Finished Object - Leftovers Shorty Sock

Another Leftovers shorty sock! This one knitted to exactly the same recipe as the last one, to make a delightfully miss-matched pair. Recently I have started taking my knitting to work and getting a couple of rounds done on my tea or lunch breaks. It's been nice, and quite pleasing to see a fair amount of progress on things as well. I've only been taking in little projects, and leftovers socks are perfect for the job.

This leftovers sock I've been knitting with the leftovers from a pair of socks that I knit for my sister-in-law for Christmas just gone (Ravelry page for those here) in an Opal sock yarn. I'm not sure what colourway it was, but the sock was mentioned back in one of my blog posts about all the Christmas knits I made. I knit them on my set of 2.5mm DPNs, and with 60 stitches, just like the previous sock I made.

I decided to make this sock in the same way and using the same techniques as the previous one, so they could be paired up. So there is about an inch of 2x2 ribbing for the cuff, followed by a german short row heel. The toe of the sock is finished normally, alternating one decrease row with one plain knit row. I added two plain rows just after the heel, mostly so the sock was the same as the last one, but also because I feel it worked well. I think it adds just a tiny bit more room for my quite long toes without the rest of the sock becoming too long. I think that may be a little thing that I add to most of my socks from now on, especially the ones that I have knit with this kind of toe.

So with this leftovers sock complete that is another pair to add to my ever growing sock draw. Maybe one day I'll have nothing but hand knit socks!

Me-Made-May 2019 - My first socks

Day 7 was another pair of socks. This pair the first ever pair I made, and I was ridiculously proud when I finished them.

I knitted this pair about a year and a half ago, I picked up the first ball of sock yarn I could see on the shelf in a craft shop that was in the town I had temporarily moved to at the time, and a few days later went back for the right sized DPNs. The pattern was a basic sock pattern that was on Love Knitting, although has now been taken down, and I set about trying to knit the first sock.

My first hurdle was the cast on, and then all the jargon used to describe the different parts of the sock and what to do! I did refer to the internet, and the delightful "For Dummies" website which has a lot of brilliant tutorials on a lot of different things. I really had to look things up and do a fair amount of reading to finally understand what I was doing. I also believe it was the first time I had come across a SSK.

I remember finishing the first sock on a weekend away in Cornwall. It was October time and I had spent the day watching the first public runs of the Bloodhound Supersonic Car at Newquay Airport, and was cozy-ing down for the night under a blanket. I was so proud I put it on straight away and demanded that my boyfriend take photos!

The second sock followed shortly afterwards, I had no problems with second sock syndrome, and before long I had my very first pair of socks. I also wrote a blog post here about them. They were far from perfect, they weren't the right gauge to fit my feet and all kinds of things, but I still love them, and I still wear them!

I made them quite a while ago that I don't actually have any photos of them to hand, so you will have to do with the instagram story! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Emma's Leftovers

This is one sock, from my range of odd socks using the leftover yarn from other socks that I have been making. This sock I finished a little while ago, but forgot to update you on! - Oops.

The leftover yarn was Regia, the Arne and Carlos Design Line in the Bramble colourway. The needles I used were a wooden set of 2.5mm DPNs, like I had used for Emma's original socks.

I knitted this sock cuff down, and using a heel flap and gusset construction. I find this construction easier on DPNs, and it was the first I learned to do, and I can make a pretty good sock using it.

The sock really didn't take me too long to make, and it was my travel knitting for a while. I had cast on 60 stitches for this sock. I am still trying to figure out the right "Recipe" for socks that fit me nicely. I find that I have arrow feet, but they are not that narrow! So I have a couple tight socks and a couple of fairly loose socks! Safe to say this sock was a success, and I will definitely be making more socks with this number of stitches in the future.

Now, time for more socks...

Don't let the bed bugs bite!

This was a cute little pattern shown to me by my friend Shanni, from a book called Knitting Mochimochi, and it was such a cute pattern I had to have a go! Its called the Bite-Free Bedbug. And it is a little six legged bug, who is very ready to get some kip.

The first one I knitted was this little light aqua coloured one. The yarn I was using was leftover yarn from my Two-Tone Scarf, and his little hat, some leftovers from the Legwarmers I made quite a while ago too. So the bug itself doesn't use much yarn at all.

The Bug is knit entirely in the round, and the suggested needles are four, 4mm DPNs. You knit the main body first and before you finish, you stuff him, before continuing to the end, adding a little more stuffing and then cast off.

I found him really quite simple to knit, and the book itself explained everything, and was well written. The hat was also knit in the round, and added on afterwards, which I thought was a lovely addition. The eyes are sewn on using a contrasting colour at the end as well, just to give it that little sleepy look too.

Whilst the pattern was easy, it was rather fiddly. Especially when it came to the legs and ears, as they were knit separately, then sewn on, but having something to rest it on helped.

But I enjoyed knitting the first one so much, and still had a lot of leftover yarn I decided to make another in opposite colours. Now interestingly, the second one was ever so slightly smaller than the first one. Now I don't know if that is down to tension, or the differences from when I stuffed them? I'm really not sure, but they do look ever so cute together.

On a slightly soppy note, I did give one of them to Mr M and kept the other for myself. He really liked his, I let him choose which one he wanted, and he kept the lighter colour one.

Emma's Socks

My good friend Emma asked me if I could make her a pair of socks, in the wake of me making a pair for Mr M and for Mam. Of course I said yes, and she was lovely enough to buy the yarn for me.

I wanted to try a sock in a different way to the normal, cuff down with a heel flap and gusset, that I have been making up until now. So I googled how to knit a sock toe up, because why not give it a go! In all my googling and reading I came across a website called The Spruce Crafts. It gave some general instructions on how to knit a sock toe up, including links as to how to do a turkish cast on, and a short row heel.

I did a little research into how to do turkish cast on's, as at the time I was away on holiday, sat in bed in the evening, with one set of DPNs and my yarn. Mr M got slightly irritated with the complaining of how exactly I was going to cast on, but I worked out a way! (and a video to come hopefully so - watch this space!)

Anyway the first Cast-On-Hurdle was overcome and I was back to knitting! I cast on 64 stitches for this sock, as I had made socks with that many stitches before, and they were slightly large on my feet, but Emma's feet are wider, so it was a safe bet. With these socks I mainly referred to the website for the casting on and for the heel. The rest I was fairly confident that I could work out myself. :)

Increasing for the toe was mostly the opposite of decreasing for the toe, and was fairly easy, and knitting the length of the foot was a doddle. One thing I did have to look up was how much room to leave for knitting the heel. I had measured Emma's foot before making her socks, and had an overall length I wanted them to be, but I found out when to stop on the Spruce Crafts website.

I did get rather confused knitting the heel, but following the links to a more in-depth page on the Spruce Crafts website got me through it, and there are only a few holes...

I'm really not sure why there were holes in my heel, but I think with a little more practice I can get them less saint like! (any suggestions or tips on short row heels would be greatly appreciated!)

Carrying on up the top part of the sock and to the cuff was easy too. I did the top of the sock at 13 cm long like most of my other socks, followed by a single rib cuff an inch tall.

Casting off was interesting. It was only until I came to casting off did I realise that the socks would need a stretchy cast off to be able to go around the foot when putting them on. People do tend to take socks on and off... I followed the instructions for the cast off on the Spruce Crafts website, but I didn't like the look of it, to I took it out and went on the search for another cast off that I liked better. In the end I found Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off on Knitty.com. In my opinion it looked so much better, and the step by step pictures really helped get my head around what I was meant to be doing.

The yarn used on the socks was a Regia yarn, from the Arne and Carlos Design Line in the Bramble colourway. The way it patterns really pleases me and I love them. I really do need to try their Pairfect yarn at some point though!

The socks did turn out well and they were loved from the minute Emma put them on her feet for a photo. Luckily they did fit too! I have to admit I did have a little bit of Second Sock Syndrome when making them, and the second one did not get cast on for a little while. But they got finished in the end and all was well.

The Rose Window Hat

This hat I set myself as another challenge. I really want to try a colour work jumper, but I decided to let myself into it a little bit at a time. So I took to Ravelry, and made use of their search function, which has loads of different filters, including one for patterns with colour work, and even how many colours are used. I managed to find this lovely pattern for the Rose Window Hat.

I used 4-ply shetland wool, in three different colours. The pattern itself calls for two colours, black and a variegated for the colour. I used a purple for the edge and the black part of the pattern, and I alternated dark blue and light blue each row for the variegated bits.

It is knitted on 3.25mm and 3.5mm circular needle. The smaller needle is used for the ribbing, and then you switch to the larger needle for the rest of the hat. I did find that when the hat got smaller when decreasing on the top that the needle started to be slightly too long, and it did get a little difficult. I should have switched to the same size DPN's which would have made it easier, but I didn't have any that were the right size. I did switch to some that were slightly smaller, but I don't think that anyone noticed....

The overall effect I was really pleased with. The pattern itself, was easy to understand, and I enjoyed the colour work - something I will do again!

The pattern easily broke me into it, starting off with the squares and one different colour every four, and it really ramped itself up when it got to the lovely Rose Window pattern on the top. It got a little confusing and rather tangled at times, but I managed it, and I am very very happy with how it turned out.

I got Mam to put it on so I could take some photos and she liked the hat, so I gave it to her. I had tried it on myself, and found it was ever so slightly too big for my tiny head. I also have a rather loose tension, and didn't do a tension square...  I need to get better at making sure I have the right tension if I want to try jumpers and the like!

Cabled Mitts

I was looking for a challenge recently, 

and I decided that I wanted to try something new. I came across this lovely cabled mitten pattern on Love Knitting called Nalu Mitts by Leila Raabe. 

They are a simple pattern for fingerless mittens, with a nice cabled section along the back of the hand. 

I decided to use some yarn out of my stash. It was a blue-y variegated yarn, of a DK weight. DK is the yarn weight that is used in the pattern, although it uses a lovely pale grey colour which really suits it, as well as a set of 3.25mm double pointed needles.

Doing the cable along the back of the mitten was easier then I thought it would be. I am hoping that with a little more practice doing cables I'll begin to understand how they work and be able to use them in my own knitting.

The mittens knitted up really quickly, and despite all the mistakes, including knitting the wrong size thumb (oops!) they are pretty snug, and they look fine. 

Once I had blocked my mittens they then went as a present to my friend Emma, who was admiring them when I was knitting them. They knitted up quite quickly, and were fun to knit too. 

So they were a joy to knit, and seem to also be enjoyed by their new owner. 

Scrappy Socks

The yarn needed to knit a pair of socks is a little bit less than 100g, and since most balls are either 100g or 50g, it does beg the question of what to do with the leftovers, so I decided that seeing as I have small-ish feet, I was going to make one small sock out of the left over yarn from each pair of socks!

The sock pattern I've used is the same one that I used to make my original pair of socks, as well as the ones for Mr M, the link to it can be found on those blog posts. I modified the pattern so that it was an ankle sock, just by taking out the rows in stocking stitch before the heel flap is knitted. This means that you will knit an inch of double rib for the sock cuff and then go straight into knitting the heel flap.

The one thing that I did do differently with this sock is to knit with only 60 stitches in the round, instead of 64. I found my last pair of socks, ever so slightly to baggy, but these fit like, well, a sock! I also swapped down to a 2mm circular needle, instead of 2.5mm double pointed needles, and the only problem I encountered was that I forgot that, smaller needles meant smaller work, and that included the length of the sock... My measuring I think was also out, but luckily I tried the sock on before I grafted the toe together! Oops!

I intend to make a few more little scrappy socks, the next one will be the leftover yarn from Mr M's Christmas socks! Admittedly this sock still left a fair bit of left over yarn. I think I will make a proper scrappy pair of socks with all the smaller leftovers from various socks. But first I'll learn how to knit two socks at once on the same needle... That will be fun!

Mr M's Christmas Socks

After the success of my first pair of socks, the next thing was to try and make a pair for Mr M. I used the same pattern as before from Love Knitting, and used the bigger size, which worked well for his bigger feet! The only problem was measuring his foot to get the right size without giving it away... But I managed that, he didn't seem like he knew he was getting a pair of socks for christmas when he unwrapped them, so either I was successful, or he just didn't want to hurt my feelings... I'll just pretend it was the first one...

The wool I used for this lovely pair was a Drops Delight wool, in their Red/Orange/Grey print from Wool Warehouse. (A lovely place to get wool and some attic 24 patterns) This pair knitted up a lot quicker then my first pair (naturally), and I did continue to use five double pointed needles (DPNs). For my next pair however I am going to be trying a circular needle, and may just learn how to knit two socks at once! But that is a little way into the future and just an ever-so-slightly scary idea. But I'll get there.

Now Mr M is proudly pottering about in his new socks. You never know, next year he might get a jumper (or another scarf...).

SOCKS!!!

I have finally made my first pair of socks, and I can say, I love them!

I also loved making them. I know that some people say they are confusing and complicated, and in some ways they are. But if you manage to get your head around what the pattern is asking you, it gets easier.

For this pair of socks I used a pattern from Love Knitting, as well as selling wool and needles, they do also sell patterns, and the pattern for these socks are free, and can be found here.

I used a similar wool and needles that it specifies in the pattern. That is five 2.5mm double pointed needles (DPNs) and some sock wool, which is 4 ply. The sock wool I used was a Regia yarn, which is very much known among sock knitters as some of the best. I found a nice variegated wool in my local wool shop!

The pattern in some places was really good, and I could understand the first part. There were a couple of places, where I feel that if I had not of read a couple of other sock patterns, I wouldn't really know what to do.

When knitting the heel flap, one stitch is knitted and the next one is slipped, as you go along the row. What it doesn't mention is that the stitch that is slipped should be slipped purlwise. The other thing that I found really quite confusing was when I had finished knitting the heel flap and was starting on the heel gusset (which is a bit that joins the heel to the rest of the sock so you can carry on knitting). When the pattern says " Pick up 1 st at top of gusset" it means, so pick up a loop from the gap between the two needles, and make another stitch. This means that there will be one more stitch on the needle. It is then used to help decrease stitches as you decrease the gusset.

Also at the end of the section "picking up stitches for the gusset" you should have 16 stitches on needle 1, 16 stitches on needle 2, and needles 3 and 4 need the heel stitches shared equally between them, with the middle of the heel being between the two needles. You can end up there by following the pattern, but it does get ever so slightly confusing.

Apart from the few confusing parts, the pattern is good, and gives quite a nice looking pair of socks. And like I said at the beginning I am in love with mine, and may have to make some more for some christmas presents, for other people, or maybe just for myself...

Legwarmers!!

They are here at last! The lovely leg warmers I promised.
They were made with double pointed needles and worked in the round, the two I've made are the inverse of each other and where I have started with one colour on one of the leg warmers, I started with the other colour on the other legwarmer. But this pattern is written for a lovely matching pair!

Each leg warmer is 15 inches long. My tension square was 3 3/4 (three and three quarter) inches by 3 3/4 inches, with 20 stitches and 17 rows, kitted in single rib, with DK wool and 3.75mm needles.

The pattern can always be adjusted to suit different sizes, by increasing or decreasing the number of stitches can adjust the size of the legwarmer, and by adding more or less rows can change the length.

The legwarmers themselves are kitted in single rib with DK yarn.
The pattern alternates different coloured yarns, but you can ignore the change of colour and knit a set of legwarmers in one colour, or use a variegated yarn.

Repeat the pattern twice to make two legwarmers.

Needles: 
A = 4 x 3.75mm double pointed needles.
B = 4 x 4mm double pointed needles.
Yarn A - this is the colour you start with.
Yarn B - the second colour you have chosen.

Pattern:
Cast on 60sts on 3 needles (20sts on each needle) with needles A and yarn A.

Place a stitch marker between the first and second stitches, this will indicate when to change colour later on.

Row 1: With the fourth needle and yarn A: (k1, p1) to end of round.

** To begin with you will have three needles in a line, to begin the first row, with the fourth needle, knit with the first needle in your left hand, make sure you pull this stitch tight, and then the three needles will have formed a circle. Having the stitch marker between the first stitch you knit and the second one will help when changing colour.

Row 2: (k1, p1) to the end of the round.

Row 3: k1, change to yarn B, (p1,k1) to the end of the round.

Row 4: (k1,p1) to end of round.

Repeat rows 3 and 4, changing the yarn colour every two rows. (The coloured stripes should be two rows thick, but the very first stripe will be thicker as you have cast on.)

Continue until the work measures 2 inches long, then change to needles B.

Continue with needles B until the work measures 13 inches and change back to needles A for another 2 inches.

Cast off.