Finished Object - Leftovers Shorty Sock

A little while ago, before Christmas maybe? I had picked up a cheap set of 2.25mm DPNs to see if I liked the fabric I could knit with them whilst making socks. Sadly they sat in the needle case forgotten about until fairly recently. So I decided that when making this leftovers sock I would use them and see what I thought of the finished product. 

I cast on 60 stitches for this sock, which was a guess at how well it would fit me really, as I tend to use 60 stitches for a 2.5mm needle and 64 for a 2mm needle. But I think it has turned out pretty well. I knit an inch of ribbing and then started the heel. 

The heel is a little bit different to what I mostly use. During Me-Made-May this year I am wearing all my hand knit socks a lot more and I have been rediscovering which of my socks I like the best. It turns out that my socks knit with a heel flap and gusset I find the most comfy, while the majority of my socks are German Short Row heel. I think this is mostly because I really didn't like doing the heel flap, and the German Short Row heel I had memorised and found easy to do. But seeing as my most recent pair of socks I'm knitting are heel flap, I thought I might as well on this sock too. 

So I pulled out the pattern for Hermione's Everyday Socks and I used the eye of partridge heel recipe in that, which I can highly recommend. In fact the Hermione's Everyday Socks are a brilliant pattern if you are a new to sock knitting knitter. 

The yarn I used for this sock is leftover from when I made my brother a pair of socks for Christmas, and is West Yorkshire Spinners, signature 4-ply in what I think is the Mallard colourway. I've only tried on the sock so far, and it fits really well so I am looking forward to when I have some more leftover sock yarn to make it a little friend so I can wear them together and really give it a road test! 

Finished Object - Leftovers Shorty Pair

After finishing my last shorty sock I needed another sock to knit on whilst on break at work, and I looked at the bits of sock yarn I had left, and one cake was about 50g of Gamer Crafting Yak Sock that I had leftover from when I knitted the lovely Lyne Socks by Dawn Henderson. I thought that 50g was enough to make a shorty pair and not just one mismatched sock. So that is what I decided to do.

I fancied playing around with my shorty socks and not just doing another plain vanilla sock. Which this yarn lent itself to more then the previous self striping/patterning yarn that makes it difficult for a textured pattern to show up. I decided to do something simple and just carry on the 2x2 rib from the cuff of the sock down the top of the foot, and I am actually quite pleased with the outcome.

So I cast on 60 stitches, with my 2.5mm DPNs and knit one inch of 2x2 ribbing for a cuff. I then knit one plain round (bearing in mind the front was still knit in 2x2 rib and the back plain stocking stitch) before starting the german short row heel. This has become my go to heel, but only because it is easy to do and I can do it off the top of my head. But I did wear one pair of my knitted socks that had a heel flap and gusset, and I remembered how well they fitted, so I might have to try that one again next.

After the heel the rest of the sock was knit, plain stocking stitch on the bottom and 2x2 rib on the top, until we got to the toe. It was a simple toe, with an extra two rounds on the end to give a tiny bit of extra room. These socks took a little while longer to knit then the previous two shorty socks, but I did knit two instead of one! These were only knit on whilst I was at work in my break times, so the going was going to be slightly slower.

Overall I'm pretty happy, and have another lovely pair of socks to add to my collection. Now onto the next leftovers.

Finished Object - A Leftover Shorty Sock

After Ripping out my Arbor Vitae Jumper, I felt like I needed something new to work on. I wasn't really feeling like I wanted to make much of what I already had on the needles and was itching for something else. The thought of a family weekend away looming, got me thinking about train knitting and knitting that could be done when chatting to other people and being social. So I decided on a sock. In the back of my mind I was still feeling the need to work through what I had, so I decided it was time for another leftovers sock.

The leftovers sock is something I have been doing with the leftover yarn when I have been knitting other pairs of socks, be them for myself or other people. I will make one shorty from the yarn, the remainder of that ball will be wound up and put with my other scraps. I find it's a nice way to have a reminder of all the socks that I have knit before, especially if they have been for a gift.

So in my draw of bits of projects and things, I found the leftovers of the pair of socks I knitted for my Dad (Ravelry Page, Blog Post). I then had a look at what needles I had free and my set of Knitpro 2.5mm DPNs were empty, so that was the plan made. They were packed up into a bag and taken with me when I set off on my journey to see my family.

I cast them on in a coffee shop whilst waiting for my train, with 60 stitches, and I started on the cuff. I worked them top down and knit an inch of 2x2 ribbing. I had forgotten to bring a ruler or tape measure with me, so I knitted the length of the top portion of my thumb, I measured the length of the ribbing when I got home. It's nice to know I have an inch long thumb section - makes for easy quick measuring!

I knitted a plain knit round after the ribbing before starting on the heel. It was a german short row heel, the easiest I find to remember. I knitted the foot until it was about an inch and half below the top of my big toe then I started the toe of the sock. Quite a few of the shorty socks I've made before have a habit of slipping down my foot during the day, which is probably down to them being a little too short. So after I finished the toe decreases, I added two straight knit rounds, and then grafted it together.

Overall I am pretty pleased with the outcome, it was made really quite quick, (less than a week!) and the fit is really good, better than previous attempts. Maybe I should play around a little bit more with my leftovers socks. I'm feeling the creativity right now, so I may have to go cast on another!

Me-Made-May 2019 - Another Pair of Leftovers

Day 10 I wore another pair of leftovers socks (I think I have three pairs, so prepare yourself for one more after these!) these leftovers were from my first ever pair of socks, and a pair that I made for my friend Emma.

The first shortie sock made from the yarn from my first pair of socks I believe I made on a 2mm circular needle. I can't remember if this was the first time I had used the needle or not, but the sock wasn't without it problems. I had vastly misjudged when I needed to start the toe in the sock, and I was quite glad that I tried it on before grafting the toe.

It was indeed too short and I had to rip back the toe to put on a few more rows and starting the toe again. This may have made it wearable, but it is still too short. It likes to slip off my ankle, but oh well. It was a learning point, and we moved on.

I think that I made this sock with a 60 stitch count, which also makes it a little too tight on my foot. It was around when I made this when I realised that going down a needle size and not going up in stitch count meant that whilst the sock fit more tightly, it was a little on the uncomfortably small size. But we learned for next time.

The second sock is a leftover sock from when I knitted my best friend a pair of socks. This shortie was made a lot lot later then it's pair here, and was made on 2.5mm DPNs. This sock kept me company when I was working up in the office on the last month or so of my placement before I got my job. I became known for always having my knitting with me and taking it out everytime I had a break. I also took it on a course I was sent on as well, and everyone seemed to be interested in what I was knitting.

The stitch count on this sock was 60 stitches as well, but the needle size is larger. This size does seem to fit my foot nicer than the other sock. Both of the socks are made with one inch of 1x1 ribbing on the cuff before going straight into the heel. The heel I used was a heel flap and gusset type. Which at the time was the only one I felt confident in doing. I had tried a wrap and turn heel for the socks I made for my best friend, but I didn't really feel it went the way I wanted.

These socks are now in regular rotation and I enjoy them a fair bit. Here is the instagram story post from day 10:

Me-Made-May 2019 - Leftovers Socks, Blue Tit and Kingfisher

Day 4 of Me-Made-May was a sock day. I feel like wearing my socks for Me-Made-May is not putting in much effort, especially when it wasn't a work day, I need to remind myself that homemade socks are just as important.

This pair in particular are what I like to call my Leftovers Socks. Most of the time I get 100g of sock yarn to make a pair of socks, and every time there is a fair amount of leftover yarn. In fact there is more than enough to make myself one shortie sock. So I do, and seeing as I give away a lot of the socks I knit, it is a lovely reminder of what I have made. There is a bit of an odd sock nature to making my leftovers socks, so I will often make one straight after I've finished the pair it is from and I'll end up having one sock without a partner for a little while. I also occasionally mix and match the shorties, but usually they stay in a little mismatched pair.

The first sock from this little pair that was made was one made from the leftovers from my Necker Socks, and they were knit on a 2mm circular needle with 64 stitches. They were knit in West Yorkshire Spinners signature 4 ply in the Bluetit colourway. It was finished quite fast but then stayed on the side for a very long time waiting for a partner.

It was also the first time I had used a cardboard cut out of my foot for measuring the sock against to work out when to start the toe. Fortunately it worked quite well, and I have repeated the technique several times, getting cut outs of feet for the people I knit socks for regularly.

The second leftovers sock is from a pair of socks that I made my Mam. She picked out a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners in the Kingfisher colourway. So it was the same base as the first shortie sock. The socks that I knitted for my Mam were knit on 2.5mm DPNs, and so I used them for this sock as well, using a 60 stitch count for my thin foot.

I did knit this second shortie in a little bit of a panic as I thought that I hadn't got enough pairs of socks to last me a shift at work over Me-Made-May. Having this second sock would create another pair and enough for the shift. I soon realised that I actually already had five pairs of hand knitted socks and another would make six. So I had one day extra - thankfully!

So having pooped out that second sock it got paired up and put away with the Necker shortie sock ready for the day it was to be worn. Which was day 4. The pair did quite well, and they got put through their paces being walked around Richmond and then playing a badminton match. The fact that they were both knit at different gauges was noticeable however. Which isn't surprising really.

They were still a joy to wear and will be put through the wash for another day, so here's the instagram the story shot, happy making!

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.

Mam's Socks Leftovers

After knitting the socks for Mam, I did my usual leftovers sock. This one the normal ankle sock, but I tried it toe up this time. I cast it on with a Turkish cast on, like I cast on Emma's Socks, but using a 2 mm circular needle, as I planned on using the magic loop method.

My problem was that I only had one 2 mm circular needle, and all the tutorials I could find on Turkish cast ons, did it with two circular needles. So I had fun figuring it out. I love puzzles, and this was just another - I've made a video of how I have done it, and you can find it on Youtube here, or go to Youtube and type in my name (Lottie Atkinson) to find my channel.

I'm currently still figuring out the right sock width for me with the 2 mm needle. My feet are thin, but not that thin... The pair I knitted for Mam were slightly too tight on my feet, so I increased the stitch count to 64 for this one, which has worked so much better. It's still snuggly, but not loose like my first pair at all.

For this sock I used the short row heel again, and this time it wasn't as hole-y as Emma's, and I don't really know what I did differently. I think I'm going to look into different ways to do heels to find out what I like best in terms of design, and how well I can do them!

This sock did take a tiny bit of a back seat in terms of knitting priority. I have had quite a few other things which had deadlines to make and knit before I could really spend much time on it, it got done eventually. But it was my handbag knitting, it went a lot of places with me so I could knit on it in my spare time. Including the train, I went out for a day shopping with my Mam and ended up getting a suit for an interview soon - eek! - Fingers crossed that it goes well!

Where is the weirdest place you've been knitting?

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!

A Little Bit of Bunting

Yet again I had another idea of what to do with my leftover project scraps, bunting! 

I find it cute and can be permanent or brought out for a special occasion. 

For my triangles, I used double knit yarn and a 4mm hook, although this really can be done with any sort of yarn and any hook!

Pattern:

Chain 2

Row 1: 2dc in second chain from hook, 1ch turn.

Row 2: 2dc in each dc, 1ch turn.

Row 3: 2dc in first dc, 1dc in every remaining dc, 1ch turn.

Repeat Row 3 as many times as needed. 

There is no set size to bunting triangles, they can be big, small, or all different sizes! I prefer all my triangles to be the same size, so when making them I've been comparing to other triangles that I've made so they all look the same size, even if the yarn is a different weight.

With all of your triangles made there are a couple of ways to put them all together in a string. The method I prefer is with ribbon. I have folded the ribbon in half and pinned it together and at intervals placed a triangle between the two sides of ribbon and then sewn the edges together, but I would suggest only doing that if you have a sewing machine, as a line of bunting can be quite long! 

The other option is to crochet a line to put them onto, this can be done by crocheting a string of a few rows and sewing the triangles on, or when chaining the string, chain into the top of the triangles, then work a couple of rows to give the string more strength.

Granny Stripe Blanket: Scraps and a Hack

For a little while now I've been collecting large lengths of yarn left over from other projects I've finished and balls of yarn that have died, and I've been crocheting them into a blanket.

Blanket and centre pull ball

I decided to try out the granny stripe blanket, I'd seen a few other people do them and they looked really nice. So to try and figure out where to start I had a look at the lovely pattern on Attic24, which is a lovely lovely place to find new things, so go check it out in the link!

What I love about using scraps in this project is, there is no obvious pattern and the colours are random and can come out looking lovely. The beauty of using scraps as well is, you don't have to spend out on yarn especially for it, and there is a lovely feeling of looking at it and seeing all the different bits of projects that you had enjoyed doing before, and it's all brought together in one cozy blanket.

After I got to the end of this little centre pull ball, I thought of an easy way to stop the thing coming unravelled. Years ago I had bought these tiny little hair clips, obviously in a moment of madness. They never stayed in my hair as it is a huge, thick tangled mess most of the time! But once I have used a stitch marker to hold the last loop where I had been working, clipping the tiny hair clip on the end stops that sneaky end trying to pull back through and undo all that work.

My little hair clip hack