Tag Archives: hand knit socks

26

Jan. ’21

Morning sock knitting

Just wanted to post an update on my current morning sock knitting and the progress I’m making.

Here’s a link to this project on Ravelry. You’ll find more details there but the yarn is Zauberball and the pattern is Taffy Toes by Tabetha Hedrick. This is one that I kitted up a long time ago. I have no idea when. I know I didn’t kit it up for last year so it might have been in 2018 when I put this together. Who knows…

Anyway, I don’t like the yarn. Nothing wrong with Zauberball. It’s all personal preference. It’s single ply and a little inconsistent. Some parts are thicker than other parts. But the color is knitting up amazing and I love the rainbow. I haven’t done cuff down in a long while as I prefer toe up but the pattern is written cuff down and I didn’t have the brain power to switch it. So I stuck with what was written.

I usually knit 15 min/day but the pattern is not too complex and I’m allowing myself 4 rounds per day which is a bit more than 15 minutes. I don’t really keep track unless I’ve got a meeting to attend so I am enjoying my morning knit. I’ve got about 20 more rounds to do before I start the heel which will make the leg a bit longer. It’s currently way longer than I normally knit the leg but I want the full rainbow to be visible so I’m okay with it.

~ Knit on my friends

Melanie

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17

Nov. ’20

Update on my current socks

Geeky Girls Knit 5th podiversary Current Status 11/17/2020

I’ve not been very good taking progress pictures and posting them anywhere, here Instagram, Facebook… So here you are. It’s been about 2.5 months since I started which is a really long time for me. Mentally, I’m already done with the project.

What you can’t see in the picture is that the heel is already done and I’m working on the leg. I realized that I can finish this now because I’m not one for a long leg and in fact, really like shorties instead. So, I’m finishing up the pattern and will start on the cuff shortly. I think I’ve got 4 rows or so left in the patter. I am very close to a finish.

You might be able to tell some weirdness in the toe area. The original pattern has you purling and purling and purling but after a weekend of purling the toes my hand/thumb/wrist were in so much pain I couldn’t knit for 2 weeks. I decided to turn the toes inside out and just purl where I needed to in the front to keep the pattern but then knit the back side.

~ Knit on my friends

Melanie

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10

Sep. ’20

My Sock Knitting in 2020

New sock for September
Geeky Girls Knit
5th podiversary

Last week, I finished my most recent socks. The ends have not yet been woven in and I have not yet taken a picture so that will have to wait for another day.  But I picked my new sock project and got it started.  As it’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned here what I do, I’ll go into detail as to what I’ve done.  For the last 2-3 years, around October or November I sit down and pull all the sock patterns and single skein sock yarn, match them up together and kit them up.  The very first year, I pulled all my knit picks Felici. I was part of Knitting Expat’s Sock Clubs (she had 2 that year). So it was easy, every month she had a new sock pattern and I would pick one of my knit picks felici yarn and start knitting.  I still have Felici yarn in my stash. Then that October/November, I printed all my sock patterns that I hadn’t knitted, chose yarn to go with the pattern and stuck them in a project bag with a number.  That first year, I had 15.  At that point I had been purchasing or getting free downloads of sock patterns I loved and I wanted to knit them. It was a shame to keep them in my Ravelry library and never actually knit them. So I made my own little club.  Every month, I would ask Siri to pick a number from 1-15 and I would knit whatever it chose. I do not remember how many socks I knitted that year. While part of the Knitting Expat sock club, I challenged myself to knit each pair within the month so that I could stay on track with each pattern as they were released.  Most of the time I was able to stay on track. Every once in awhile I slipped.  But as long as I knit a few rows (at least 5 sometimes more) every day, then I was able to get the pair done each month.  When I started my own mini club I tried to stay within the monthly challenge. This ended fairly quickly mainly because I now have a ton of socks and not enough drawer space. I even sent a lot with my daughter when she went away to college.  Anyway, I don’t need 12 socks every year so I do not push myself to knit a pair a month.  I think 6 weeks is a good time frame. Any longer and I get bored.  At the end of that first year, I think I had 5 projects remaining from the 15.  Then last November I did the same thing, I still had the 5 projects from the previous year and somehow I had more patterns.  So I kitted up more and I started 2020 with 13 kitted sock projects.  Now I have 5 in my project bin. So I’ve got the 1 I started for September, the 1 I still have to weave the ends in so I must have finished 6. I’m pretty sure I didn’t take pictures of all of them and post it.  I will try to do that one of these days.

I’m currently formulating my plan for next year but I do not have as many sock patterns to knit in Ravelry like I’ve had in the past.  My LYS closed this year and I helped buy all their remaining sock books.  I am thinking about picking one of those books and working my way through it and I’ll probably do that until I’ve gone through all the books.  I’ll let you know what I end up deciding. The end of 2020 can’t come soon enough. I’m done with it. I’m hoping for a better end to the year along with a great 2021.

The socks I started last week are from the Geeky Girls Knit podcast. I haven’t watched it in awhile so I’m out of date with them. But when I was watching, they were a mother-daughter team. They were based in Edinburgh when I started watching them but then moved to the Pacific North West.  It’s been a few years since I got this kit and it was sitting waiting for me to get to it.  One of the reasons why I love doing my socks this way is because it means that I will knit the things I want to knit, even when I forget about it.

~Happy knitting to my knitter friends out there.

Melanie

 

 

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03

Feb. ’20

Finished Socks

knit picks
scrappy socks
2/1/2020

I briefly mentioned that I finished these socks on my recent weekly update and I wanted to go over them in detail.  I may have done so in a previous post but I can’t remember and if I can’t, maybe you can’t either.

These socks were knitted with 2 different colorways of Knit Picks Felici.  In 2018, I was on a kick to use up as much of my Felici as possible. This is one of those yarns that I bought a lot of because I loved the colorways but when I finally started knitting it, didn’t love the yarn so much.  So in 2018 every month I knit a pattern with what I had with the intent to use up all my Felici (spoiler: I still have a lot).  Because my feet are small and I like shorties (despite these being long), I would have 50g (almost a full ball) left of each colorway after every pair of socks.  So, I have a bunch of these leftover and at some point some time ago I needed a quick travel project and vanilla socks are the best for travel knitting.  When I finished the first colorway, it wasn’t enough for even shorties so I added a second colorway and just knit a tube until I finished the second colorway.  I pulled out my bag of minis and selected something for the heels and something for the cuffs.  The heels are kirby’s afterthought heel without waste yarn tutorial on youtube.  I originally didn’t put a waste yarn because I thought that these would go to my daughter. She decided she didn’t want them (she already has a ton of socks so she didn’t want to add to her collection).  So they’re mine.  The cuffs are 2×2 ribbing.

I started knitting on these socks as my morning knit project after Thanksgiving when I finished my November socks.  These took a long time to knit because of how long they became but I really love them and may consider knitting more long socks.

~Always,

Melanie

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01

Feb. ’20

My weekly update, 2/01/2020

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks. First I wasn’t able to post because of Road to California and all the shenanigans that happen there. I was exhausted on Sunday and spent the day resting. And that morning, Kobe Bryant and his daughter passed away in a helicopter crash. It’s heartbreaking and I continue to cry every day.  I cannot imagine what his wife and family are going through and I offer my prayers and hugs to them.

And here’s my update…

First, the week before Road:

I didn’t cross stitch at all that week, I did some knitting and that was it.  I went to yoga once.  That’s it. I played on the Bernina Q20 that Friday and quilted on practice sandwiches. At the end, I took out this table runner and quilted it. Now it’s done and all I have to do is bind it.

I also went to a featherweight maintenance class and now I have the knowledge I need to oil and service my featherweight!

On Sunday, I spent the day finishing up clue 3 on my scrappy quilt (no pictures because I was so busy sewing).  Time just goes by so fast. Then the week started up again.

So this past week, I was a bit more productive.  I cross stitched 4 of the 5 days and I finished the columns I was working on last time and now I’m on the next set of columns.

Mama’s Bukid
1/31/2020

I went to yoga once so I’m averaging about once a week.  Much better than not going at all but I’m striving for twice a week.

Next I accomplished my morning knitting on socks for 15 minutes every Monday – Friday.

1/18/2020

These babies are now done!

knit picks
scrappy socks
2/1/2020

All the ends are woven in and I started on my next monday morning socks:

Pattern: Jo’s perfect slipper socks
2/1/2020

 

Second, my evening knitting on Ricky’s Weasley Sweater every Monday through Friday.

Ricky’s Weasley Sweater
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 6 of 10 days.  Here’s an updated picture:

Ricky’s Weasley Sweater
about 14″
2/1/2020

It’s hard to see the green stripe but it’s still there.

I only worked on the Fairy Hill Shawl during knit night but that’s okay. I have about 7 rows left to do.

Fairy Hill Shawl
2/1/2020

I hope you all have a happy crafty week!

Melanie

To see the full 2020 crafty plan, click for quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and everything else.

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18

Jan. ’20

My weekly update, 1/18/2020

I’ve done very little this past week.  It seems to have gone in a blur.  Last Saturday’s post I complained about being sick and not getting as much done as I wanted to and this week I do not even have the excuse of being sick.  I just had a lot of family and other obligations that kept me from crafting to my heart’s content.

Monday was my quilt guild meeting and it was a good meeting. I’m co-membership chair so I have a bunch of duties I needed to do to prepare for the meeting.  At least I was able to knit on my socks during the meeting.

On Tuesday, we went to the Los Angeles Clipper game and had a blast.

Wednesday, I was in Century City, and went with a friend to a yoga class.  Which was awesome!  I haven’t gone to yoga for almost a month and while the class kicked my butt I was very glad to go.

Thursday was knit night and it was my daughter’s last night with us before she headed off to college. So I went to knit night for a couple of hours before the family and I went to sushi for the girl’s last night.

And on Friday, we woke super early to get the girl to the airport for her early flight.  It was fine and at 1pm my parent’s called to say they were on their way to visit for the weekend.  I love that they are here visiting but my plan was to spend Friday sitting on my butt stitching.  Instead I had to run around getting them dinner.  I’m okay with it.

Anyway, that’s my busy week.  So what was I able to actually do?

First up – morning knitting on my socks for 15 minutes every Monday – Friday.

last week – 1/11/2020

 

I checked this off for 5 of 5 days.

1/18/2020

The cuffs are done and I’m working on the heels.  I have about 2 or 3 more rows on the heels and then I can kitchener it and call it a finish!  woohoo…

Second, my evening knitting on Ricky’s Weasley Sweater every Monday through Friday.

Ricky’s Weasley Sweater
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 1 of 5 days.  I only did about 2 – maybe 3 rows during knit night so any picture I take today will not be much different than what I showed last week.

I had dropped a stitch on my Fairy Hill Shawl and spent some time trying to fix it. Mindy spent more time on it but I didn’t get anymore done on it than that.  And I got another small blip done on my mix wave cowl.

Mix Wave Cowl
1/11/2020

For Cross Stitch, my goal is to work on it every evening Monday – Friday.

Mama’s Bukid
1/11/2020

I did nothing on this project all week.  🙁  So it looks the same. I wanted to finish up those columns last night but it will have to wait until my next free xstitch moment.

And finally Quilting! I was able to finish Glam Clam last weekend and posted about it during the week. But here it is again!

Glam Clam
Finished Top
1/13/2020

And finally for Sewing, the top and bottom of my Megan dress is put together and my next class is tomorrow. I’m excited to get that to the next step.

Megan Dress
1/11/2020

I guess I made small progress on some projects and no progress on others.  That’s okay. And I have a finished top so that is reason to celebrate.  I hope life calms down a bit over the next few months so I can get back into the rhythm of crafting, creating, and relaxing.

I hope you all have a happy crafty week!

Melanie

To see the full 2020 crafty plan, click for quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and everything else.

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11

Jan. ’20

My weekly update, 1/11/2020

Now that the first full week is almost done, let’s do a quick check in to see my progress. To see the full 2020 crafty plan, click for quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and everything else.

To summarize, I have no specific goals other than to carve out time to craft on particular projects. This week, the first full week basically blew me out of the water because I got sick. So sick that I missed my minigroup get together on Monday, worked only part time Monday – Wednesday, and barely made it to knit night on Thursday.  I was able to do some things but not all things every day.

Monday – In addition to minigroup, I was supposed to go to yoga. I didn’t go. I also didn’t go on Wednesday or Friday.  🙁  I hope to change that next week.  I know yoga is not a craft but I need it to stay healthy and enjoy crafting.  So it’s part of my weekly “must do’s”.

First up – morning knitting on my socks for 15 minutes every Monday – Friday.

I checked this off for 4 of 5 days.  It doesn’t look it, but those tubes are about 15 inches long and I’m just starting the cuff.  There is no heel yet but I’ll be adding those on using the afterthought heel method when the cuffs are done.  I smell a finish coming…

Second, my evening knitting on Ricky’s Weasley Sweater every Monday through Friday.

Ricky’s Weasley Sweater
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 3 of 5 days.  It’s really hard to take a picture because it keeps rolling on itself and it’s on cables.  I did my best above and hopefully the colors come out right on your end.  It looks fine on my monitor.  His sweater is Slytherin but he did not like the idea of a green sweater so I made it gray with green.  It originally was supposed to just be a Green R but I wanted there to represent more green so included striping at the bottom of the sweater. I hope to also have stripes on the sleeves but that will depend on whether I have enough of the green.

I also did a couple of rows on my Fairy Hill Shawl which I still do not have a picture of. It’s because it’s all bunched up on cables and any picture I take will just be a jumbled mess.  And I did another blip on my mix wave cowl.

Mix Wave Cowl
1/11/2020

For Cross Stitch, my goal is to work on it every evening Monday – Friday.

Mama’s Bukid
1/11/2020

I checked this off for 4 of the 5 days and I’m almost done with the first 2.5 columns of these last 2 pages. There are 2 pages (a top and a bottom) and I want to finish 2 columns per month so I can get this long time project done and framed sooner rather than later.  I’m in the home stretch now because once I finish these columns I will only have 4 columns left!  And if I am on pace this will be done in March.  The problem as I’ve said in previous posts is that I’m not loving working on this project right now so it’s super hard to get myself to work on it.  I started these columns in December and didn’t even get halfway through the column.  Now, these are made up deadlines so if I take a month or two longer, it’s not a big deal.  🙂

And finally Quilting! My only schedule for quilting is to quilt all day Saturday but sometimes I work it in during the week.  So I was able to finish my Good Fortune Quilt!   I posted this picture recently but here it is again in all it’s glory.

Good Fortune
1/6/2020

It’s hard to see but the top is done and I have already put it away in my quilt queue.  Next up is Glam Clam and I’ve already started working on it today.  In fact, I finished another row.  I only have 1 row left and if I buckle down I might be able to get that one done today and have a second quilt top finished in January!  It’s stuck up under my sewing machine until I finish typing up today’s post so you get a picture of it “under the needle”.

Glam Clam
under the needle
1/11/2020

I do not actually have all day today as we are expecting friends for dinner this evening so I will need to end early to get ready for the socializing.

For Sewing, I just posted about this yesterday so it’s the same status.  But tomorrow is Sunday and normally Sunday is sew day.  Unfortunately, but fortunately, instead of sewing, I’ll be taking a quilting workshop with Mike McNamara offered through my quilt guild.  So I’ll be quilting tomorrow as well.  More on that later.

I hope you all have a happy crafty week!

Melanie

 

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