Cortina Socks

Design: Plain Stocking Stitch Socks

Designer: Based on Regia leaflet socks, with heel from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks

Yarn: Cortina (from Lidl Supermarket)

Fibre: 75% wool, 25% nylon

Needles: 2.5mm DPN

Last year, my second ever pair of socks was a Christmas gift for my dearest friend. This year from OCtober onwards she started dropping hints she'd like another pair ...

My friend requested 'dark, plainish socks - black, brown or grey' - and this yarn, snaffled at a bargain price from a discount supermarket chain seemed to fit the bill - it was plain enough for her, but not so plain I was going to be bored to death with it. There was no way I was going to knit plain black socks! The yarn is a little rougher than Regia et al, but it worked up quite nicely and I think it will get softer with washing.

I don't think they are going to be worn for a while yet - on Christmas Day my friend flew out to India for six weeks, but I know she's taken them with her for her arrival back in the UK, as February is always freezing!

Garter Rib Socks

Design: Garter Rib Socks

Designer: Charlene Schurch (from Sensational Knitted Socks) 

Yarn: Wendy Happy

Fibre: 75% bamboo, 25% nylon

Colour: Gemini 2502

Needles: 2.5mm KnitPro DPNS

I've just realised I posted these as a WIP but never showed you the finished result! These have made a very comfortable pair of socks, and they are wearing well. The bamboo is lovely and soft. They do slouch a little more than my wool socks, but it's liveable with.

The yarn was quite splitty when I cast it on - I think it's my technique but the result was great. I've got some more of this yarn in my stash earmarked for socks, I can't wait because they are especially fab for summer wear. And of course bamboo is a renewable resource...

Ma's Christmas Socks

Design: 60 stitch socks, slip stitch heel

Designer: elements from the Regia leaflet and Charlene Schurch

Yarn: Schoeller Fortissima Socka Mexiko

Fibre: 75% wool, 25% nylon

Colour: lost theball band, but I know it's been discontinued

Needles: 2.5mm DPN

My usual 'go to' sock pattern, but one which shows of the yarn beautifully. I'm not normally a fan of blues, but I will make an exception for these! So it's a shame really that they are a Christmas present for my mum! By the time this is posted on my blog, they will hopefully be on her feet, keeping her warm and snug!

She specifically requested some hand knit socks for Christmas. My parents are going to Norway on holiday in June, and are crossing the Arctic Circle and going right up to North Cape - so Ma wants to make sure her feet are warm.

Ma likes blue, and the colours of this yarn spoke to me of deep fjords, pine forests and clear skies... I hope she likes them as much as I do, otherwise I'll have them back! :o)

Plain Striped Socks (Kaffe Fassett)

Design: 60 stitch socks, slip stitch heel

Designer: elements from the Regia leaflet and Charlene Schurch

Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fassett Design Line

Fibre: 75% wool, 25% nylon

Colour: 4259 Fire Landscape

Needles: 2.5mm KnitPro DPN

There's not really a lot I can say about plain stocking stitch socks, because they're just that - plain. They'd be quite boring to knit too, if they weren't in such great self striping yarn. Yes, it's Kaffe Fassett again - I just love the colour use, and the intensity of the shades. And with the weather we've been having, one can never have too many pairs of hand knit wooly socks!

Mini Cable Socks

Design: Mini Cable Socks

Designer: Charlene Schurch from Sensational Knitted Socks

Yarn: Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett (75% Wool and 25% Polyamide)

Colour: 4251 Landscape Storm

Needles: 2.5mm Knit Pro DPNS

 

Another pair of favourite socks - although I wish they weren't so blue ... The 'cable' effect is actually a twisted rib, very simple to do, but it looks very effective. The rib makes these socks very comfortable to wear, and because of the pattern row, not too tedious to do.

 

I again used a flap heel with a slip stitch pattern, which cushions them a little.

 

 

Tonks Socks

Design: 60 stitch socks, slip stitch heel

Designer: elements from the Regia leaflet and Charlene Schurch

Yarn: Opal Harry Potter (75% wool, 25% nylon)

Colour: 2350 Tonks

Needles: 2.5mm DPN

I wouldn't say I'm a huge Harry Potter fan- yes, I've read the books (well, apart from the last one) but have not really bought into the Harry-hype. Although I must say, I seem to have developed an inappropriate crush on Daniel Radcliffe, but that's a whole other story...

Anyway, it was the colours in this yarn that caught my eye, and I'm really sad that - too late - I found out it was a limited edition and that there will be no more! Pinks, wine and gold - what is there not to like? The off white and grey tone it down just enough to prevent retina burn, and the changes prevent knitting fatigue - I think I've said before I'm easily amused :o)

Opal is another favourite for sock yarn for me, great colours, wears well, nice and springy - love it!

Welt Fantastic Socks

Design: Welt Fantastic

Designer: Charlene Schurch from Sensational Knitted Socks

Yarn: Regia Ringel Color(75% wool, 25% nylon)

Colour: 5048 Clown

Needles: 2.5mm DPN

Another pair of Charlene Schurch socks - I love how she has opened up the mysteries of sock knitting for me, and given me a lot of confidence in my own abilities to construct various designs and ways of finishing.

Having stitched a plain pair of socks in this colourway for my niece, I wanted a pair for myself, but I also wanted them to be a little more ... 'out there' I guess, to complement the yarn. These seemed to fit the bill, with their chevron design and 'bullseye' heel.

The pattern itself is really easy to memorise, and the slight bias to the fabricp roduced means the socks stay up well.

The heel is a technique Schurch calls a 'forethought heel' and it basically involvescreating more live stitches and then shaping as you would a toe. It wasn't hard as such, but it was a bit of a faff and I could have done with a third hand in the early stages! I'm not entirely sure the effect is worth the effort, but I'm glad it's a new tool in my repertoire.

 

Regia S-T-R-E-T-C-H Wool Socks

Design: 60 stitch basic socks

Designer: Regia (leaflet that comes with yarn). Heelflap.

Yarn: Regia Stretch Color (70% New Wool, 23% Polyamid, 7% Polyester)

Colour: 121 Toronto

Needles: 2.5mm Knit Pro DPNs

In my quest to find the ultimate sock yarn, I'm working through as many yarns as  I can - it's a calling, I tell ya! - and making basic stocking stitch socks for a fair comparison.

This yarn is nice but on close examination you can see the stretchy core that is at the heart of it. The socks seem to 'shrink' more in the wash than others, but they are still wearable and expand to fit.

I think I'd be tempted to use this yarn for knitting socks for someone not immediately at hand to check the fit, and I'd not sure I'd want to do a patterned sock with this.

It was only when blogging I realised that this yarn was called 'Toronto' - which is a nice tip of the hat to The Hermit's heritage :o)

Basket of socks

I love reading other people's blogs - I get so much inspiration from them! A case in point was this cute idea I saw on Staci's blog recently - displaying your hand knitted socks in a basket! Jill (Purple Peacock) followed with a sweet little tin bucket for her socks, so of course, I had to see what I had ...

I ended up turfing out some stitched pieces - don't worry, these are now displayed on one of my bookcases - and found and rolled my socks and voila! I don't have to rootle in a drawer any longer, I can admire my handiwork, and I have room to add more to the collection too :o)

One pair of socks was missing from these shots, they were in the laundry! I'll be blogging about some of the others in the next few days...

Bless My Little (Wool) Cotton Socks!

Design: 60 Stitch Socks, stocking stitch, stocking stitch heel flap

Designer: Regia (leaflet given with yarn)

Yarn: Regia Wool Cotton (34% Cotton, 41% New Wool and 25% Polyamide)

Colour: 4082 Top Winner

Needles: 2.5mm

Another Christmas gift from my sister - well, the yarn was, I had to do the work! Although my sister can knit - or could - she doesn't, and leaves it up to me and my mum to make stuff for her and The Tot :o) So guess who is going to be teaching said Tot?

This yarn is lovely and soft, and is great for spring and autumn wear, the cotton adds just a hint of coolness. There's not a huge amount to say about these basic socks, really - although I should add that I deliberately didn't try to match them up.

Does anyone have any tips for taking pictures of self plus socks?

Opal Socks

Design: 60 stitch socks, stocking stitch, stocking stitch heel flap.

Designer: Regia leaflet (free with their yarn)

Yarn: Opal Lollipop 1013 (Yellow/Brown) (75% wool, 25% polyamide)

Needles: 2.5mm double pointed

My sister bought me the yarn last Christmas, so come the New Year, I cast these on, despite the colours not exactly being me - I think you get the picture that I'm not a big blue person, and I thought the yellow and brown in the ball looked a little odd...

However, they were great fun to knit, watching the colour changes ... yes, I'm easily amused :o) These are my fifth pair of socks ever, and I was beginning to get more confident and happy to make the legs and feet a little smaller, to suit me better.

The yarn is very comfortable and is wearing well. As you can see from this picture, there's hardly any felting on the foot and heel...

And the colour combination is growing on me! :o)

Elongated Corded Rib Socks - Charlene Schurch

Design: Elongated Corded Rib Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks

Designer: Charlene Schurch

Yarn: Regia 4 ply Classic Color, 5025 Papillon

Needles 2.5mm Knit Pro DPNs

I've moved on from plain stocking stitch socks to patterned socks (and back again) but I'm so behind on photos you'll have to take my word for it!

Anyway, I knitted these in my 'patterned' phase from my favourite sock knitting book, Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. Originally, these were going to be for my own use, but the colours just are so not me (I still don't know what I was thinking of when I bought the yarn) that I gifted these to my Ma for her birthday. She seemed a tad underwhelmed when I gave them to her - well, you probably would be too if you'd been given woolly socks in late July! - but has since praised them for their warmth and fit, and has asked for another pair for Christmas ... so, I think they've gone down well in the end :o)

The rib was fairly straightforward and looks pretty without sacrificing elasticity - there's nothing worse than slouchy socks when you don't want them to be slouchy! My Ma has slightly smaller feet than mine, so thanks must go to a friend at my SnB group who not only has the same sized feet as Ma, but was prepared to try the part finished socks on in the pub so that I could calculate when to start the toe decreases!

I think, so far, Regia is my favourite of the easily available sock yarns. It knits beautifully, washes well and although it gets a little felty where it rubs, the yarn colours make it look great - especially the Kaffe Fassett colourways...

Socks

Design: Regia Socks Pattern (60 stitch)
Yarn: Regia Jacquard 5269 Las Vegas
Needles: Knitpicks DPN - 2.5 mm

These were the socks I challenged myself to finish for Christmas - and I did it! I grafted the toes on Christmas Eve and wore them on Christmas Day. And then my mum gave me a pack of plain black cotton socks - LOL!

These were the very basic recipe that comes with the yarn, although I make them slightly shorter than the pattern calls for, both in the leg and in the foot. For this pair, I did make the attempt to match the stripes, but that could be because of my perfectionist tendencies ...

Toddler Socks

Design: Basic Recipe Socks from the Regia Leaflet
Yarn: Regia Sock Yarn (75% wool, 25% polyamide)
Colour: Ringels Clown 5048
Needles: 2.5mm

I decided to make my niece a pair of socks for her sweet little chubby legs for Christmas.

These were a lot of fun to make, because the colours are so jolly. I had to measure The Tot's feet - and she was smaller than the smallest size on the pattern, so I had to make some adaptions.


Her comment? "These are nice and warm" - not bad for a 2.5 year old!

Mostly Black Socks

Design: Basic Sock Recipe (60 stitches)
Yarn: Lana Grossa Sock Weight Yarn (80% wool)
Needles: KnitPicks 2.50mm

These are a pair of socks I finished on the knitting retreat last month. They will be a Christmas gift for my dearest friend. She doesn't read this blog, so I'm okay posting a picture here.

I know she only wears black socks, but I didn't want to knit a plain black pair. And I don't think I'm going to knit much fine black stuff in the future - I struggled at times to see the stitches, which made counting rows tough!

For a second pair of socks, however, I'm pretty pleased!

Works in Progress

This is my current focus stitching piece - Summer into Autumn by The Drawn Thread. I'm really enjoying it, but because the linen is 32 count, I need good light to stitch by, and a steady hand, so I'm mainly working on it at weekends, which is slowing the progress. No matter though, as it will make the joy last longer :o)

I am going to finish this as a bellpull I think, and display it with Winter into Spring - which I have yet to stitch!

This is my second pair of socks - one is already finished, and I've just turned the heel on this pair. I'm making them for my closest friend (who doesn't read my blogs) for Christmas, so I should have them completed in plenty of time. The yarn is Italian and lovely to work with, but knitting black has some of the same issues as stitching on black, especially counting! I work on these mostly on the bus, it's quite surprising how much I can get done - it works out at a sock a week.

And because I saw the yarn on Saturday, I just had to start a third pair ... these are for me. I love how the stripes are working out.

Knitting has been very soothing - Colin the guinea pig, star of the recent post, has been rather ill with a respiratory infection so has needed nursing, vet attention and some hand/syringe feeding - and knitting helps dispel the worry somewhat. He has another checkup with the vet today, but appears to be recovering - fingers crossed!

Purple ZigZag Socks

Design:Simple socks
Designer: Sue Morgan for Viridian Trading
Yarn: King Cole Zig Zag, 50% wool, 50% nylon
Needles: 2.5mm

My first pair of socks :o)

I've been knitting more years than I should really admit (35 years... my mum started me on dishcloths when I was 4) but never really managed the whole using more than two needles thing - I think it was due to lack of patience, with hindsight :o) The first rows of circular knitting with double pointed needles (DPN) are a bit tricksy but perseverence pays off :o)

They are really quite comfy and the wool blend isn't as overly warm as I thought it might be. And the socks aren't too thick, so I can still put on my usual shoes.

Update - Mostly Knitting...

Work has been busy - fun, but busy. There are a few issues which need sorting, but what workplace doesn't have those? I solved one of my issues with dealing with the volunteers - I sent them all out yesterday :o) - I got so much more work done... LOL

Today is one of my days off, but I have some stuff to organise, not least a knitting and stitching retreat for the stitch n bitch group I'm in. We had a meeting last night at a member's house, and in my efforts not to make a noise and wake her baby up, wasn't concentrating on my feet and fell down the stairs pretty much from the top - I'm covered in bruises this morning, but I didn't wake up Freddie! :O) I think I lost my concentration because I was tired - and when I lose that, because of the MS I'm more likely to trip or fall but - touch wood - I generally bounce :o)

I'm going to catch up on posting my finishes here too, as I'm so behind. The new computer is making it a lot simpler and quicker as we can use the up to date versions of the software :o)

I haven't been doing a lot of stitching though, my current addiction is knitting! I was taught to knit as a pre-schooler (*cough* 35 years ago *cough*) but never mastered knitting in the round on double pointed needles. After an interview last week for a company based close to a wool shop in the city, I picked up some sock yarn, needles, and a pattern and set myself to the task. It was awkward at first (very!) but I stuck to it for longer than my previous attempts, and here is the progress on my first sock, turned heel and all:



I've been working on the simple bits on my commute to my new job (much longer than the old one, it's one of the few downsides) but I worked the heel at home in peace and quiet ...

I'm also participating in the Innocent Smoothies Big Knit.

Basically, each winter, bottles of Innocent Smoothies are sold in a major supermarket wearing little wooly hats, to raise money for Age Concern and to raise awareness that each year in the UK, 25 000 older people die from cold related illnesses. Isn't that shocking? And of course with the huge rises in fuel bills this year, I'm sure many more old people will die as they simply won't be able to afford to heat their homes. My paternal grandparents had free coal as grandad was an ex-miner, and my maternal grandmother might have been frugal in other areas, but she always made sure she was warm, and I'm so thankful that they never had to feel the cold unnecessarily. Each bottle sold with a wooly hat will mean Innocent gives 50p to Age Concern. I've already knitted quite a few (28), and I have nearly a month to make more.



Sweepstakes: Make a comment guessing how many hats I will have knitted by 14 October (when I will mail the package to Innocent) and the person who guesses closest to the total will win an item knitted by me!