My Sock Story

Since I saw a pattern book for socks when I was a young girl (it was a rather complicated book on hand knitting argyle socks) I have wanted to learn to knit socks. A year or two ago, I successfully crocheted several pairs of socks, a pair for my stepdad, two for my mother, and two for me. Sadly, crocheted socks do not have as much "give" in them as knitted socks, and Mom's socks do not fit her - they are scheduled for demolition (I know it's called frogging, but demolition fits my mood about those socks) and then knitting. (If you want to see the crocheted socks, as well as a few other things that I've crocheted in the last couple of years, you can look at my Ravelry page. You might have to log in - I am not sure.)

In May of 2010, Danny and I stopped at a small yarn shop in Longview, WA, Evie's Yarn Emporium. I was looking for some stitch markers for the pair of socks which I was then crocheting, having dropped my last one under the seat in the rental car. Evie, who is a marvelously gregarious person, asked me if there was "anything else" besides the stitch markers - and I asked her about making socks. Nearly forty-five minutes later (during which time, Danny came in from the car because I had been gone so long that he had started to worry), I had a ball of yarn, a set of bamboo #1 double-pointed needles, a pattern, and a handful of handwritten notes and advice from Evie. That ball of yarn became my first handknitted pair of socks.

It was tough going, my first experience with double-pointed needles, but I wouldn't be stopped. I tried again, with #3 dpns and some sport weight yarn from KnitPicks. The second pair of socks came out better than the first, but I still felt that it took F O R E V E R. I wanted faster.

Blue socks - sport weight from KnitPicks. Brown - forgotten yarn name from Evie's.

Fast forward to spring of this year, when I had my Bond. I made my first pair of machine knitted socks on it, from Liberty Wool purchased at DownTown Knits in Apex. Danny liked them so well that I promptly made two more pairs. (Only two pair, the first and last, are shown below - the blue pair that were made between these two appears in another post, but you get the general idea...)

Top: first pair of machine knitted socks; bottom, another pair. Liberty Wool, Bond machine.

And then...I got a Studio SK-301. My next two pairs of socks were made on it, from KnitPicks' Felici Sport. These socks feel great on the feet, so great that I almost didn't give Danny back the pair he loaned me when we were flying to Oregon this year. But...the problem with these, as with the ones made on the Bond, was twofold: the toes had to be Kitchenered, and the flat-knitted socks had to be seamed up the side. Yuck. Yes, you don't notice the seam when you are wearing the socks, but YUCK for having to make the seam.

The Felici Sport socks, knitted on the Studio.

So...now I have moved up to knitting socks in the round, as I mentioned in my last post. Next...figuring out how to put on a ribbed top!

Oh...if you do go to my Ravelry page, you'll see that there are a pair of socks listed as WIP (work in progress) that are called Insouciant Socks. There is no photo yet as I'm not sure what to do with them - they are "complete" but are too short and fit "funny." I might have to taken them apart and knit them on a machine - but I spent hours and hours and hours knitting the darned things. See? Another reason to machine knit socks - if you don't like the result, you probably have at most an hour or two in each sock so it doesn't hurt SO bad if you decide to frog 'em!

That's my story...so far. I have quite a few skeins of sock yarn in my workspace, and now that I don't have to seam, they will probably be socks in short order!

Next Sweater and Another Pair of Socks

What a productive day! I finished the second sweater and another pair of Liberty Wool socks. I changed up the neckline a little on the sweater by adding a row of shell, left of the shaping on the shoulders, and added a row of single crochet at the end of the sleeves.

Blue Liberty Wool Socks

Both sweaters

The newest sweater

Soap Baggie

So I have a lot of Peaches and Creme yarn leftover from the first sweater. It suddenly occurred to me that it might be possible to make a quick little bag to go over a bar of soap, along the lines of the ones I've (rather endlessly) crocheted.

For the record, here's what I did tonight. It definitely needs refinement.

Using KP 2, open cast on 15 stitches, leaving a ten inch tail Knit 20 rows. Completely unravel every other stitch, starting from the second stitch in. Run a piece of waste yarn through the loops that the ravel cord holding the weight on goes through, and a piece of waste yarn through all the loops on the needles. Remove the work from the needles. Don't cut the yarn.

Hang half of the length of the piece on ten needles, and hang the other half on top of the first (this is how the bottom is made). Knit one row. Remove the work from the needles. Don't cut the yarn.

Hang the original stitches through which you threaded waste yarn onto 7 needles, with an empty needle between each inwork needle. Hang the loops that original held the ravel cord on top of these and knit one row. Cut the yarn, leaving a ten inch tail. Use a yarn needle to thread the yarn through the stitches on the needles, and remove the work from the needles.

Tie the two tails together in a knot. Use a yarn needle to run them between the first row of stitches around the opening to create a tie. (Note: this part needs to change. Perhaps an i-cord would be suitable.)

Put a bar of soap in the bag, close the opening with the tie, and use in the bath or shower.

My First USM Sweater

The knitting machine seminar is this coming Friday and Saturday. I really wanted to be able to wear SOMETHING I made on the machine to it, and fortunately this easy pattern was in the old manual. It's made from Peaches & Creme yarn, most of two cones (I used one cone for the front and another for the back; the leftovers probably will become kitchen towels, placemats, or potholders).

I'm very pleased with the result and am going to run over to A.C. Moore for some more cotton yarn. I'd like to try a solid next, and do a cable up the front.

My First USM Slippers

Based on my memory of a hand-knit pattern used in childhood....these are stockinette around the foot and then ribbed around the toes.

KP 4, Caron One Pound
3.5 stitches to the inch; 5 rows to the inch
For a 9 inch x 10-1/2 inch rectangle:
Cast on 32. Knit for 52 rows. Convert the 11th stitch from each side to purl (to make the bend for the sides). Convert the area between the 11th stitches to 1x1 ribbing for the last 25 rows.
Run a needle through the stitches on the machine to cast off; pull tight to gather. Sew the top edge as far as the ribbing goes. Sew up back seam.
Repeat for second slipper.

Notes for New USM Users

Just a few things I learned along the way....

#1 - make sure your table is absolutely level. THE MACHINE WON'T WORK IF IT ISN'T. Especially check for bowing under the middle of the machine - my first table bowed downward, just slightly, but it was there and caused many jams

#2 - the foam that holds the needles in might hold them too tight, so be prepared to remove it and experiment with another solution, such as laying various numbers of strands of Caron Simply Soft over the needles

#3 - there can be absolutely no tension whatsoever on the yarn going into the carriage

#4 - Check each needle for manufacturing burrs. Sand them off or they will catch your yarn. (I used a heavy-duty emery board.)

 #5 - Check each needle's plastic slot for same.

#6 - The weighted hem that comes with the machine is really only good for at least 3/4 carriage-wide projects. It's too heavy for smaller projects; therefore, if you want to do something smaller you will need to either buy a smaller weighted hem or make your own. Or take out the weights - use about 1 weight for every 25 stitches cast on.

#7 - check under the green parts of the carriage for rough spots that can catch on yarn. Sand them off with an emery board.