Christmas Socks for Him

My knitting feels a bit out of sorts lately.  I think I feel like I should be casting on for Christmas gifts or something, but I don't really have a list of gifts to make.  So when Hubs (aka my Mr. Wonderful) pointed out that my Lollipop socks looked a bit like Christmas socks, it made me want to make him some Christmas socks too.

So I decided to grab some Socks That Rock Rare Gems Mill Ends with some green and red and join the  Kalajoki socks knit along in the Socks that Rawk!! group on Ravelry.

The yarn didn't really knit up how I expected (based on what it looked like in the skein) and they're turning out more gingerbread than red and green, but Hubs is pretty used to crazy pooling socks by now (e.g. Mr. Wonderful and Blue Jean Gems) and doesn't mind.  Fortunately, this pattern seems to stand up to the pooling well enough.

Now the Christmas Lollipop socks and these Christmas River Socks are definitely Christmas socks in spirit, but I/we have already accepted that I might not be able to finish both pairs in time to wear them for Christmas Day 2010.  Both have much longer legs than I usually work for socks, so if I do succumb to knitting Christmas gifts there's a good chance I won't have time for these.  But I finished the toe of his right sock last night and my first sock is ready for the toe decreases, so we'll both have one sock for sure.  Maybe the single socks will get hung up as stockings this year and they'll get their mates for next year.  They would definitely make for some bright and uniquely mismatched stockings!

Whirlpool Socks

These socks are for another Knit-Along, but they're also a gift for someone. That makes it a little more disappointing that I had trouble sizing these the way I wanted.

They fit my feet, which isn't exactly what I wanted since they're intended for someone with shorter feet than me.  They are a tad short for me, but not quite as short as I intended.  And while I fixed the initial gauge problem, they're not quite as snug as I planned either.  They're not baggy, but my Edwardian Boating Socks stretch quite a bit with wear so I'm hoping these don't become too baggy when worn.

Pattern: Charybdis by Fiona Lucas
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight - Rare Gems Mill End
Needles: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Completed: July 27, 2010

Having said all that, I am still really pleased with how they came out.  The colors seem very fitting for a mythical whirlpool and they blended nicely without any crazy pooling (Ha! Maybe pooling would have been even more appropriate for a whirlpool!).  I just may need to replace them with something more the right size if they don't work out as a gift.  But given the amount of sock yarn I have at the moment, that's not exactly a problem anyway!

Yarn Prize

I finished my Devon socks for the Sock Innovation Knit-Along in May and actually won one of the prizes for the month!  (Any socks entered as finished for the month are included in a drawing by random number generator to determine who wins a prize.)

I was out of town when they announced that I won, but soon found out that I would receive yarn from LittleFreak Yarns.  I was anticipating a lovely skein of a new yarn I hadn't tried before, so I was truly surprised when this arrived last week:

4 skeins!

Not one but four lovely new yarns to try!

LittleSocks by LittleFreak Yarns -a Fingering / 4 ply of 75% Wool, 25% Nylon (my skein was labeled as 440 yards)

Cody

The Electric Devons

I did it -- I finished my first Wollmeise socks and my last socks of the Sock Innovation Knit-Along with a bit of the month to spare.

Now I didn't do spectacularly well with the knit-along -- I only completed 3 of the 15 socks patterns -- but I didn't find the group until August last year and then wasn't willing to put my other knitting on hold to keep up with it (there were Christmas gifts in the works after all).  Then the moderators of the group decided to start doubling up the patterns to do 2 patterns a month and there was no way I would have kept up with every pattern anyway.  So I haven't knit them all, but I wanted to make sure I finished one of the last 2 patterns before it was over:

Pattern: Devon by Cookie A.
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin - Lavendel (We're Different)
Needles: US 1½ - 2.5 mm Addi Turbo Lace
Completed:  May 22, 2010

I'm really pleased with them and they fit beautifully, even though our summer-like weather means I haven't done anything more than simply try them on yet.  The Wollmeise yarn is really an amazingly bright purple and you certainly can't beat the yardage -- even after a longish pair of socks I have about 200 yards left!  I did find that the construction of the Wollmeise yarn made it more splitty than yarns like BMFA Socks That Rock, but it wasn't a major problem for this pattern at least.

Unfortunately, I think the sock success means that my Nonpareil sweater won't be done this month.  I haven't completely given up hope yet and I've been working on it with renewed determination, but the signs (and the amount of seaming needed) aren't good.  Who knew it could take so long to knit things like a sweater collar piece?

Sock Innovation with Wollmeise

I've been moving along with my Devon socks (from the Sock Innovation book) and finally have some photos to prove it.  I finished the first sock and I'm more than halfway through the leg of the second.  Since there's plenty of yardage in a Wollmeise skein (about 510 yards!!) and I rarely come close to running out of yarn for socks for myself anyway, I knit these according to the pattern with 4 repeats which results in a somewhat longer leg.   

But, since it's spring and there's plenty of rain moving through, these photos were taken inside and don't really do justice to the actual color.  Maybe once both socks are finished I'll be able to get some better photos of them with natural light.

In the meantime I'm in pretty good shape to get them finished and posted to the knit-along before the end of the month, but I'm hoping to work in some time for finishing my sweater, too, so there is the possibility of getting distracted.  I'm looking forward to having them finished and being able to wear them to see what the famous Wollmeise feels like after some wear, though.

Socks That Rock

Xandermommy was part of the 2009 Rockin' Sock Club, and having seen her club yarn and on her recommendation for how nice it was to work with I purchased some, too.  That was obviously months ago, given the new year and all, but I finally completed my first pair of socks using some Socks That Rock yarn.

I took the advice of a Ravelry group knit-along and tried out a lovely pattern that really mixed the colors well.  So a skein like this:

 

Became this:

When you step back and look at them from farther away or on the soles of the feet you can see that the yarn still striped, but the linen stitch panels and slipped stitches in the pattern broke it up somewhat and scattered/highlighted the different colors.

Pattern: Edwardian Boating Socks
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Lightweight - 

Rooster Rock

Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm - Signature Needle Arts Stiletto DPNs
Completed: February 5, 2010

I'm really pleased with how they came out and I agree that it's lovely yarn.  I love the twist it has - it makes it so much easier to work with and I don't have to worry about splitting the yarn even with very sharp needles, unlike some of the 2-ply sock yarns that split constantly for me, especially when working cables and the like (Curious Creek Wasonga, I'm looking at you).  But splitty cables in the Enchanted Forest are a story for another time.

Socks and Hats and Things

Holiday craziness is coming and when I have long stretches away from work I also tend to spend much less time near a computer. So, before I get caught up in other things for a bit, here's a quick update on some recent knitting progress.

It was stupidly challenging for as simple as something like a hat is supposed to be, but fortunately I finished it with plenty of time to spare:Pattern: Ardelle hat
Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds - BFL
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm bamboo
Completed: December 10, 2009

This hat is a Christmas gift, but even on the completely random chance that the family somehow stumbles onto this blog they won't know who it's for since we're doing a Secret Santa exchange. The Purelife yarn is really lovely to work with and thankfully handled all of the abuse of being knit, ripped out, and reknit remarkably well.


I also finished my Angee socks in plenty of time for the Cookie A Knit-Along, but I didn't get good pictures of them as a pair, so the best information about them is still in the previous post. I am wearing them today, though, so they're officially in the rotation!


And finally, I've started my latest socks from the Woolgirl Oz club, the Cowardly Lions:
The yarn is really soft and I love the color variations that are blending so nicely together and not pooling at all! It's been a long time since I've worked on a sock with so much stockinette and it feels so soft and squooshy that I'm loving it.


Of course I've been working on and finishing a few other gifts, but I'm keeping them secret for now just in case. It's only a few days until Christmas and I'd hate to risk ruining the surprise now.

And just in case I fall apart on posting and don't get back here until the new year, here's wishing everyone very Happy Holidays and a lot of fun, relaxing time with family and friends!

More Knit-Along Socks

Since sariebeth expressed such love for her Jitterbug yarn, I bought some so that I could give it a try, too. Of course that was months ago, but when the Sock Innovation KAL group set December as a Free-for-All month where any Cookie A. sock pattern was eligible I seized the chance. I was too busy to participate in September when this pattern rolled around the first time, but it's the perfect introduction for the traditionally yardage-challenged Jitterbug since the pattern itself includes a modification specifically for a single Jitterbug skein.

Pattern: Angee
Source: Sock Innovation, by Cookie A
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Morello Mash
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm 40″ Addi Lace

I agree the Jitterbug is fun to knit with (not even a hint of splitiness, which is lovely) and I love how sock #1 came out, but I wonder what it will be like to wear. It feels a bit heavy to me, but it's got a tight twist and I've been working with some really fine sock yarns lately so it might just be the comparison to things like Madelinetosh tosh sock that's throwing me off.

And while the first sock is obviously done, I've been distracted by a few other projects lately. Now I just have to make sure I don't get so distracted that I forget to crank out sock #2 before the December 31 deadline. Oh yeah, and somehow take care of all of the Holiday-related and non-knitting things, too!