Finis

My first pair of socks in just over a year (last pair were finished 20 March 2012).

Pattern: no pattern used, just started at the toe, increased till it seemed about right, knit the foot for a while, did a short row heel over >50% of the stitches (for extra heel room), knit the leg until I ran out of yarn (Sock A) or it was the same length as the first one (Sock B).
Yarn: chain plied handspun, "Gobbler" Cheviot from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club, 95 yds for Sock A and 130 yds (not all used) for Sock B.
Needles: US 4/3.5 mm and US 3/3.25 mm. I should have gone down one more needle size for Sock B, as the fabric is a bit too loose for socks IMHO, but c'est la vie.
Start/Finish: 11 March 2013-20 April 2013.
Gauge: yes
Comments: so...I love this colorway beyond all imagining, and am very happy with the socks except for one thing: clearly my winging the pattern (i.e. not using the Sock Fitting Bible*) has resulted in socks that are too big for me. The heavier weight (thicker yarn) sock is better, but I got a bit too caught up in making the stripes line up perfectly (mostly) and ended up with a second sock that is just a hair too loose. So be it - these will be lovely around the house socks when the cold weather shows up again. In June**.


My next pair of handspun socks (handspun skeins in this post, also with a large edible bird-inspired name) will be done a bit more mathematically, and so hopefully will fit a bit better.

* any and all books about socks written by Cat Bordhi.
** a certain fatalistic British-ness is infiltrating my attitude towards the weather. I suspect this is completely unavoidable. My apologies!

Because you can't have enough mini-socks

Same pattern/yarn details as previously. 

Wysteria, Rosebud, Birch and Lawn

Jade, Rockwater, Stormchaser and SitkaI can not get enough of this yarn. Which is, I suppose, a good thing, as I've got one more bag of mini-skeins to go!

The sock moratorium seems to be over

Remember how I said I was in a sock rut? Actually, it wasn't really a rut so much as a complete absence of any desire to knit socks whatsoever. A sock drought, if you will. Well...I'm happy to say that the drought seems to be over.

I have discovered that there are two solutions to lack of sock mojo: the first is to knit socks with handspun (I've got another batch of handspun yarn ready for the next pair already).

The second solution? Knit a glorious rainbow of mini-socks for samples.

There are sixteen mini-skeins there, and I've done 6 little, itty-bitty socks in the last two days. I. Cannot. Stop. With. Mini. Socks. I am totally enfatuated, so enfatuated that I'm having trouble doing anything else. Which is great for my sense of productivity and accomplishment (1 sock = about 45 min. Result!), but not so good for getting anything finished off that someone bigger then my dog might wear (i.e. the handspun socks are at the exact state seen in the above photo and have been for five days now).

The upside is that I should be done with the minis in a few more days and I will be required to get myself back to human-sized knitting projects. Like the sweater in progress, and the socks, and the hats, and the mittens, plus the deadline knitting that needs to be done...see you in a month or so!

Lost: My Sock Mojo

I used to knit socks. Lots of socks. I had grand aspirations of knitting my way through Cookie A's first book from cover to cover. I got through the first two and then...radio silence.

I used to design socks. Lots of socks. Two socks for the annual Sock Madness knitalong, one of which was difficult enough (read: effing fiddley) to be the final sock in the competition (the other was the second-to-last round). Socks inspired by the Tour de France. Kids socks. All sorts of socks. But then...the well dried up.

The last pair of socks I knit: started a year ago today.

They are lovely socks, toe-up, from handspun superwash Corriedale dyed by the fabulously talented Amy King of Spunky Eclectic. No patterning or fancy stitch work, just plain stockinette socks.

And since that fateful day in late March 2012 when they were finished? Not one single solitary sock has been cast on, or even contemplated. What's happened to me? It's not like I don't have truckloads of sock yarn to play with. Or enough sock books to sink the Titanic, full of fabulous, inspiring, gorgeous patterns. But I'm finding it incredibly difficult to even consider casting on for a sock, and inertia has me in its deadly grasp. What's a former sock knitter to do?

Last week may have given me the solution. We were gathered for our monthly spinning night last week, and our hostess was not feeling inspired with spinning. So she disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a bag of leftover handspun and some needles. Within a few minutes she had cast on and made measurable progress on a sock toe.

Just like that.

Clearly the answer to my missing sock mojo is to start baiting the trap with handspun. First on the docket is this:

Gobbler Cheviot that I spun up in February. To be followed closely or even simultaneously with this:

Turkey Day Cheviot that is being spun up now (singles are done and need to be plied). Both these yarns have been spun specifically to create fantastic stripey socks, so all I need to do now is wind up the yarn and cast on.

Can someone please hold my hand???? wanders off whimpering...

Between extremes

My "relaxation knitting"* these days is vacillating between opposite ends of the spectrum. First up is the fiddley-beyond-belief category:

A pair of socks I actually started almost a year ago. I pulled them out of the Works in Progress Bin at the beginning of this month, thought "hunh...", ripped them out completely (I had a toe and about 2 inches of instep done) and started over again. The worst part was trying to start entrelac on US 0/2.0 mm needles with a provisional cast on and splitty yarn. Fun!

Then there's the mindless end of things...


That is the Garter Yoke Cardi by Melissa LeBarre, which I have wanted to do every since I saw Caro's version (Rav link). The yarn is the whack-load of Hello Yarn Romney in Timber that I spun up during the TdF last (hooray for casting on one of my handspun sweater lots!!!), and I am operating under the deluded hope that I can finish it before the Tour de Fleece starts. On Saturday.

Oh well. At least there's always (always!) coffee.


* The "work knitting" being my hat project: 2 of 7 prototypes done, one almost totally tested and one about to go to testers. I am on track**. Woot!


** So far. Famous last words and all that...