Sock Happy

I was perusing my hand knit sock drawer (yes, I finally have a drawer devoted to hand knit socks, and no it’s not a very large drawer, but still, it exists), and I realized I had five pairs I haven’t photographed yet, some dating to over a year ago (though two from last month, which, yknow, woohoo).

That also means I have five pairs I haven’t been wearing, because I wanted them to be clean and new for their debut photographs… which is quite silly of me.

Today we finally had proper sunshine, not the little peeks here and there that have been passing for daylight the past few weeks, and I took advantage of the opportunity for some sock photography. I’ll try to post a pair a day (or so) as I get the chance to write about them.

But you can bet I will be wearing them immediately.

Hooray socks!

Two new cast-ons

In every aspect of my life, I have trouble finishing what I start. I could say a lot more about this, but since this is a knitting blog, I’ll just leave that as a fact.

Still, is there any thrill so great as starting a new project? I love gathering the materials, poring over the pattern again to anticipate the process, and finally getting the first few stitches going on the needles, knowing that at some point, all of it will transform from a pile of materials and pattern and ambition into an actual, knitted thing.

This is the beginning of the Diminishing Rib Cardigan by Andrea Pomerantz, from the spring 2009 Interweave Knits (my project is here on Ravelry). I’ve been wanting to knit this cardigan since I saw the preview more than a year ago, as it is exactly the type of sweater I like to wear over dresses and camis in the spring and fall.

I went with this magenta because I am absolutely obsessed with this color lately. It also goes nicely with a lot of my spring and fall clothes, and I think that saturated hues kind of transcend seasons, so I can get a lot of wear out of it.

I’m contemplating types of fasteners, and after reading the designer’s notes on this on her blog, I still haven’t decided, but I do think I’d like it to close at the waist.

The second new cast-on is probably very predictable for me, another pair of socks.

These are called Oh So Nikki socks, by Judy Sumner (PDF of the pattern here), another “underappreciated” pattern, for the SKA February challenge, which I described in my last post. My project page for these is here on Ravelry.

The name comes from a rather charming story related in the Designer’s Notes:

These socks were hiding in a container in my family room and I found them recently and said to myself “These are oh so Nikki!” Nikki is one of my twin granddaughters and she had requested “grandma socks with bright green and orange”
and these fit the bill and then some. I hope you have a Nikki in your life who will love them too.

Isn’t that sweet?? How could I resist?

It also doesn’t hurt that the stitch pattern is super easy, fast, and fun.

For such a simple pattern, I think it has a lot of visual impact, and I’m really enjoying this project!

I am still working to finish one of the socks from my January pairs, as well as that lace tunic and admittedly some things I haven’t even shown yet. I think I’m going to put some thought into how to get WIPs under control this spring…

Neue Socken

When I first started knitting, casting on a new project was an event. I put so much time and thought and energy into it, and I was so excited by the time I started that I couldn’t wait to take photos and document it, even if all I had to show was a few rows of a sock toe or the beginning of a sweater back.

I was worried that I was getting blasé about it, that starting a new pair of socks when I had so many already on the needles was becoming old hat (I’ll address my rather alarming WIP problem in another post).

The typical prompt for me to cast on new socks is the Sock Knitters Anonymous Sockdown challenges on Ravelry. This is such a fun, vibrant, and active group that it makes it utterly compelling to participate, and it’s extraordinarily satisfying to finish a pair within the group’s (very generous) timeframe.

The February Sockdown challenge included an option for Underappreciated Patterns, which of course intrigues me, as a big fan of the obscure and less recognized. I kept wondering what makes one particular pattern skyrocket in popularity while another equally beautiful (or perhaps even more beautiful) one gets overlooked.

In most cases, I realized that I personally overlook patterns which are photographed in a way that obscures the details (blurry, too dark or light, too far away to see the pattern etc) or, far more commonly, where an overly busy yarn is used. I think some hand-painted yarns are truly works of art, but not all yarns are suited for all patterns, and it drives me nuts when a great pattern is completely obscured by a high-contrast, crazy variegated yarn. Or, when such a yarn is forced to fight with a pattern rather than used in a simpler way that showcases its unique qualities.

All these obsessive issues of mine aside, I am pretty confident that the reason this pattern is underappreciated is because it is written in German. I of course don’t know any German, but I found the photos of this pattern so lovely that I really needed to make a pair of these socks, and I had this green Gloss yarn just begging to become fern lace.

It turns out it’s rather remarkably easy to figure out a German pattern, especially one such as this, which has the lace charted out. I found this super-helpful website which translates common German knitting symbols, and combining this with Google Translator, I pieced together the stitch count and instructions.

I’ve finished the first sock already, and I’m pretty stoked with the way they are coming out. More to the point, I’m actually enjoying the process, each component, and the whole experience of knitting. It’s a lovely change of perspective.

For the love of Nancy Bush

I purchased my copy of Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks quite some time ago, and it wasn’t until this past September that I knit my first project from it.

When I saw that the January Sockdown for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry had Nancy Bush as the featured designer, I couldn’t resist starting two new pairs.

The first is the Child’s Sock in Miranda Pattern, which I am working toe-up over 64 stitches. This is my portable, train and subway type knitting, since the pattern is effortless to memorize and easy to pick up at any point and work a few rows.

In starting the second pair, I surprised even myself, as I was following the instructions and knitting them from the top down. They are the Fancy Silk Sock for a Child of 5 or 6 Years, though I am calling them my Fancy Merino Socks. I probably could have knit these toe-up, but I love the lacy cuff and the way the heel shaping forms a geometric counterpoint to the delicate lace pattern. I guess Nancy Bush really is that good.

FO – Yellow Evening Stockings

It feels like so long ago that I photographed these, and even longer since I finished them, but I’m happy to finally present one of my favorite FOs yet, yellow knee socks:

Pattern: Evening Stockings for a Young Lady (Ravelry link) by Nancy Bush, from the book Knitting Vintage Socks
Size: lady’s US size 9 with 9-inch foot circumference and 9.5-inch foot length
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette 4-ply fingering weight, color 6240 Semolina, 100% wool; I used 2.14 skeins, which was 107 grams/3.76 oz or 494.3 yards/452 meters.
Needles: Knit Picks 6″ nickel-plated double-pointed needles, set of 5 size 1.5 (2.50 mm)
Modifications: Added 10 lace repeats after calf decreases to lengthen leg; used toe from Hedera instead of star toe in pattern

Started: September 1, 2009
Finished: September 27, 2009

These were my first knee socks, and I actually followed the pattern, despite my general reluctance (should I call it extreme aversion?) to knitting socks from the top-down. That Nancy Bush, man. She can write a pattern!

Usually when I knit socks, I take the lace or stitch pattern and plug it into my preferred method of toe-up sock knitting. I was really tempted to do that with these socks as well, but when I started reading all of the calf-shaping instructions, I realized that these were a totally different game, and if I wanted socks that would fit, I should do them the way Nancy wrote them. I’m so glad I did!

The calf shaping is wonderful. It was written to transition smoothly within the lace pattern, so there was no tricky math or problematic recalculation of where in the lace to work increases or decreases. The lace pattern itself was wonderfully intuitive, and I memorized it in the first repeat. Because it was so easy and logical, these socks literally flew by, and I loved every minute of them.

I was iffy about the star toe in the pattern, since I was definitely planning to wear these socks with shoes and I wanted something that would lay as flat as possible. I opted for the toe from the Hedera pattern, which was one of the only top-down toes I’d done before, but which I noted fit my toes very comfortably and worked unobtrusively in shoes.

And I have to admit that while I wasn’t a fan of working the heel and gusset (the pattern was very clear, easy to follow etc – it’s just a personal thing), it looks pretty lovely and it fits very comfortably into my shoes. Shockingly, these socks actually stay up while I walk too, which is a major bonus for any knee socks.

I knit these socks as part of the September Sock Knitters Anonymous Sockdown challenge, where one of the options was knitting yellow socks. I was surprised at how many people started out hating on yellow, since I adore it. I had been dreaming about yellow lace knee socks for a while (perhaps I have a bit of Malvolio in me), so I found this a perfect occasion.

The yarn was a pleasure, as I expected. While not as soft as some of the pricier sock yarns I’ve used, I found Palette to be a really good yarn for this project. The socks didn’t stretch out with wearing, they didn’t felt or pill at all, and they seemed comfortable and durable, yet soft. For the price, I don’t think you can find a better value in fingering-weight wool, and I genuinely adore its color.

If it’s not overly obvious, I love these socks and I’m thrilled with this project. I wore these to work and my labmates were all coveting them like crazy, asking where they could buy a similar pair. I love having something so unique and so specifically suited to my personality, which I enjoy wearing as much as I enjoyed making them!