Summer Sock School

but first...Please excuse my wonderful first-born daughter's overly enthusiastic, but naive comment...this is probably the first knitting blog she's ever seen. I am proud to say that she does knit (and crochet) and is even knitting a scarf for her "little" sister.

Now, on to the sock content. Yippee! Here's the gist. My husband and I took a trip this past summer back to our beloved Southeast to see friends & fam. Of course, I took sock projects, as they are easy to transport and easy to work on while enduring air travel. My goal was to learn socks on 2 circs and the ML . I had tried to do ML to no avail the previous summer. The bridge between dpn & ML was Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles . Once I got the 2 circs down, the ML made perfect sense! Cat Bordhi is a wonderful teacher--even by book!

After knitting about a dozen of these









with the technique I learned from Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss (from which I also learned mittens and gloves and am forever grateful), I found Folk Socks by Nancy Bush, well-known Sock Goddess. That's when I discovered that (uh-yeah) there are way more ways to make socks than what I thought!

The first project I latched onto from Nancy Bush's book was the Welsh Country Stockings. The only problem is that I chose a yarn too heavy for the project (Patons Classic Wool) and am STILL working on them. At least I was able to transfer the project to 2 circs instead of wrestling with the dpn.










I will be able to mount leather bottoms on these monsters for the Fred to use as slippers! They could be oven mitts, for sheep's sake!

Anyway, back to the past summer. I had the first of a pair of socks on the dpn with Lion Brand Magic Stripes in this lovely blue/green/tan/white colorway. (I know, I'm a yarn snob, too, but this yarn makes good, sturdy, warm socks.) I finished the first one up with dpn, and then made the second one on 2 circs. CAUTION: DON'T DO THAT!

Here's the result.










The dpn one is bigger, because apparently, everyone tends to knit tighter on 2 circs. Lesson learned. BUT. Then I thought I'd find more of the yarn and try to make each misfit its mate. No. The yarn changed. I like the new almost better, but I won't be able to rectify my foible.

See--









the new version is more heathery--pretty, but no match. The first wonky pair will just be mine, and I'll probably finish the new pair (on dpn--which I still love as much as ever) for the afore-mentioned mom-promoting first-born (but don't tell--shhhhh).

Okay, enough sock talk for now. I leave you with some hazy, sexy sock yarn porn










Yes, I get to do more of the lovely Mountain Colors in Alpine & Moon Dance, CTH Supersock in Quarry Hill; try some Frog Tree Alpaca Fingering, Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Rhapsody, Cascade Sassy Stripes, and two obviously handwound balls in front-- Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Water Color.

Some of it will be going to testers for 2006 sock patterns, but it's all mine to look at and dream about for now!

More sock fun to come! Happy Monday to all!

Comments

Amie said…
I have a couple of balls of that stripey stuff - I teach at a place that sells it and made samples in exchange for the rest of the balls... It's not bad, and I'd consider it among the best of Lion Brand's stuff... Yours look great!
Anonymous said…
Oooh, sock delight. I am also making a striped pair right now (they are striping themselves, though) using Buss's pattern. I need to look at different heel versions, though. This one didn't turn out that smooth. Don't you just love Shepherd Sock? Softest, most luscious sock yarn I've ever used.

Love your blog!
emy said…
Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for checking out my blog.

I could see that you are an avid sock knitter -- now, wish I could avoid that SSS (2nd sock syndrome) so that I could knit more socks!

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