Tag Archives: Knit Picks

FO Friday: Cheery Vanilla Socks

Posted on by
9

My Cheery Vanilla Socks got their last heel installed and I have all the ends woven but not clipped. Happy Finished Object Friday to all!!

Pattern: My own toe up vanilla “recipe” for  72 stitches with an afterthought heel

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Cheer. I used about 305 yards or 70 grams of yarn to make these. (I have a US 9.5 to 10 foot, the struggle is real you guys….)

Needles: US 0

Mods: I made shorties this time that land just above my shoe line.

They are snug without being tight. They seem to stay on my feet as I made sure to make my heel deep enough this time. Prior attempts with shorties left with socks that liked to slip off my heel and down into my shoe. Surprisingly they match pretty darn well. I honestly can’t remember if I tried to do that on purpose or it was a happy accident. I’ll take it either way.

These still need a good wash to get the martini scent out and even out some of the stitches. Oh, and I’m noticing that the heels don’t match exactly. Maybe I can use this to designate a left and a right sock?

I’ve been puttering around with these socks since August 2018 so I felt pretty chuffed to clear my needles and have a pair of socks to add to my drawer. And the yarn has been in my stash since 2015 so that feels good as well. I like to see some of my older but yet still loved yarn see its full potential.

Happy Knitting!!

Dark Side Toes

Posted on by
6

I finished toe twinsies on my Dark Side Vanilla Socks. This sock snake aka sock tube is one of the 50 gram skeins of Knit Picks Felici in their Dark Side color way. I just unpicked the waste yarn on either end and knit two toes. For the toes i’m using some stash Cascade Heritage sock yarn in grey.

My plan now is to measure and find the middle and then knit two grey ribbed cuffs. This should maximize the use of the yarn. Theoretically after that I can measure and cut in afterthought heels.

I’m traveling soon to see an old dear friend. We are having a girls weekend with wine and yoga pants. Oh, and doggie snuggles as she has two senior dogs who are excellent couch companions. But I digress, I’m thinking of bringing the two socks (heel-less) and presenting them to her as a gift. I can then measure her feet and place the heels while I am there for a custom fit.

Does that sound like a genius idea or a recipe for stressful deadline disaster?

Almost Finished Shorties

Posted on by
Reply

My Cheery Vanilla socks are literally one evening away from being done. I pulled these out to work on after they went to Moms and Martinis with me. They had a slight lemon scent from the lemon drop martini I had, whoops!

I had finished the stockinette portion of the leg for the second sock at the bar. I pulled it out last night and didn’t find any dropped stitches so I’m call that a win. I then started but didn’t quite finish the ribbing of the second sock. I think I need another round and then bind off.

Of course after this comes the cut in (true) afterthought heel. If the tiny human and husband human grant me a little grace tonight I might be able to finish these!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Dark Side Socks

Posted on by
4

My mojo (in general for life) has been a little low lately I decided I needed a morale boosting project.  So what would be better than a quick win using one of my sock snakes? I pulled the Knit Picks Felici snake in the Dark Side colorway and paired it up with some Cascade Heritage from my stash.

I managed to get the needles inserted and the waste yarn pulled off. I have both 50 gram skeins cranked next to each other with waste yarn in the middle. I think I plan to put a toe at each end of each 50 gram snake. Then I will find the middle and split the tube in half. I can knit two cuffs and then based on the size figure out where I need to place an afterthought heel. I will probably end up with a set of shorties socks. But I am okay with that, I need more of those for my sock drawer! Plus if the plan works then I can do the same to the second 50 gram skein and have a second whole pair of socks!

Happy Knitting!!

Growing Zen

Posted on by
2

I reached the next checkpoint in my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket. I finished up the stripes and got into the solid red chunk that will be in the middle. I’m feeling pretty proud considering I had knit a partial blanket that was too small, ripped that back and started again, just to get back to the point I was at when I pulled it all back.

This bright pop of red is just SOOOO much and I love it. It really livens up the neutral quality of navy and black.

The semi-bad part is that I’m now solid on red section island. No stripe changes to keep my interest, its all just knitting until I run out of red yarn. We shall see how well this goes…..

Zen Yarn Garden Do Over

Posted on by
3

I might need to have my accountant card revoked. I had a terrible math fail. I had started my Zen Yarn Garden blanket awhile back and I had knit through three stripes. I was reading my pattern (like I should have done at the outset) and realized I have DOUBLE the yarn than the pattern calls for.

Now if I had kept going I would have a crazy skinny and incredibly long blanket on my hands. Not really what I was going for so I did some research on Ravelry. I found a couple of other projects where other knitters had close to my yardage. So based on their project notes and some math using my gauge, I ripped back my blanket and started over.

This time I cast on nine pattern repeats for a total of 144 stitches. I’m MUCH more happy with this version. Now I’m working through my navy and grey stripes until I use half of those colors by weight.

This squishy blanket just makes my happy and has been my therapy project when I sit down to knit after the kids go to bed. Usually I would snuggle and play with Dex and he would sleep near me while I knit. The nights have been hard for me now that he not with me. I find myself reaching for my knitting for comfort.

What would we do without knitting!?

Hot Socks

Posted on by
3

Supposedly it is fall in Kansas. I sure can’t tell by the 90+ degree days and 80% humidity. I took a walk around the capital building on my lunch this week and I melted!

I had my Cheery Vanilla Socks with me while I strolled. I was so sweaty that the yarn was sticking to my fingers like CRAZY. In a 40 minute walk I only managed five rounds of knitting because I kept having to futz with my tension and yarn.

I guess it’s five more rounds than I had before, and a couple thousand steps added to my daily goal. But I’m really pulling for sock weather to make an appearance!

Happy Knitting!!

A Half Finished Shortie

Posted on by
6

I chaperoned Jellybean on a play date this past week. It’s in the high 80s to low 90s (Fahrenheit) here in Kansas, so with the aid of a breeze we got some wiggles out at a local park. I of course brought my knitting….my Cheery Vanilla Socks were ready to cast off!

I snuck in the afterthought toe this past week during some epic and long drawn out conference call planning meetings.  And after the heel was done I decided these were going to be shortie socks as my sock drawer is a little thin on those kind of socks. (And I just kind of wanted to be done…full disclosure.)

Above is the awkward leg contortion selfie photo of my half finished object. I thought about getting the kids to help but they were eating Fun Dip and sharing secrets under a shady tree. I decided not to interrupt them but mostly I didn’t want my sock to be sticky (#momtruth). Past Rachelle had decided to help Future Rachelle by casting on the second toe at the same time I cast on the first toe. So I’m off to the races up the foot of sock number two.

I really like Past Rachelle sometimes! Happy Knitting!!

Cheery Progress

Posted on by
6

I’ve had to move my workouts indoors to the fitness center at work. But I’m still managing to get more steps in and put some stripes on my Cheery Vanilla Socks. I looked down the other day and realized I was probably at the heel. So I measured and sure enough I was two rows past where I needed to put in my afterthought heel yarn.

So during a particularly long conference call meeting I tinked back those two rows and knit in the waste yarn. Which, by the way, I just had laying in my desk drawer because that’s totally normal right?

This sock feels and looks super skinny but my stitch count and gauge are right on with my other Felici socks I have made previously that fit. I’m going to be zen about it. If they are are too tight then they will go in the gift pile for Christmas!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Westport Blanket

Posted on by
2

With a little concentrated effort and binge watching some Big Bang Theory re-runs…my Westport Blanket is done!

Pattern: Westport Blanket by Fifty Four Ten Studio

Yarn: Knit Picks Mighty Stitch (held double) in the Celestial colorway

Needles: US 13s

Mods: I added two extra body repeats before working the garter border.

The color is blowing way out in these photos. But this blanket is a deep royal blue and is PERFECT for my cousins little baby boy due in October. The finished size is slightly more rectangular than I would want but I used up just over five skeins of DEEP stash to make this blanket. This took 5.3 skeins or 1,111 yards of worsted weight yarn held double. It felt amazing to make such a beautiful project and put a dent in some yarn that had been collecting dust.

I really enjoyed the pattern as it was very well written. I noticed that Fifty Four Ten Studio has several other baby blankets that might be a good match for some future baby knits. Blankets in general take a ton of time but bulky knits like this really make it fly off the needles. And now this blanket is washed in baby safe soap and tucked in the cedar chest awaiting a baby shower!

Happy knitting!!