with a design consisting of interlocking circles. And I’ve selected several fabrics to mirror the colour story for a narrow binding….

Finished this pair a couple of evenings ago. I enjoyed working with this yarn – I liked the colours and how they played out. The grey cuff, heels, toes blended in nicely with the grey in the variegation.

I immediately started the next pair.

I manage to knit a pair of socks about every two weeks – that’s how long it takes me – 25 hours or so. Since I knit for a couple of hours only in the evenings – two weeks.

People say to me, “Oh you should sell them!” Right – 26 pairs of socks, more or less, a year – any idea what I’d need to charge to make that worthwhile? People are shocked when I say I charge $50 for a pair – $25 for the yarn, 25 hours – that’s just $1 an hour for my labour.

Want to know what these socks are really worth – @ $90/hour that my physio or massage therapists charge – these socks should be priced $2250 + $25. The price I should be charging is $2275! Why should my time be worth less than theirs?

No, these socks are gifts of love to people I know are going to treasure them!

If fact, I like these ones well enough that they may just go into MY sock drawer!

Just finished. They seemed to take forever! Probably because I didn’t work on them every evening so they took three weeks rather than the usual two. Anyway, they are now done.

Definitely bright. 

Usually I immediately start a next pair – no idle needles; but it’s now past midnight so new socks will have to be tomorrow….

Although I’ve been a vagabond (homeless) these past few weeks, I’ve managed to knit and gift a pair of socks for a friend. And they fit him perfectly!
I’m now just past the heel on the first sock of the next pair. 

This period of waiting is nearly over thank goodness – I get possession of the apartment Monday and the movers will arrive Wednesday. It’s going to be wonderful finally getting back to a place of my own.

Another improvisation using variegated yarn. I broke the pattern using the teal colour insert.

Red/Orange Socks

Because I had only one 50g ball of variegated yarn for two socks, I had to locate the mid-point of the ball – I realized that half-way through the first foot! So I stopped where I was, unravelled the ball of yarn until I located the matching starting point for the second sock, cut the yarn, then began working on the second sock. My plan was to knit until I ran out of yarn on the second sock and then unravel the first sock back to the same location in the pattern.

I was lucky, I’d stopped just about at the center and so I didn’t have to unravel anything on the first sock when I resumed knitting after finishing the second sock!

I’m happy with how they turned out.
So into the stash this pair goes.

I started a new pair last evening – this for Edouard whose feet are cold these days. Black/white variegated yarn with an orange-red accent yarn. I thought this red/orange pair were likely too bright for him to feel comfortable wearing them so I made this pair my standard women’s size.