Socks

I've not been knitting much lately - I went away to a research conference in Oxford for a week and it disrupted my rhythm. Just before I got on the plane though, I managed to get these in the post to my little sister...

Bed socks knitted to my usual pattern on 4.5mm needles. The cuff yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in pale yellow and the body of the sock is Fyberspates BFL sock yarn in Fiesta colourway.

These should keep her toes warm at night!

The Resident Radiologist also did well on the sock front lately...

My usual heel-flap pattern knitted on 2.25mm needles with Trekking XXL yarn in a blues and greens colourway.

I have started swatching for a new largeish project so hopefully normal service should resume soon.

Ho hum...

Remember my experiment with hand-dyeing?


Well, it's been transformed into another pair of socks for the Resident Radiologist who's giving them their trial run today.


I'm really curious to know how the colour in these socks is going to hold up under frequent trips through the washing machine. I probably won't have to wait too long to find out as the RR likes wearing his hand-knit socks all year round.

The completion of these socks means that I've hit a bit of a knitting hiatus. I don't really want to cast on yet another pair of socks (though I have plenty yarn and they're small, portable and convenient summer projects) and I've run out of left-over yarn for the blanket project at the moment, but I'm struggling to get the inspiration for a more major project.

My sister has requested a mitred-square blanket a la Mason-Dixon Knitting, in her usual colourway (ecru, pale blue, pale pink and taupe) so maybe I'll get going on that. I haven't decided on DK or aran weight yet - I'm trying to decide which will be better value - but am probably tending towards aran.

Finally a little enigma to ponder...


How does a cat get in through the cat flap, make her way across the dining room rug and up the long flight of carpeted stairs with enough mud left on her paws to leave tracks in the bath? I really can't get my head around it!

New home and new socks

Finally, there has been a happy coincidence of good light, a camera and time to use it.

Here are some of my favourite bits of my new home:

This cupboard and window in the sitting room,


The details and cornicing on the ceilings,


The light fitting in the sitting room,


My new yarn storage - two drawers for yarn, two for fabric and two for beading and other supplies,


The bay window in our bedroom,


The stained glass round the front door.

I also managed to photograph my new socks - I'm calling them muted berries as the colour reminds me of a pale version of blueberries and raspberries etc.



They're a modification on my usual pattern but I've kept a 3x1 rib down the leg and over the top of the instep. They fit very well and the yarn, Acaraunia Ranco, is wonderful to knit with.

A request and finishing #3:

Firstly a request for any American readers out there:

I had my first taste of candied yams today (10% of the students at the Vet School where I work are American and to mark Thanksgiving, the refectory put on a traditional thanksgiving lunch) and I absolutely loved them. Could someone who knows about these things please post a recipe for them in the comments? It would be much appreciated.

And now to another FO:


Black and grey socks for the resident radiologist, knitted to my usual pattern on 2.5mm DPNs. The yarn is Trekking XXL which he picked out for himself from A Good Yarn when we were on holiday in Boston in August.



Initially they were a bit short in the foot for him, but after a bit of ripping back and re-knitting, they now fit nicely. Apparently Splat approves too.

Our house move is rapidly approaching - we shall be moving a week tomorrow providing the last few legal bugs are sorted. Consequently, my knitting has taken a bit of a back seat. All I seem capable of at the moment are socks so that's what my current WIP is too.

Super-speedy socks

I seem to have fallen off the tank top wagon almost before I'd got started.
I knitted the swatch and before I'd even managed to measure the gauge I was getting, the Koigu in my (currently sonewhat limited) stash had wound itself into balls and cast on for a pair of socks!


Five days later, here they are! They are the fastest pair of socks I've ever knitted - the first was done in two sittings (though some back-to-back matches in the rugby world cup helped that along) and the second in a few evenings. The fact that they were for me and not the resident radiologist helped too - his feet are several inches longer than mine.

I can safely say that the RR is never going to receive a pair of Koigu socks - there just isn't the yardage! I only have average sized feet (UK 6 - US 8) but there was only a metre of yarn left over from each skein after the grafting. Using 3 skeins for a pair of everyday socks would just be too much! Having said that, the Koigu is lovely to knit with and the colours are beautiful - I think that this is colour P313, bought from Get Knitted and these shades will look perfect inside my Crocs for the winter. Some new skeins might just have to find their way into my stash once we've moved house.

More Socks

Another pair of socks hot off the needles for the Resident Radiologist.


The yarn is Regia Crazy Colour, bought at Woolfest in the summer. I've gone back to my standard feel flap pattern for this pair as the afterthought heels didn't fit him too well.


The regia yarn is lovely to work with - this is the first time I've used it - it's springy and smooth and gentle on the hands (which is something that couldn't really be said for the Lana Grossa in the last pair).

I've currently got Wisp on the needles but the progress is slow as I'm using Brittany birch needles and the KSH tends to stick a bit on them. I want to make two Wisps as Christmas gifts though so I need to keep plodding on with them...

The difference half a millimetre makes!

I've been spending a fair bit of my weekend doing this.....










That's right, frogging and re-knitting, all for the sake of a half-millimetre difference in needles. I originally knitted these socks in January on 2.75mm DPNs with 64 stitches as usual. They were far too big - really baggy round my feet. I normally use 2.25mm DPNs, so ripped back to the ankle and used the smaller needles from there.

You can see the difference this needle change makes in this photo taken after the first sock had been re-knitted.










I also decided to put afterthought heels in this time, instead of heel-flaps. This also tends to give me a better fit. I knit a piece of scrap yarn where I want the heels, then continue with the foot and toe. I then pick up the stitches either side of the scrap yarn, remove the scrap and knit the heel.











And the final outcome - socks that fit properly!

Actual knitting content

I had hoped to be able to post some photos of my WIPs and recent FOs today but when I went to get that miracle of modern technology, my digital camera, I couldn't find it and realised that I hadn't seen it since my husband downloaded some photos from it in November or December. Eeeek! At least that means that it should be in the house, but in our house, that isn't too reassuring.

Instead, I present some FO's from my archive:

My adaptation on the leftovers sleeveless pullover by Alison Hansel. The pattern was written to use up leftovers of yarn, therefore getting stripes, but I had some Noro silk garden in my stash that I was desperate to knit up so I used it, with some Jamieson's Shetland Chunky for the bands. I knit it flat as I wasn't sure how the Noro would look in narrower stripes if I knit it in the round. Now, having seen this, I think it would have looked just fine! This pullover looks great with a white shirt undeneath, but is really really warm and rather lacking in waist shaping (I can never resist the urge to fiddle with patterns, and this is one I wish I'd left as it was!).



This is the first pair of socks I ever knitted. Since knitting these socks, I have become somewhat addicted and knit a pair every month or two. The resident radiologist is hard on socks and tends to get through a cotton pair in fewer that 10 wearings but woollen socks seem to foil his sock destroying tendencies. These are knitted in Lana Grossa fun and stripes with the toes in 4ply merino (the RR's feet are UK11, and he likes his socks longish in the leg, so a standard ball of sock yarn is never quite enough). As, even at a pair of socks a month, I couldn't supply him with an adequate supply of socks, and since I don't want to spend my knitting time exclusively on socks for him, I also use this fabulous company which sells machine-knitted, hand finished socks...

Off now to search for the missing camera and to get some lovely food from here with which to spoil the resident radiologist this evening. Hope you all have the Valentine's day you want to have...