Finished my “Sockoberfest” socks

It's been awhile since I've posted since I finished my “Sockoberfest” socks on the trip back from New York City (NYC) on the weekend before Halloween. It felt good to finish the socks. I had started a pair over the Christmas Holiday last year. I finished the first sock within a week. It was also on a car traveling trip. However the second sock of the pair took until summer to be completed knitting. Only on the trip down to NYC did I finish sewing in the end threads. It so happens, during the trip my daughter needed a pair of socks to keep her ankles warm. “Voila”!

Now, I’ve started a new “hat” project. I searched for Alpaca wool thin enough to match the guage in the pattern and after 3 shops I gave up. I decided to use a “sport” weight and compute a new guage once I started. Boy, did I have to do some real figuring. It felt good to do it though. It’s been awhile. My daughter kept asking what I was up to, because it took all Saturday morning.

Here is a picture of the new pattern graph compared to the original.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

-Pam

First Mini Sock!

I have finished a mini sock. See! It is fun to try new sock ideas with unique heel and toe instructions on a small sock version. Making a mini sock is a great way to check out techniques before going onto a big sock version. I mentioned in an earlier blog that these mini socks are suggested in the book; Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby. I found this book in a local yarn shop and I now realize that Amazon does not currently carry this book.

However you can find it on the author’s own web site:
http://www.tradewindknits.com/books.html

Pull Yarn from the Center?

I have a weird concern. I was first taught to knit by my mother. However, it was only when I spent time in Switzerland as an exchange student that my knitting skills were greatly improved. It was there that I learned to pull the yarn from the center of a ball of yarn. I believe the reason was the yarn in the center of the ball would stay clean just before being knitted as compared to the yarn from the outside of the ball of yarn.

Why I’m writing about this is because I’ve developed a pet peave about the sock yarn “Meilenweit Meeting” that I have been using. It is nearly impossible to pull the yarn from the center. It is always catching and doesn’t pull out smoothly. As you can see from my picture I end up with large clumps of yarn from the center. I guess this yarn wasn’t designed to be pulled from the center.

I’ll mention a funny problem which occurred when my mother used this printed yarn to make her socks. She used one big ball of yarn and pulled her yarn for her first sock from the center. For the second sock she pulled it from the outside. As you can imagine she had a hard time to match the sock pattern. The second sock's pattern appeared up side down.

Mini Socks!

As a part of the “Sockoberfest” I’m experimenting with new sock patterns. As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been working with a great new sock pattern book called: Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby.

I am having fun with the new book because it contains a section on how to make miniature socks from the 6 different full size versions well explained in the book. The “mini-directions” help you to experiment on small sock versions and try out the various toe, heel and edging details without using up lots of time and yarn. I’m having fun working on my first “Mini”. My 10-year-old daughter keeps commenting, “It’s so C U T E!” She is now inspired to try out sock knitting.

My first little sock starts by working from the toe end and has a “Turkish Heel” design. The square garter stitch toe works by knitting with a waste yarn wrap. You knit past the heel area by leaving a waste yarn knit spacer. After the “tube” sock is completed you come back and rip out the holding waste yarn and pick up the stitches to fill in the heel. Both heel and toe are new for me so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Signed up for Sockoberfest (Press for Link)

I changed my first blog from my personal web site, which didn’t support comments to this “Blogger” site. It seems more blog specific. My next project will be to figure out how to add buttons on the side.
I am now on the official “Sockoberfest” list. So I can officially “Sock-On”.

As a part of October’s sock project I searched out a local yarn shop, Fiber Arts of Concord, http://www.needle-arts.com/.

The staff was very friendly. They had a fun basket full of yarn just for socks. I found a neat book just for socks called, Cool Socks Warm Feet, by Lucy Neatby. So far, I‘ve been using a sock pattern from one of my mom’s pattern books. What I like about this book is they explain different toe and heel finishing options. I’ll let you know how well I do with the new directions.

WOW, I was inspired by all the knitting blogs out there. I recently pulled out my needles (those that I could find) and began knitting socks, so I wanted to join in by blogging, too. I hope to join the “Sockoberfest”.
I found this fun yarn that knits up to be a fair isle pattern with out all the hassle of crossing over the mulitple colored yarns. The yarn is made in Italy and is called Meilenweit Meeting.