Category Archives: Socks

Now The Drunken Watermelon Leg

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The heel is turned on my Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks!


I did go with the toe-up gusset heel. I may have started it a tad bit later than I should have. The foot length looks loooong. The slightly more objective tape measure versus just eyeballing it assures me the foot is just slightly over 9 inches. Which should be fine. Should be…

For now I’m just going to admire my heel. Plus now I get to work the pattern all the way around. One less marker to fuss with!

Happy Knitting!!

Ps. How awesome is Miss Babs Hot shot!?!?

A Little Pulling

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My Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks are still living in my desk. The foot now measures 7 inches. The pattern said to insert your favorite short row heel. But A) I converted these to toe-up and B) I don’t know any short row heels for toe up off the top of my head. I briefly flirted with short row heel patterns on Ravelry but ultimately I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I just decided to work a standard toe up gusset heel. I can continue the pattern over the top of the foot and do my increases in stockinette in the bottom. My brain knows how to do that so that’s what I’m doing.


The progress keeper shows my process since last I blogged about these. You may also noticed (as I did only just now) that the slipped stitch patterning is pulling the fabric on that half of the sock.


The designer warned in the pattern to work the sole tightly and the top loosely. I sincerely tried. I’m not *too* worried as the slip stitch fabric stretches nicely when pulled. I’m hoping a nice aggressive blocking arranges that. Regardless they will be perfectly serviceable socks even if the front is shorter than the back.

Happy Knitting!!

Ps. Jellybean is still on his sleep rebellion. This time thanks to growing pains. I’m really tired so apologies for any nonsensical errors in the above post 🤤

Up The Leg

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My Vacation Vanilla Socks saw a little more progress thanks to a trip to IKEA. Jellybean got a big boy twin bed that doubles as a tent/secret hideout. God bless the swedes….here’s hoping we can sleep sometime soon!


I’ve turned the heel and started up the leg. I can’t get enough of these speckles! I had been working from one large cake of yarn. I broke out the scale to weigh the ball and split the yarn into two equal amounts. This way I can maximize the yarn in these socks. Now I’m just going to knit leg and cuff until I run out of yarn.


Don’t you just love the happy triangle that a gusset heel makes!?

Happy Knitting!

The First Heel

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My Vacation Vanilla Socks have reached the heel of the first sock.


This speckled yarn has been a soothing project. I love watching the blips of colors pop up. I’m doing a standard gusset heel as it fits me well.  I must admit I only add a few stitches to this sock at at time but it’s growing despite my best efforts. 

Happy Knitting!!

An Inch of Progress

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My desk project aka my Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks have grown slightly.


My progress keeper really does help me with observe the slightly more than glacial progress on these socks. I’m getting my head around reading this knitting and easily finding my place as I pick this up and put it down. As for the yarn, this yarn doesn’t disappoint. But Miss Babs rarely disappoints!!

Happy Knitting!

Playground Knitting

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Jellybean is currently in a…..lets just call it sleep rebellion. And only mommy is allowed to “help” him. So pardon me while I down my second coffee because I’ve been up since 4 am.

We have been spending a lot of time in parks to help him run off his toddler wiggles. And I’ve taken my knitting! God bless Erin Lane bags and their handy snap feature….


I had my Vacation Vanilla Socks clipped right to my belt loop and knit while Jellybean performed play yard acrobatics that made me cringe and smile. I guess this way we both have a little creative time!

Happy Knitting!!

Downpour Progress

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I prepped my Downpour Socks awhile back. Well, I finally cast them on during my Colorado vacation. I managed to get both cuffs done in between family outings.


I tried to manage the yarn so they would match. I am close but not quite on the money. But it’s totally close enough for me! I put these aside until I can carve out a few minutes of alone time to count and get both set up rows down and marked. Toddlers/husbands plus counting don’t really go well together!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Antimuon Vanilla Socks

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My lovely pair of isomer paired sock yarn socks are done! My Antimuon Socks are in the FO column…

I created these using a basic toe-up vanilla sock over 72 stitches. My Ravelry notes are here. I only needed roughly 70% of the skein or 327 yards of yarn. I basically eyeballed the second sock instead of measuring the first. This may have led to an error. The second sock with the wider color stripes is a smidge shorter in the leg than the first. I was just so excited to finish them and stop at a navy section that they came up short. Shhhh, don’t tell the knitting police on me!


The first sock I knit was with the skinny stripes of color. I was very pleased with my color management on the heel.

Then the second sock….boy do I love these larger stripes even more! They are just so bright and neon, what’s not to love? And again I was very happy with how I was able to insert the afterthought heel and maintain the color progression. Both socks have been safely tucked away in the cedar chest for next fall!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Downpour Socks

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The PALKAL or Podcast Along Knit Along hosted by Michelle of the Actually Knitting podcast was in full swing this summer. I didn’t play along as my knitting mojo was more geared to working on non-podcast related things. But I sure did take advantage of some of the coupon codes. When Susie White of the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast released her latest pattern I jumped on it and used her PALKAL coupon code.

These top down socks feature a slipped stitch style panel down the leg and foot and utilize an afterthought heel. I don’t usually do top down because I hate turning a heel and having holes. I just haven’t gotten my brain to work that way yet. So this seemed to right up my alley.

Now I know, awhile ago I started Susie’s ZigZagular Socks back in early 2016. I still have the toe of the first sock hibernating in my box downstairs in the craft room. I just couldn’t deal with the cable and counting and being interrupted by a toddler. It’s an amazing pattern and yarn combo I will get back to some day…I swear.

But for now I want to try these! I pulled some Kirby Wirby self-striping sparkle sock yarn from my stash and printed the Downpour pattern. I’m getting ready to drive 8+ hours with my 2.5 yo…I feel like special knitting and a lot of coca cola is going to make that bearable…

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Dad’s Christmas Socks

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My Dad’s Christmas socks kind of fell to the bottom of my knitting bag for awhile. But good news they are done now!


Two man sized sport weight socks checked off the Christmas list!

Pattern: My own 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock with gusset heel 

Yarn: Regia 6-ply

Needles: US 2 nine inch circs 

These babies weigh a whopping 136 grams which means there are over 370 yards of yarn in them! They even match reasonably closely in yarn pattern. That was a happy accident. How is your Christmas knitting going if that is your thing?