Tag Archives: Socks

Working On: Estonian Socks

I’m not sure how it happened, once I finished my self-assigned interminable sock knitting, that I immediately turned around and started knitting more socks.

Because that’s exactly what’s happened.

These are even Nancy Bushes– they’re the Estonian Socks from Folk Socks (a 1994 classic that was just re-released last year). I’m working in Shepherd Sock, which I’ve never used before. I’m coming to terms with the superwash merino & nylon content.

Namely: is the environmental effect of eschewing superwash wool really worth it if the socks you make wear out in less than a year?

Anyway, it’s fun colorwork & a fun pattern, and I have less than two weeks to make the pair (and on US sz. 0 needles!).


Working On: Socks for Jay

I’m having so much fun with these.

Back in early July, my friend Maggie came to visit and casually let it slip that she’d just visited our friend Jay, and that the socks I’d knit him had seen better days (actually, verbatim: “So, I’m supposed to mention to you in a sort of an offhand way that they’re super worn-out, and that maybe you could just make another pair, if you have the time.”).

With that in the back of my mind, I went down to my old-but-new-again LYS last week, in search of something suitable. Lorna’s makes a spot-on Carolina Blue, it turns out (and exclusively for Yarns Etc!), but businesslike, it’s not.

I went with a yarn I’d never used before– Online Supersocke Silk in a granite-like gunmetal grey color. Online, a German yarn company (Ganze Banderole auf Deutsch? Absolutely.), is distributed by JMF’s distributor, so that extra familiarity made it all the nicer. The silk content– 20%– really made the slipped stitches shine, and gives (I think) an attractive look of precision & exactitude to the whole thing. You can tell that these don’t have any mistakes in them.

The pattern, aside from the skyp stitch, is a pretty uncomplicated one, but it’s very popular (also, it’s free! Thank you, Adrienne!). The herringbone running down the center of the ribs is really unusual, but looks especially great, I think, with this yarn.

I’m flying through these, so, soon!


Knitted: Ladies Useful Stockings

Okay, fine.

Let’s go ahead and get any and all bluestocking references out of the way.

caroline fryar nancy bush knitting vintage socks

Although I think Nancy Bush says it best:

I feel that this stocking– for that is truly what it is, long and shaped– suits those who do reenactments or belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism, if no one else.

Now, some facts. These stockings:

  • are awesome
  • will allow me to be okay with this winter’s projected thermostat setting of 50°F
  • are perfectly suited to my active lifestyle
  • are the VERY LAST project in Nancy Bush’s venerated work, Knitting Vintage Socks. I’ve knit all 24 pairs. I am through. It’s a special day in anybody’s life. I guess instead of a diploma, I get to have 24 pairs of socks.

Not that this is the end of socks. I have at least two pairs that I’ve promised to knit in the very near future– I’ll tell you about them on Monday.

caroline fryar nancy bush knitting vintage socks

The tops are especially grippy, and the pattern includes directions for knitted garters, but, well, that’s a little beyond the pale for me.  Speaking of beyond the pale: I purposely tried to keep the styling as matter-of-fact and non-sexy as possible– I love the way that Plümo does it, but, well, that’s not me.

Pattern: Ladies Useful Stockings, from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, in Marine Heather, 3 balls
Needles: Takumi DPNs, US sz.1
Time: February 7, 2011 – September 1, 2012
On Ravelry: here


A Tuesday Jumble

Life has been a jumble lately.

Yesterday I came out to my car after work (late, of course) to find that my right front tire was flat. This didn’t really surprise me because I haven’t been able to keep air in the thing to save my life and kind of just gave up on filling it up the last few weeks. The kicker is that I get off work with just enough time to get across town and pick Athrun up from school. And it was raining, can’t forget that part. You’ll be proud to know that I only panicked a little bit

I managed to snag a ride, Brock was out of class, so we picked Athrun up, put the donut on the car and drove home, dreading having to pay someone for a new tire, because I pretty much dread paying anyone for anything–except yarn. I will happily pay for yarn in almost any circumstance. At least I knew I was going to have Tuesday off, so I had plenty of time to take care of getting the tire replaced.

Having Tuesday off is not a normal thing. Last week, my place of employment played host to Kansas Book Festival, which meant I had to be at work all day long on a Saturday, which is apparently so awful it earned me an extra day off during the week. I chose Tuesday (today, for the record) not just because it makes more sense for my job, but because it seemed more special than having Monday off, because you know, that happens sometimes. Let me tell you, having Tuesday off is awesome. I didn’t have to compete with anyone else for the washer and dryer in the basement, I didn’t have anyone to mess things up while I cleaned, and nobody stepped on the sweaters.

That’s right, I dedicated my day off to fall cleaning. (That doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as spring cleaning…but it’s the same basic principle, just preparing for winter instead of recovering from it.) I cleaned the house from top to bottom, did all of the laundry, tidied closets, and washed sweaters. I love cleaning the house when there is no one home. I don’t know why, but that’s just the best time to do it. And it has been a long time since I have been home by myself for an entire day. Call me crazy, but it was heaven. I have shining floors, clean carpets, and when the weather turns for good, the family will be prepared with freshly laundered woolens.

All of this, however, has not left me very much time for knitting.

After getting distracted by two pairs of socks and a sweater, I am making a good faith effort to get my brother his birthday socks before the weather turns, even though he could probably use them now. He rides a motorcycle, and I know from my Moped days that it’s always 10 degrees cooler on a bike. So I have put all other projects aside until I can finish these.

That means my other projects look like this:



Almondine is one sock plus one sock cuff, and the yarn for the French Market socks finally arrived. I bought a lot, because I plan on doing a lot of swatching. Besides, don’t you just love the colors? I will admit, I chose these colors partly because of their names. The cream is, strangely enough, called Cream, the dark brown is called Bison, and the fawn color is called Wheat. The French Market socks will henceforth be known as Kansas Socks, because I know of a farm where I could one of each of these products within twenty miles of where I live. (The other reason I chose them is because it reminds me of the three most common Alpaca colors I have seen, and I really wanted to do these in natural colors. This way I can just pretend.)

I also have a design in my head for a sweater. And it will probably stay there for the foreseeable future.

Then there is this.

Yes, I found a craftsy class on stranding and steeking. The class was on sale, so I bought it over the weekend. I have never wanted to use the same exact colors I have seen in the pattern before, but I want that vest exactly. I just have to wait until I can afford all that yarn…but it’s so gorgeous! I have been watching the classes, and I think I can handle the steeking when it comes along–I think.

What have you been up to?

Knitted: Fancy Silk Sock for a Child of 5 or 6

That’s what they’re called!

nancy bush knitting vintage socks caroline fryar

Pattern: Fancy Silk Sock for a Child of 5 or 6, from Nancy Bush’s Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, 2 balls of Rainforest Heather
Needles: addi turbo sz. 0 circulars, magic loop method
Time: July 11, 2011 – August 24, 2012 (over one year!)

nancy bush knitting vintage socks caroline fryar

Note my full embrace of the Scandinavian sock-knitter aesthetic– white walls, light-colored wood, pale legs, too-strong afternoon sunlight.


Pineapple Socks aka Assymetical Cables

The first pair of socks from the Sock Knitting Master Class is finished!

The yarn in Tiny Dino Studios Protoceratops (100% Merino, 3-ply) in Pineapple. Out of a 100g skein (490 yards) I used 75g (approximately 370 yards) to knit the largest size sock in the book. While I think I will continue to use a deeper gusset on my top down socks, I feel as though the rest of the sock is a tad too loose–which is not going to stop me from wearing them.

Because they are fabulous.

What I learned:
How to to drop down and retwist a mis-twisted cable
How to cable without a cable needle (to clarify, I already knew how to do this, I had just never actually practiced it. I think I still prefer a cable needle)
That I still really believe in my own products
How to do a proper kitchener stitch instead of the one I made up that was close enough

As far as ease of knitting goes, these socks are fairly simple. I knit them over lunch breaks, while listening to podcasts, and while watching tv, but they still require you to pay attention to what row you are one. I wouldn’t take them to a lively knitting group, nor would I work on them during an action-packed thriller drama. They are better suited to re-watching Gilmore Girls for the billionth time (Which I may or may not be doing.)


so comfy….

Next up, the Stranded-Colorwork Socks of DOOM!

Sundays are for Swatching

I have felt a bit aimless in my knitting lately. I have been knitting a lot of simple things, stockinette socks, stockinette sweaters, garter stitch bags. While all of them are relatively easy, they are all also relatively simple. I like a good simple knitting project for stressful times, when the hands just need to be producing and the mind needs to be relaxing. I will still tell you, if you ask, that a plain stockinette sock is the best relaxation knitting in the world. But every now and then, there comes a point where a woman needs just a little more to do. Taking on the Pearl Street Pullover was part of that. I have never done a cabled sweater before, and I am enjoying the heck out of it, even if I am afraid I am going to run out of yarn. I think it was also my motivation for the ill-fated moth man scarf I blogged about last time. Ill-fated? Yes, it is already in hibernation. I have a record with lace yarn and it seems I am doomed never to ever finish a project made out of it. I think I need to come to terms with the fact that I am a cable and color girl, and that while the occasional lace is nice, I prefer the solid to the dainty.

Which brings me to today’s topic. You see, I have plans. Big plans. Plans that almost scare me a little bit when I think about it too much.


This is the pile of things I am going to work on today, because it’s Sunday, and if I can’t sit on my butt and knit all day, I don’t know what else Sunday is for. In the middle you see the beginnings of a sock. This is my control project. A simple pair of stockinette socks on the needles that I can pick up when my brain needs a break from all the new things.


This particular pair of socks are my little brother’s birthday present. (His birthday was a month ago, but I am consoled by the fact that it has been 100 or more degrees every day since then and he wouldn’t have worn them anyway.) They are some self-striping t-rex yarn that he picked out of my shop. He might have just turned twenty, but I am proud to say he couldn’t pass up having Air Bender inspired socks.

Why do I need a control project you ask? Well, mostly because I made two knitting decisions in the last week that prove I have obviously gone quite insane. Two things happened to me last week. I stumbled across Ann Budd’s blog where she challenged herself to knit every sock in her Sock Knitting Master Class book. Second, I was finishing up teaching my beginners sock knitting class, and was thinking what other knitting classes I should schedule for the fall. Some how, the amalgamation of these two ideas in my work-stressed brain led me to make two very ill-conceived decisions. One, I need to learn more knitting skills so that I can be a better knitting teacher, therefore I too shall knit through the sock knitters master class, and blog about it. Two, I will teach a sweater knitting class, because I love knitting sweaters and would like to pass the bug along. Of course, the pattern I chose, O W L S, I have never knit before. I don’t feel comfortable teaching something I have never done, therefore I need to knit this sweater. I don’t have any illusions about knitting it all before the class starts, especially given my insane sock undertaking, but I would like to stay at least one step ahead of my students.


The yarn I am going to use for O W L S is just some knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky I bought ages ago. I have a ton of this stuff laying around. I am not sure what my plans were anymore, but I have enough of this steely grey color for a sweater. Today I am swatching for the sweater.


I am also swatching with this lovely golden protoceratops sock yarn for the first pair of socks in The Sock Book (this might be how I refer to the Sock Knitting Master Class for the duration of the project.) I do have to confess, that I have not swatched for socks since probably the second pair of socks I knit. I have not had a problem thus far, but I figure when socks are patterned and offer different sizes, it might be prudent to get a good idea of what my sock gauge even is these days.

First up is Assymetrical Cables by Cookie A. Wish me luck.

Log Cabin socks

060

The first Log Cabin sock is done. Unfortunately, it’s a bit big, even for Jason, which means I’ll have to take my chances and felt it. I will probably try that *before* I knit sock two, just to be sure I’ll end up with something he can wear.

Sock Inspiration

One of my favorite things to knit in summer is socks. Top-down vanilla socks are easy for me now, because I can carry the pattern around in my head and I don’t have a large wool something on my lap when it’s 115 degrees outside. (And I do wish I was exaggerating.)

Here are a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago of socks I have been working on.

I used yarn left over from my Daybreak shawl to knit a cute pair of shorty socks.

I really love these colors together!

Then, I treated myself to some Ginny Weasley sock yarn from Gnome Acres. I will admit I bought the yarn because of what it was called (it’s no secret that I love my Harry Potter), but the colors are gorgeous too.

Here’s how it’s knitting up for my size socks. (64 stitches over 8 stitches per inch, your mileage may vary.) Of course, this was a couple of weeks ago, so that sock is long finished. And I am onto the second one. I am seriously considering indulging in the Bertie Bott’s colorway next.

If you are a local, and want to learn to knit socks for yourself (and your friends and family) I still have space in my sock class!

Rossling

001 Rossling Rossling 012

The morning we released the last and final pattern for Sock Madness 6. Our five finalists will be knitting this lovely pattern which combines twined and regular knitting. I really enjoy test knitting this one and am sure I’ll do more twined knitting in the future.