Socks – Page 3 – Sheetar.com

Socks

Ember Socks

By Sheetar 1 March 2017 7 March 2023

Yet another Spun-to-Finished project! Simple socks this time, but I really wanted to show off the color transition, and a pair of “fraternal twin” socks seemed like the perfect opportunity. First up, the fiber!

The fiber is from Twisted Fiber Art and is “Sleek,” a now discontinued blend of 50% Superwash Merino wool and 50% Tencel which makes it a great, sturdy blend for socks. The colorway is, “Ember,” which has also been discontinued from the Twisted Fiber Art list of colorways. The tencel makes the Superwash Merino spin up super silky and smooth.

And the spun yarn! I used a chain ply method to get 415 yards out of 4 oz of fiber. The plying method helped preserve the color changes in the roving. It came out to right about fingering weight, so I knew this would eventually become socks.

The finished socks! I knit the same basic sock I always knit – 64 stitches around, top-down, with a heel flap. I started them August 3, 2016 and finished August 19, 2016, so these went pretty quickly! As you can see, the striping doesn’t quite line up from sock to sock, and that’s okay. I actually prefer to waste less yarn and just knit onto the second sock without worrying about the start color lining up just right. For the heels, I switch to the other end of the yarn cake once I start the heel flap so that the color transition on the leg to instep section isn’t interrupted. Yeah, it makes for two extra ends to weave in per sock, but it takes a matter of a few minutes and makes the sock look nice. Here’s the Ravelry Project Link for this project if you want to see more. There aren’t any notes or anything since this isn’t a really complicated pattern, but I am pleased with how they knit up and, as usual, how amazing it is that my hands can turn a bunch of fiber into something I can wear.

Socks

Finished Socks – Forest Moon of Endor

By Sheetar 16 February 2017 16 February 2017

It seems like I get the chance just once a year to drag out the backdrops and fancy camera and actually photography things for myself! These are the Forest Moon of Endor socks by Heidi Nick (Ravelry links). I started these January 27, 2016 and finished February 16, 2016, so they’re a pretty easy and fast knit as far as socks go. Knit on US 1.5 (2.5mm) DPNs with Knit Picks Bare fingering weight yarn that was dyed by me using easter egg dyes, these squishy socks have just the right amount of lace. My favorite part is the heel isn’t a traditional heel flap and opens up in the pattern as a stockinette triangle so the lace doesn’t weaken the heel. I didn’t write it down, but I think I used just the 60 stitch version since the lace opens up the gauge (I usually do a 64 stitch sock, but 60 stitches was plenty here). I made a slight modification and continued the lace pattern down the instep of the sock instead of leaving it as stockinette.

The pattern had been free last year when I knitted these, but now it costs $4. I think the pattern works pretty well with both solid and subtly variegated yarns. Here’s the Ravelry Link to my project page for these, and hopefully I’ll get my tush in gear and post more finished objects more often!

Socks

Socks from 2015 – Part 4

By Sheetar 23 March 2016 23 March 2016

If you missed the first three installments, here are links for Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Crazy Pools Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Multi in, “Confetti”
Ravelry Project Link
Pulled out of deep, old stash, I apparently never even added this to stash on Ravelry. The pooling worked up SO bizarrely, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Another yarn that really didn’t suit an intricate pattern, so I did the old standby plain vanilla sock. Still, they’re fun colors and the yarn is a known workhorse yarn for socks, so they’ll get plenty of wear.

MOAR SOCKS
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in, “Coney Island”
Ravelry Project Link
Not quite as deep stash as the prior pair, but the striping was again destined for plain vanilla socks. I believe for this pair, to maintain the stripe order, I split at the heel and worked from the other end of the ball and then went back to the regular yarn for the rest. Nice colors, and stripes are always fun.

Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Snallygaster Fibers Lindy Hop Sock in, “Jeremiah”
Ravelry Project Link
I already knew how this yarn works up into stripes and it may be my favorite yarn to turn into Jaywalkers. The yarn was gifted by a friend who I did some test knitting for, so these are extra special socks. Also, blue and green and grey? YES PLEASE. They’re so bright, it almost makes the sparks of bright green look like lightning bolts between sky and clouds and sky. I’m kind of regretting though not doing an afterthought heel because the striping pattern is interrupted on the gusset, but it does break up the foot and leg, and the colors are still awesome, so it’s okay.

knitting, Socks

Socks from 2015 – Part 3

By Sheetar 2 March 2016 2 March 2016

Still moar socks! If you missed the first two installments, here are links for Part 1 and Part 2.

Plain Socks Again
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Fluormania in, “7184”
Ravelry Project Link
Who couldn’t just love this colorway? Blue and Orange?! I’m in! Arguably my favorite color of the fluormania color line, these (again) had to be plain socks to show off the color. I really love how the transition from color to color isn’t perfectly clean and even and there’s a little bleed over, almost like a watercolor painting. I’m also pretty thrilled that the socks are almost opposites of each other in how the colors lined up – blue on one toe, orange on the other. They’re just perfect, and again, this is a great workhorse sock yarn and I’m sure they’ll last me for ages.

Hand Dyed Socks
Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks
Designer: Erica Lueder
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Artsygal Colonial Nylon Blend, hand dyed by me.
Ravelry Project Link
The pattern was really simple so the socks knit up very quickly. There’s enough of a pattern to not be plain old socks, but not so much that the pattern is lost in the color. The yarn was hand dyed by yours truly at a dye day class taught by ArtsyGal. It was the first time I’d dyed yarn, so it was fun experiment and I’m glad I finally knit with the yarn which was dyed in 2008! Oof! So, this is some pretty well aged sock yarn, but thankfully not past its prime. I love how the pooling worked out to look like waves of color instead of striping or spiraling.

Fireball Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Zitron Trekking Pro Natura, hand dyed by me.
Ravelry Project Link
You’ll forgive me for yet another plain sock since this one is pretty neat, right? I dyed this skein from a blank base myself, measuring how much yarn it takes to knit a row and then mathing it all out so I could get stripes like this. Then it was walking laps around a set of chairs in the kitchen to re-skein the yarn in the right length, dye, reskein again into a smaller skein and FINALLY knit the yarn. They buying/dyeing was done in 2008 (seems that class gave me ideas), and they were finally knit this past year and I’m IN LOVE with them.

knitting, Socks

Socks from 2015 – Part 2

By Sheetar 18 February 2016 16 February 2016

On to the second installment of my adventures in sock knitting from 2015.- for Part 1, click here.

Vanilla Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: The Alpaca Yarn Co. Paca-Peds in, “Carribean Chocolate”
Ravelry Project Link

The pooling worked out almost like a self-striping yarn with these, and I rather like how the brown and turquoise work together. The yarn was soft and squishy with only 20% alpaca content, so it’s soft but still has that classic wool bounce and sproing. Just your basic socks again since I didn’t know what to do with yarn that wouldn’t work for intricate patterns.

Stretchy Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Cotton Print in, “Fall Herbs”
Ravelry Project Link

Another plain sock. I’m sort of mystified how the same yarn can knit up into two very different socks because the pooling lines up differently, but it’s really rather interesting too. The yarn came put up in two balls, so I suppose the one was just a hair enough different, or my gauge was that different between the two socks. Either way, I’m not a huge fan of this yarn – when I wore them, they stretched out like crazy and almost didn’t stay on my feet. I’m not sure if maybe the elastic is too old (the yarn had been ‘aging’ in my stash for quite some time) or that the bamboo and cotton overpower the elastic. I’m hoping a machine wash in warm water may bring them back to life.

Jaywalkers
Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Feelings in, “1702”
Ravelry Project Link

This yarn was just begging to be Jaywalkers with those HUGE stripes. The coral and red colors look like that in real life too – it’s super hard to distinguish between the two colors. For the heels, I did the heel flap and turn in yarn from the opposite end of the ball so that I wouldn’t mess up the striping pattern. I think I forgot to do that on the first one and then remembered for the second. Great, basic workhorse sock yarn with fun colors and a super quick (3 day!) knit.

knitting, Socks

Another year of Sock Knitting

By Sheetar 2 February 2016 1 February 2016

I finally got everything set up and photographed the socks that I’ve knit over the past year. The tally? 15 pairs! Some of them are from the end of 2014 since the last time I photographed handknits was September 2014, oops. Fifteen pairs of socks is no joke, but the majority of them are plain stockinette socks, so it’s really not a lot of substance when you get down to it, especially when you consider that I can knit a single plain sock in about four hours. I had an off year, what can I say? The majority of the knits from my past year in knitting were meant to keep my hands busy while I watched TV, fill time while waiting, and bust some of the more colorful sock yarn stash that isn’t suited for intricate cables and lace. In that way, it was a successful year indeed, and now I’m well stocked to continue working on a scrap yarn blanket for a few more squares. Here are the first two, and I’ll post a few more every week.

Fluormaina Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Fluormania in, “Neon Ocean”
Ravelry Project Link

Nothing really fancy going on here. I used the same basic sock recipe I use for all my plain vanilla socks, and I happened to publish it on Ravelry and the blog here a few years ago when I ran a sock knitting workshop at a local cafe. It’s easy peasy and lets the crazy wild color of this yarn really shine. I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything but a plain stockinette sock for this colorway since it may be my favorite one of the whole Fluormania line.

More Plain Socks
Pattern: Sock Knitting Workshop
Designer: Alysania (yours truly!)
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Wisdom Yarn Marathon Sock in, “Twin Cities”
Ravelry Project Link

This was a silly impulse purchase because the price was right at Tuesday Morning on a trip through one day. Green and blue self striping yarn at over 50% off? SOLD! It’s your basic sock yarn, nothing too fancy, not particularly soft, but it feels durable, so that works! I like how the colorway knit up and again, used the same simple basic sock pattern as before.

Socks

Not Just Boring Dude Socks

By Sheetar 25 November 2014 18 November 2014

A friend was back at the sock designing board and needed another test knit, this time for socks for men. The husband has repeatedly refused my offers to knit socks for him, but let’s be fair, he wears t-shirts all year round and is ALWAYS too warm. Knit socks are not really what he needs, but he did request an awesome pair of mittens that I’ll get to in another post, soon.

Anyway, on to the Dude Socks! I had to figure out who to knit for, so I opened up a post on Google+. A bunch of guys responded, willing to be test subjects (and enthusiastic about hand-knit socks which was SO neat to see), so I random-number-generatored a winner who just happened to be friend and almost-neighbor, Steve. Steve gave me his foot measurements and I set off knitting the large size. After quick test-fit when the first sock was almost done, I managed to finish the pair in 8 days! Super quick knit, really squishy and stretchy, and the sizes fit anyone from a small woman’s foot to a large man’s foot with plenty of ease. Steve has already worn them a bunch of times which of course made me happy because every knitter wants to hear that their hard work is much appreciated and loved. The pattern went live on Ravelry recently, and the details are below.

Pattern: Not Just Boring Dude Socks
Designer: Corrine Walcher
Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential in “Sarge”
–Ravelry Project Link–

Socks

More Socks!

By Sheetar 23 October 2014 18 October 2014

Because one post wasn’t enough to catch you up on all the sock knitting I’ve been doing, here’s another one! These were from way earlier in the year, but I finally got photos and notes together to put on Ravelry. Don’t worry, there are still more to come even after this post. Yep, backlogged just a little.

Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Feelings in “1701”
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
I have a problem with Jaywalkers in that every striped yarn I find, I immediately think, “OH, this is perfect for Jaywalkers!” It’s more interesting than doing a straight, plain sock, and I love those chevrons. I will admit though to specifically buying this yarn to make Jaywalkers, so that’s okay, right?

Pattern: Jaywalker
Designer: Grumperina
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Snallygaster Fibers Lindy Hop Sock in “When Doves Cry”
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
See what I mean? OH STRIPEY, must be Jaywalker material! It’s neat how the pooling changed up so drastically on the legs as opposed to the foot. I still get my chevrons, but also neat tie-dye swirly craziness. Really love these colors.

Pattern: None / Basic Sock
Designer: Me
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: dkKnits Technicolor Dream Toes in “Galleria Glitz”
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
Just your basic plain vanilla socks. The colorway did some neat pooling, and I love what happened on the heel turn with the individual stripes of color. It’s kind of a hot mess in terms of the bright colors, but in a good way, I think. They sure are fun, even for being simple socks.

Pattern: Nutkin
Designer: Beth LaPensee
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in, “Rare Gems”
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
Really easy pattern to knit, even if it doesn’t quite show up that well in the image above. The colorway had a little bit too much contrast for the pattern to show up well, but it’s still got more interest than just straight stockinette. The yarn was purchased at Rhinebeck years ago, and it was finally time to go ahead and use it!

Pattern: Hisuiiro Socks
Designer: Claudia Eisenkolb
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5mm)
Yarn: Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! in “Mr. Nancy”
–Ravelry Pattern Link–
These were a bit of a slog and took me almost six months to knit. Mostly, the delay was because the pattern involved charts and a good deal of concentration which I don’t always have time for when I knit. I am glad I finished them because the design is really lovely, and that heel is so neat and fits in perfectly with the design but is still a slip-stitch heel (my favorite).