Thanks to everyone who participated in the Need A Sock KAL. I'm going to close it off now since we seem to have run the course with our socks. I hope your sock knitting continues to provide warm feet to you and your loved ones.
Deb

I'm back knitting socks!! It's so relaxing. This summer I'll be knitting adult sweaters so having a small project on the go all the time will be a refreshing change.

This is my second waffle sock in sock yarn from Shelridge Farm. It's a beautiful chestnut brown and I love the waffle stitch so it's a joy to knit even if it is a big sock (men's size 11 shoe). I've started the heel which means I'm about half way done already. yay.
-Deb

Have you checked out the Spring issue of Knitty.com? Out of 18 designs, 4 are for socks. So socks are a big spring/summer project. They are small and easy to carry around. They could get you started on your gift knitting, Christmas is still going to come around before you expect it, again. They might be more colourful if knit in the summer. I know in one of Elizabeth Zimmermann's books she says that it's best to knit mittens in May. There is no hurry for them so you can take your time and make them as fancy as you like. I like that, knit Fancy socks in summer.

Are you knitting socks this summer?
-Deb

Darn It

Darning is fun. Hmm maybe not. I was handed a damaged sock where half of the cast on at the top of the ribbing of my husbands sock was totally unraveled. It seems that this is the spot that goes first on his socks.

He has size 11 feet and very narrow feet. So I knit his socks with a 9" circumference. But I guess getting that cast on over his heel is the problem. These socks were knit from the top up but the lesson learned here is that next time I will cast on (or cast off as the case may be) for the 10" circumference.

I picked up the open stitches with the tiniest needles I have and then cast off again with the right sized needle adding in some increases as I went. I just have the ends to sew in and I'm done. I expect the matching sock to be coming to my knitting repair shop soon.
-Deb

De-feeted

Am I the only one to be aggressively repelled by a ball of sock yarn? I have tried to knit a sock ( not even assuming that I could manage two) with sock yarn that my mother brought back from Nova Scotia about three years ago. It is very pretty with repeats of greens and blues. It came with a pattern that I lost. I have tried three times to knit CF cabled socks- it rebuffs me. Could it be suffering from anxiety because it is separated from its original pattern? Could it be missing Nova Scotia? I feel ( deep down) that it is a personal thing between the two of us. I have been found wanting. I have unravelled the little bit that it did let me knit and I am giving it , and its history to a sock knitting friend.
I have other yarn that likes me. Time is too fleeting to engage in hand to hand combat with a ball of twisted fibre!

Second Sock Syndrome

Normally I don't suffer from the dreaded SSS disease.  But after knitting lots and lots of socks this past summer, I took a sock break.  Which turned into a bad case of SSS.

The socks I knit last summer for the Need A Sock? book were all ones-ies.  All needing mates  to make them serviceable.  Finally my sock mojo has returned and pair number one is complete.

 

This is a 60 stitch sock,  knit on 2.25 mm needles using the Chevron Lace  pattern found on page 39, under Variation On Fancy Socks.  Because Chevron Lace is a six-stitch pattern, I wanted a six-stitch ribbing which would flow nicely into the lace pattern and chose  example number two of the three given in the book.  That is P1, K4, P1    

A 60 stitch sock on 2.25mm needles is proof positive that lace expands.   Normally, with only 60 stitches, I would use a larger needle.  Most often  2.75mm.  Conversely, if knitting on the 2.25 mm needles, the socks would have 64 or  even 68 stitches.  But due to lace's holey, stretchy nature, I have a sock that fits me with only 60 stitches and a 2.25 needle. 

For this sock, I used a straight stockinet Heel Flap bordered with three garter stitches on each side. 

 

And for a change from my normal Round Heel, I used a 'V' Heel.  It fits my narrow heels well, but wide-footed wearers might find it too restrictive.  

Conversely - or perversely - for me, these lace patterns which would seem to be a more time-consuming knit, actually knit up more quickly than plain old stockinet.  It happens like that because of the grouping of rows.  Four rows to a repeat and I don't allow myself to  stop knitting until a repeat is finished.  When ready to abandon knitting for those mandatory tasks like dinner prep or laundry, one more row becomes one more repeat.  Four rows.  And the sock is done faster than you might imagine.

This is a pretty sock.  The lace combined with the bright cheerful colours make a great addition to 
my winter sock drawer.

 

One sock DONE. Yay. It's a dark colour but beautiful in it's colour variation. And my husband tried it on and it fits.

The waffle is a terrific stitch pattern and a pleasure to knit.

I want to show you a tip for finishing the top of the sock.

Usually there is a gap on your cuff between the last cast on stitch (where the tail of yarn is attached) and the first cast on stitch. You can get rid of this gap when you sew the tail in. *Take your sewing up needle and insert it through the first cast on stitch from back to front.

Pull it through and take your needle to the back and insert it through the last cast on stitch from back to front.

By inserting both needles from back to front you have made a figure 8 with the yarn. The crossing of the figure 8 fills in the gap. Repeat from * once more.
Take the needle to the back and insert through the back of a stitch to secure. You may find that by sewing through the first cast on stitch twice you get a small hole. Thread your needle across this small hole and it will close.

Now thread the needle down one leg of a knit column of stitches of the ribbing and cut it off, you're done.

You now have a lovely even edge to your cast on.

Works a treat.
-Deb