WIP: 2021 Christmas Socks

While the Christmas tree is still up (do you take yours down late too?), I decided to cast on my 2021 Christmas socks. They will just be a casual pair to knit on all year. October through December gets so busy that I don't always have time to whip up a pair in time for the holidays, so this is my way around that.

I just love self-patterning yarn. It's so satisfying seeing the yarn do all of the work.

This was 2020's pair that I casually worked on last year:

 

 

See you soon. I have another embroidery project coming off the hoop!

FO: Christmas 2020 Socks

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and (soon to be) New Year!

This year has brought many changes and trials that we have had to overcome. It's been a much slower knitting year for me due to spinal and joint alignment issues that I have been struggling with since March, but after many weeks of chiropractic and physical therapy visits, I am starting to feel stronger and able to heal more. I am hoping that the new year will bring my body back to normal.

Nevertheless, I have finished my Christmas socks in time for the holiday, and so let me share the finished knit with you:

Ironically they matched some my surroundings, such as my knitting basket, a rug at a play-place my kids were at at the end of 2019, knitting bags and such. I have been working on these socks casually for over a year, and that's okay. Life is too short to care about missing the boat.

You can find the project notes here.

These were knit two-at-a-time, which is nice for trying to get the socks to match up identically, but I find finicky in terms of yarn tingling management. I still go back and forth in my mind to decide whether or not to do future socks as singletons.

 

These socks took me a year, but I'm okay with that. Time slipped away from me this week and I intended to cast on next year's Christmas socks before the holiday, but I'll do that now that the crazy Christ-massing is done. 

Here's some photos that capture our merry-making this Christmas:

Spiced sugar cookies, kolaczkies (not shown) and really scrumptious peppermint macrons with fresh Italian (peppermint) buttercream.

 

One twin still wears Halloween and Thanksgiving wear, and the other twin is ALL about Christmas! Can you believe that they are 10 years old now?

 

No, we do not know how to make the appropriate amount of appetizer food for a small amount of people! 

Don't loose your humor and silliness people.

 

I know that the weather has turned cold, but don't forget to some fresh air and sunshine throughout the week to nurture your physical and mental health... and vitamin D3 supplements! 

I wish you good health and much happiness from this year into the next!

FO: Rainbow Socks

Buon Giorno! Good Day!

As I began writing this next installment of "make-up posts," my kids finished their first day of e-learning at a new school district, and the quiet that once enveloped the house earlier could no longer be found, as they instantaneously became a bucket of energy. Yikes.

Anyhow...how are you? What have you been up to? Staying sane? Staying healthy?

I am continuing my journey of learning Italian. I started after the new year, then took a break around when we moved in the spring, then started learning more, then took a short break, and now it's about fall...it's time to get serious again! (I actually like being "the student.")

So, what's off the needle (as of a year ago?--eek): Rainbow Socks!

They are so pretty and cheerful. I specifically knit these during the warm months only. That means that I took two summers to knit each of the sock mates, and that was ok with me as I had other socks that I worked on too.

Materials & Notes

Pattern: My own top-down vanilla socks, with A&C short row heels

Project Page

 

Size: US 7.5 Women's

 

Needle

US 1 - 2.25 mm    US 1½ - 2.5 mm 

 

Gauge

17.5 stitches and 23 rows = 2 inches 

 

Yarn

Zwerger Garn Opal Mein Sockendesign

1 skein = 465.0 yards (425.2 meters), 100 grams

Colorway 9376 Over The Rainbow  dye lot #1604

 

Notes:

CO 72 sts onto 2.25mm/US1.
1x1 rib for 1.5'' 5 colors (T, G,Y,O,R), plus 2 rds of pink, then dec round in larger needle: (K16, k2tog)-2x, so 68 sts left.
Knit leg with larger needles until 7.5'' from CO edge.

I used Arne & Carlos' Short Row Heel Method. 34 sts heel. (Next time: work until 8 unworked center sts)

Knit insole 6'' (from heel edge), then decrease the toe sts until 12 sts left.

Since I've been slacking on "WIP" posts, let me take you through the entire journey:

 

These next photos were me taking this to two separate family reunion trips. The photo above was taken at a cabin surrounded by rolling farmland in Elizabeth, IL, near Galena, IL. The photo below was from a beach on Lake Michigan. 

Fun stuff! These reek of summer! The funny thing is that they are too warm to wear during the summer months, lol.

Stay tuned for me upcoming make-up posts. I've got three more FOs, and a bunch of WIPS.

FO: Forth of July Socks

Happy Independence Day, America!

What's more festive than holiday socks? 🙌 These socks are red, white and blue...plus have a stranded colorwork motif! Did I do any of that labor? Nope!

When Cascade came out with this Independence "Heritage Prints," I knew they had to be 4th of July socks! I called them "American Socks" on my project page, but they can be French socks too. :)

American Socks

Method: top-down, short-row heel

Cast-on: 72 sts 

Read my project notes HERE.

 

Needles: US 0 and US 1

Yarn: Cascade Yarns ® Heritage Prints

1 skein = 437.0 yards (399.6 meters), 100 grams

Colorway 52 Independence 

Plus some scrap white fingering weight yarn

I hope this post finds you well.  <3

Pattern Release: Vamp City Socks!

Vamp-up your style with some sexy lace socks that would kill to be in some black boots. They’re dying to be worn, so why don’t you get out your stakes-er-needles and knit them up!

Valentine’s Day Sale! Grab this pattern for only $2.14 now until 2/17 at 11:59pm CT. No coupon needed.

METHOD: Top-down

MATERIALS:

Yarn: less than 400 yards of fingering weight yarn

Needles: set of 4 dpns (or one 40+’’ circular needle) in the size US 2 ½ (3 mm) and 1 darning needle

Notions: 1 stitch holder, 1 stitch marker, (Optional) 3 yards of matching ribbon (1 ½ yards per sock)

US 2.5 (3 mm) GUAGE: 32 sts and 42 rows= 4’’ in stockinette stitch

LEG MEASURMENTS: 8 ½’’ long and 3 ½’’ wide (unstretched lace)

ABBREVIATIONS:

K=knit P=purl St(s)=stitch(es) WYF=with yarn in front WYB=with yarn in back

DPN(s)=double pointed needle(s) RD=round P2tog=purl two sts together

K2TOG=knit 2 sts together P2SO= pass 2 sts over right needle YO= yarn over

SL 1= sl 1 st (purl-wise) WS=wrong side RS= right side

 

I knit these socks and first published this pattern for a vampire-themed KUAS yarn club back in 2008. Flash-forward to February of 2019...I realized this pattern was never added to Ravely! Whoops. So, I completely "revamped," (yes, pun intended) the pattern instructions and photos to give it a more modern KUAS Designs look.

My goal with all of my patterns is to be clear and accessible to knitters of all levels. I try to include tips, or extra details for tricker techniques/instances where I feel a novice knitter might struggle. 

I write patterns in the way my 2004 self would have understood things. I like clear-cut instructions on how the sts are divided on the needles, and how you manuver them during the heel portion. I don't assume that you have knit thousands of socks. I figure that someone reading my pattern might be new to knitting and working dpns, and would benefit from this style of instructions.

These are wonderful socks for boots that rise a few inches above the ankle. Because there's only 60 sts and most of it is lace, it's a super-quick knit. 

You can't help but feel pretty in these.

When Socks Attempt to Bite the Dust

Sooner or later, our socks attempt to bite the dust. I say "attempt," because it looks really, really bad when there's holes the size of your, well, entire heel because you never thought to check the bottom decade-old handknit socks. FYI- wearing your handknit socks with "winter dry heels" is really not a good idea for preservation.  (Nor does wearing worn socks with felted clogs.)

They look pitiful, and act as though they should retire to a good, quiet life in a memory box or landfill, but that's not going to happen to this pair. No sirrie. Not until the fat needles click.

Brace yourself, this is what 11 years does to a sock. This is when it was a spring chicken:

These were my Gypsy Socks that I hand-dyed back in 2008. Did you know that I used to sell yarn (back before kids)? I know...it's been forever. Here's the original blog post on the socks. They were beautiful in their hayday.

I digress: have you read Nicolas Sparks books? I haven't since maybe 2010. They are like Hallmark movie channels...once you read one or two, you've read them all. ;)

Luckily, I have a little box of leftover yarn that I've been saving for when I eventually make a Cozy Memories Blanket. I was hoping to start that after several more pairs of knit socks so I could have a wider range of colors available to use.

Look how much the colors have faded over the years. There has been a couple of accidental washing machine episodes, but those luckily hasn't felted it more than what you see.

One sock was in a more desperate state than the other. I picked up stitches according to the size of the hole. Unfortunately, these holes were right on the heel turn portion of the sock, in which you can only do so much to make the patch-work match the original shape of the heel.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture while it was in action. However, I picked up one stitch on each side every row--sometimes knitting them together with the first or last stitch and sometimes keeping the extra stitch as an increase, depending on the shape of the hole. I did not pick up the very edge of the stitch, but picked up the stitch before/after the loose stitches because the stitches around the edge of the hole are worn and frail. As "fun" as this was (please note the sarcasm), I don't want to have to re-patch in a month or two.

You can see how the inside is all felted around the hole.

All in all, it wouldn't win a ribbon at a state fair, what with it being all worn and now has an awkward square in the middle of the heel, but it does the job. Hopefully I can still get a year or two out these if I treated it more gently. Maybe buff my heel? Don't wear it in clogs and boots?

These socks have always been a little loose due to the stretchiness of the fiber content, which wears them much faster. Always knit socks to be form-fitting.

It looks good enough, and the goal was to knit a patch in a manner that mostly blends in and doesn't feel odd on the bottom of your heel. Check.

I'm curious. Have you had to patch a sock heel yet?

WIP: "Hermione's Everyday Socks" in Noro Sock Yarn

I have finally decided to use my ball of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I bought in college. You might be seeing a theme here: start using yarn bought over a decade ago. It's a noble cause. However, you get to the point were it's nestalgic, and then you don't feel like you can use the yarn unless you have found the absolute perfect project for it.

I divided the 100g ball into two seperate balls. I am making no attempt to line up the colors as I knit the socks toe-up. This will be my first pair of mis-matched socks, and I can't think of a better way to do this than rustic yarn that looks handspun.

Project: Hermione's Everyday Socks

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Socks (single-ply yarn), colorway 185 S

Needles: US 1.5 (2.25mm) and US 1 (2mm)

Started: sometime in 2018 (started for car-knitting, and then hibernated)

Although there's some purple in it, this colorway is really out of my regular colorway preference, so I hope the colors work up nicely.

This pair of sock lives inside my lovely Sailor Moon project bag from Otterly Adorable Knits and my bamboo yarn bowl from Darn Good Yarns. Don't you love how the colorway matches the colors in the bag? It's the little things in life. I got this bag almost a couple of years ago during a slump in my life. Sailor Moon was my favorite anime show back in middle school, so this is me channeling my inner child for a few smiles.

There's so many shades of purple in this sock colorway. In the wrong lighting, it almost looks like one giant purple chunk. The green/yellow really looks much nicer in person though.

I was planning on working another shortrow heel, but since there's already large sections of one color, I plan on doing an afterthought heel with a contrasting color from the leftover yarn.

In the midwest (Illinois), everything is shut down right now. We have having historic extreme temperature with -30's-40's+ for the wind-chill. They are telling us that if you stay out longer than 5 minutes, you might actually loose a limb to frostbite, or get hypothermia. Yikes. We are actually have colder weather than Antartica at the moment. Hopefully it blows over in 24 hours and our furnace and water pipes come through this unscathed.

Stay warm! Times like these really make you grateful for the basic necessities that you have--warmth, shelter, food and er, knitting.

FO: Thanksgiving "Hermione's Everyday Socks"

Project: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder

Needles and Yarn

Needle

US 1 - 2.25 mm, US 1.5 - 2.5 mm

Yarn

Dreams in Fiber Superwash Sock Kona Base

How much?

1 skein = 400.0 yards (365.8 meters), 100 grams

Colorway

Ratatouille

 Notes

Socks are too loose. Needles might have been size US 2, not US 1.5. 

The pattern is simple and straight forward. You can memorize the stitch texture pattern rather easily and pick up the sock after weeks of hibernating it and still know what to do.

I chose to do a slip-stitch heel for this pair, plus a 1x1 ribbing for the cuff. That's always my go-to ribbing for sock and mitten cuffs. 

I used yarn from a trade done years ago with Erica Lueder when I used to sell yarn. I fell in love with this colorway because it was so fall-like. I felt like this would be the perfect colorway for Thanksgiving socks.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our 50% off all KUAS Designs pattern sale for Black Friday week starts tomorrow! I'll post the details tomorrow!