Socks

Silly Socks

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Silly Socks (Happy Clown 09)

These were fun socks to knit! I bought the yarn from Hobbii in Denmark a couple of months ago. I’ve purchased yarn from them for a couple of years and found it a nice weight and texture. The patterns have for the most part turned out interesting socks. These were the brightest I’ve ever knit!

The only challenge was the ball of yarn had some knots where during the winding process the yarn broke and it was joined manually – distorting the pattern. I ran into both knots while knitting the first sock. The first happened between the green and blue transition – I had to unwind quite a bit of yarn to find an approximate location for a match. The second knot happened just after the heel where the solid yellow was abruptly ended and joined to green. At that point I cut out the knot, threaded one yarn into the other knit 5 stitches, trimmed excess yarn and carried on.

I had to be careful on the second sock to match the location when I got past the heel. I was pretty successful making an approximate match – my two socks turned out the same! I didn’t encounter any further knots, thank goodness. It was also a good decision to knit the cuff in yellow (I didn’t know at that point I’d lose most of the yellow solid section). It gives a colour balance to the finished sock.

Socks

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Hobbii Silly Socks (Circus Princess 04)

Finished this pair yesterday while watching Wimbledon action – Alcaraz vs Jarry. Not Alcaraz’s best play – his first serve wasn’t working well so he was playing a defensive tennis against a competent opponent.

The socks are rather sedate – but I liked the soft colours and enjoyed working with them which is why I chose the soft pink as the complement colour.

KnitPicks & Hobbii Silly Socks

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Made With KnitPicks Yarn

A while back I placed an order with KnitPicks for three/four skeins of sock yarn (I can’t now remember how many I bought). This is the second pair finished (the other is in the sock stash). The repeat is the length of the leg (just about) – longer than most other sock yarns. You end up with an extended interesting pattern. I still am adding contrast for cuff/heel/toe. I prefer how adding a solid brings out the colours in the yarn.

I had finished these socks a couple of weeks ago, taken them to show at our Friday afternoon knitting group. One of the gals was working on some rather bland socks. I pulled up the Hobbii Yarn Website / Sock Yarns to show her some colourful alternatives. Found the “Silly Socks” yarn on sale! While we were sitting there I ordered four balls/skeins of the yarn.

Hobbii Yarn (Denmark)

I’m currently working on the second sock on the first of those balls/skeins and liking the resulting sock. The yarn is a great sock weight and soft although it’s the conventional superwash of 75% wool and 25% polyamide. It knits up well and feels nice in the hand. Another couple of evenings and the pair will be done.

I bought one skein of the rainbow yarn shown in the photo – they should be fun to knit up – although I’m not sure what solid I’ll add to it. Maybe I’ll even keep the resulting socks.

Still knitting every evening in front of the TV!

Finished A Couple Of Evenings Ago

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Lang SwissLakes Super Soxx Yarn

I finished this pair of socks a couple of evenings ago. I really liked the colours and the colour flow. I used a contrast yarn for cuff and heels but decided to carry on with the patterned yarn for the toe, introducing the contrast 1/4 of the way through in alternate rows. The teal and rusts make a nice combination.

Socks Finished Last Night

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KnitPix Yarn

Many months ago I bought several skeins of sock yarn from KnitPix – I ordered them because I found the original couple of skeins were a lovely soft merino/Polyester blend and great to work with. I chose to pick up the lime/yellow colour from the pattern for cuffs and toes, but decided to use a navy for the heels to keep the overall “navy” feel to the socks.

Someone will enjoy wearing them.

Sort Of Sedate Socks

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Man-Size Socks

I mostly knit socks to fit a women wearing a size 7-8 shoe (give or take a bit in the length). If I know someone has a small foot, I knit them with four fewer stitches and a few rows shorter in the foot. I don’t actually knit socks in “inches”; I knit them by counting rows so I know precisely how long each section of the sock actually is without the uncertainty of stretching it against a ruler.

This pair of socks is intended for a man wearing a size 9 1/2 shoe. So I added 6 rows to my usual foot length. With a bit of washing (even in cold water) which will shrink the socks a tiny bit they should fit nicely. Just waiting for an occasion to pass the socks along.

The socks aren’t “dull”, but they are sedate, I’d say. No bright colours. Just a wee bit jazzy.

Socks Again

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Colourful Socks

I knit these socks for my niece’s stepdaughter who’s studying biomedical engineering at university. She wears a size 9 shoe – people always think it odd when I ask their shoe size – but that’s how I know how long to make the foot of a sock. I checked my sock stash and I did have a couple of pairs of socks that would have fit her, but they were rather dull, more suitable for a man (men generally prefer sedate socks rather than bright ones – except for one of my brothers-in-law who has a collection of quite wild socks – two drawers worth, I understand, although I’ve never seen them except when he’s wearing a pair). So I looked through my sock yarn, chose what looked like a bright yarn and started knitting.

I finished the socks three days ago. Put them in the mail straight away. They should arrive by the middle of next week.

Waste Not, Want Not

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Socks – Restored

Patsy wondered whether I could fix holes in the feet of her socks. I’d have to see, I told her. Depends on the size and location of the holes. (These were socks she bought from me to give to her daughters, I thought, a couple of Christmases ago – looks like she kept a pair for herself! Well loved, I could see.)

Well, not only were there substantial holes in the ball of the foot, the heels were threadbare, as well. No point in trying to reknit the holes. Better to salvage the legs and reknit new feet.

I went to my leftover yarn stash to see whether I still had a ball of the original yarn tucked in there. No luck, didn’t find any. I did find another pattern that looked like it would complement the original pattern. I cut off the feet just at the start of the heel, and reknit new feet.

It takes 4-5 days to knit a length of leg – so 8-9 days, say, to knit a pair of legs. Half the job done. It’s worth my time and effort to salvage legs and knit new feet. She’ll get another couple of years wear from these like-new socks.

The match between the two socks isn’t absolutely perfect, but close enough that if I didn’t mention it, I’m not sure Patsy would even notice the discrepancy.

I’ll knock on her door with these later today!

Worked out pretty well, huh?

Finished At Last

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The yarn: Lang Twin Soxx. The 100g ball of 4-ply sock yarn is set up to make a single pair of socks. The trick is finding the length of white yarn somewhere in the middle (after you’ve finished the first sock) which marks the beginning of the second! I’ve missed it both times now. I got several rows past the cuff on the second sock before I realized my pattern wasn’t going to match up. I cut the yarn, kept pulling it out, until I found the white “marker” and started again.

The yarn definitely makes an interesting looking sock. Interesting to knit since the pattern keeps changing, no repeating, all the way to the toe.

I’d originally bought two balls of this yarn. I’ve knit both of them. Now to ball up some of the skeins I have in my yarn basket to get on with my 2023 batch of socks.

Bamboo/Acrylic Yarn Socks

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They look pretty – I like the colour combination and the pattern but I have to say I don’t enjoy working with this yarn (Perfect Pair Yarn by Loops & Threads). I purchased the yarn originally at Michael’s but the yarn has gone out of production and isn’t available there any longer. I managed to find a couple of balls online of which this is one. The yarn is somewhat stretchier and finer than the wool yarn I prefer to knit with. The only reason I made this pair of socks is the friend who loves them can’t wear wool! So another gift completed.