A recent car trip allowed me to finish the gusset heel on my first 2023 Christmas Eve Cast On socks. Added some color to the rather brown and bland landscape of winter in Kansas.
I will plan to weigh my sock and my ball of yarn to find the total weight. I will pull out the yarn to find halfway and make two (hopefully) equal socks by weight. I don’t use this weight of yarn to make anything scrappy so using all of the yarn is preferable.
Goals: Finish this first sock by week end! Happy Knitting!!
I did get two wee toes started with my leftover 2023 CozyKnitter advent skein. This time around I started without a contrast toe so the resulting socks will be shorter.
I may not work a stripe a day, but I do plan to work them in tandem. So if I knit on one, I will stop and do the same on the other. I really wanted to work some sort of slip stitch detail into these but I am not convinced it will show up in the subtle fade. I will try it for a few colors but if it sucks….I’ll rip them back.
Happy Knitting!!
I kinda forgot how fast sport weight yarn will go after working so many socks in fingering weight. I have already completed the first foot of my 2023 Christmas Eve Cast On Socks!
Bonus points for them matching my softest and most comfy emotional support leggings. For the socks I need to take some official measurements and then start working my go to gusset heel from Wendy B Johnson. Her patterns/blog are no longer available but you can find them using the Wayback internet thingy.
I don’t know who these socks will be for. They are thicker yarn and more like a boot sock but I am also making them to my measurements. Just flowing with the knitting and I will work out the rest later.
Happy Knitting!!
Continuing my New Year’s parade of FO, I humbly present my 2023 CozyKnitter Advent Socks!
Pattern: My own 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe” with afterthought heel
Yarn: CozyKnitter Bliss Sock in the 2023 Advent Skein
Needles: US 1s
Mods: I upped my stitch count to 72 from my usual 68 and that works great for the foot and leg. But my heels are baggy and I should have reduced their size by 4 stitches.
I used about 88 grams of yarn or 300 yards of yarn for these including the contrast and stripe. So these go farther up my leg than my KirbyWirby socks. I really enjoyed these socks as this dyer never disappoints. I will admit my old eyes had some problems with these subtle color changes.
I definitely have enough of this yarn for a full color repeat for a second pair of socks. I won’t use a contrast toe this time and I want to incorporate some sort of slipped stitch or contrast stitch in between the colors. And I fully understand that I may have trouble detecting those color changes in some cases. I really want to try but I may hate it and rip it back out. I reserve that right!
Happy Knitting!!
May I present my 2023 KirbyWirby Friends Advent Socks as a delightful FO! They are toasty my tootsies by a roaring fire.
Pattern: My own 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe” with afterthought heel
Yarn: KirbyWirby Old Faithful Sock in 2023 Friends Advent
Needles: US1s
Mods: I upped my stitch count from 68 to 72 and probably didn’t need to. There is very little negative ease and the heels came out loose/big. But they are serviceable enough.
These came out as ankle socks instead of calf high socks. Which is fine as it adds variety to my sock drawer. The finished object used 62 grams or 280 yards of this yarn kit. That is for both contrast color and self striping. I completely used up the contrast but I may 1.5 repeats of the stripes left? With how I wound my original skeins to be able to start with the same color I am left with one large-ish ball and two small balls.
I don’t think I will attempt to make another matching pair of socks. They would be VERY short. I might think about putting these in my scrap blanket or maybe a pair of mitts? I’ll let that idea marinate for awhile. For now I’m going to snuggle with my new socks!
Happy Knitting!!
I made it to Christmas Eve and all 24 stripes on each of my advent socks. I was smart and worked ahead and added the heels a few days before Christmas. Now they just need cuffs!
The KirbyWirby Friends Advent is on the left. I had the teensiest ball of the teal contrast left. So I unwound it, found both ends and doubled it over to find the middle. I wanted to take what scraps I had left and split them evenly across the two socks. The stripes on this dyer are smaller therefore resulted in shorter socks
The CozyKnitter 2023 advent is on the right. These produced much taller socks and more normal for my sock drawer. I have plenty of the cream contrast so I don’t need to split the remainder.
Due to how I chose to construct these, I will have a ton of ends to weave in. I’ll have to muster up a glass of wine and plow through those when my cuffs are done….
Happy Knitting!!
Here is a little sneak peak of the package I will unwrap later this evening. A Christmas Eve present is a tradition in our home. Kiddos get bedtime snacks and new PJs….I get a knitted cast on.
Spicing this up this year with some mulled wine and a new stemless wine chiller I picked up on a girls trip. The cast on will be some sport weight socks. This is the skein of Lilliput Yarn yarn that I ordered thinking it was worsted weight.
It’s a merino/nylon blend so it will be a perfect sock and I need some heavier boot socks in my drawer. So the universe is telling me its meant to be. Now off to prep for Santa coming tonight!
Merry Christmas!
Still sprinting to Christmas and I finished first pair of fingerless gloves for teacher holiday gifts. I LOVE how they turned out.
Pattern: Dreaming of Spring Fingerless Gloves by Joelle Hoverson
Needles: US 5s throughout
Yarn: Good for Ewe Claddagh in the Abyss colorway
Mods: I didn’t use smaller needles for the ribbing. I just couldn’t be bothered and they turned out just lovely.
I unfortunately will not get a second pair made before class lets out later today for the other teacher. So I slipped a card with a treat and an IOU for the other teacher. Now I can chill a little bit and work on the gloves over school break.
P.S. I literally was finishing the second glove and lost the first one for like 20 minutes. I had a full on panic attack….10 out of 10 do not recommend.
Happy Knitting!!
My Emotional Support Socks are finished and ready to be all cozy for Christmas!
Pattern: My own 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe”
Yarn: Agirlandherwool BFL Sock. This is the full skein that came with my 2020 advent calendar
Needles: US 2 (Flexi Flips)
Mods: None! Just cruised on the socks until I used up all the yarn
These socks fit like cozy gloves. I have been making my socks with 68 stitches for years now. I think between my feet changing and my gauge changing….I might be cruising for a 68 stitch toe and then a 72 stitch foot and leg. It’s a fine line as I still want negative ease but I also want the finished objects to wear well.
These socks are reasonably tall and used 90 grams of yarn which is 360 yards. It felt great to get this stash completely used up and out of my stash! Now I need to game plan my next pair of sock. I am thinking they will be for my Christmas Eve cast on…..
Happy Knitting!!
A little toasty update to my 2023 advent socks!
The pair on the left are my Cozy Knitter advent and are for sure coming out in a rainbow. Its beyond gorgeous but sometimes late in the evening the subtle fade is hard to detect. Still so happy with it and wouldn’t change a thing!
The pair on the right are my KirbyWirby advent and its Friends themed. These stripes are random but still cohesive. These stripes are smaller than the other advent and will result in shorter socks. And that’s okay, I’m fine with executing the dyers vision
I will try to sneak in one more update before Christmas on these. I’m so stoked to have two new socks for the season!
Michele plays with yarn, food, and music in Portland
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