Monthly Archives: March 2021

Fini

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Ok. WordPress updated their platform and I’m lost. Please bear (or is it bare?) with me while I try to post this.

Back to what I wanted to talk about. I finished the brown socks. I still don’t like them but I’m sure someone in my circle of friends who appreciates handmade socks will LOVE them!

This pattern is called Picnic Blanket Socks from the second in the Handmade Sock Society season 4 series.

I started off with 67 grams of Knit Picks Stroll sock yarn in Fedora (brown) and 21 grams of Basalt for the contrasting heels and toes. I have been using the German Twisted or Old Norwegian cast-on and it has a nice edge and is stretchier than the long-tail cast-on I used to use. Staci from Very Pink has a great video on how to do this cast-on.

Easy, easy, easy pattern as it is mostly knitting in the round. I think it was the puffy parts and the solid brown that made me not like these socks. Perhaps if the yarn was heathered or a tonal color, I would have liked them more. I started them on March 4th and finished the pair on March 20.

I played yarn chicken with the Fedora brown and I won. I had less than one gram left which will be enough for any repairs that might be needed in the future. I still have 10 grams of the lovely greyish-taupey heathered Basalt, which is, unfortunately, discontinued.

Other than weaving in the ends, I’m calling these finished.

Have you finished anything recently?

Happy knitting. Or crocheting. Or other crafty things.

Patti

Brown socks

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I’m knitting a pair of brown socks. I don’t like the color of yarn nor the pattern.

But since I bought the pattern and am using yarn from my stash, I’m going to finish them.  One sock is done and I’ve already knit 23 rows on the second sock.

How silly is it to continue knitting something I don’t like?

Pretty silly.
Patti

Holey toes

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Hand-knitted socks deserve to be repaired.  We spend hours knitting them so a hole, especially in the toe area, can be and should be fixed.

Last September Mr. Aitch and I took a motorcycle ride to Blackwater Falls near Canaan Valley, West Virginia.  It was a beautiful day to ride.  Mr. Aitch and I hiked down the 200+ steps to view the falls and then back up again only to discover that I dropped my denim jacket somewhere along the trail.

See, no jacket flopped over my purse.

About three-quarters of the way down I finally found it along the path.  Up I trudged to the top of the trail where Mr. Aitch and I guzzled a bottle of water.

With proper footwear the boardwalk and steps are no problem at all but we were both wearing our motorcycle gear including leather boots.

Once we returned home and I removed my boots, I discovered a hole in one sock and the beginnings of a hole in the toe of the other one.  I hand washed them and promptly forgot about them until last weekend.

It was time to get these back in my sock drawer or better yet, on my feet.  With the newest pair of socks completed and an empty knitting needle, I tackled the repairs.

Even though the yarn is a superwash wool, the toe area felted on the inside as I soon found out while trying (unsuccessfully) to unravel the toe. I ended up securing the stitches with some double-points and cut off the end of the toe.  This process took me well over an hour!

I still had some of the yarn leftover from when I made these socks and quickly reknit the toe of the one sock.

The second toe was easier as I shoved my darning egg into the toe and did a kind of weaving over the thin area to prevent a hole. 

Not perfect but good enough.

When I gift socks. I  include 1-2 yards of yarn in case a hole appears and I try to remember to tell the recipient that I will gladly (?!) repair any damaged socks.

Do you repair you holey hand-knit socks, toss them, or save and never wear them?

Patti