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!!
Happy New Year!! I am starting 2024 off with some handspun. Hoping this year brings me joy and different challenges than 2023.
I finished most of my first Handspun Mitts and cast on the second. I ended up using a 48 stitch count for the first mitt and it is pretty bulky and loose. It’s not horrible but not what I intended. So I have not yet added the thumb.
For the second mitt, I switched to 40 stitches to see if the smaller mitt is a better fit. When I get both done and figure out which one I like better I plan to frog the loser and reknit to that matching stitch count.
It really didn’t take me long to make this mitt after the holiday hubbub died down. And this handspun is super nice so I won’t mind knitting this again. I’m excited to have super fun handspun mitts that coordinate with my new dress coat!
Happy Knitting!!
Santa was very kind to this knitter. As the resident Santa in my home I did some knitterly things for myself.
I ordered some fiber and sock yarn from the Woolery during a holiday sale. I picked these out specifically but when the box came, I had forgot what I ordered so I left it in the box for my stocking. I also ordered a mystery box from KnitCircus to surprise myself and when it came I left the box closed.
On Christmas Eve, I opened the box and closed my eyes. Then carefully pulled the items out and put into my sock without peeking. I really really like surprises and this was about the best way I could manage it. I came away with the following
Absolutely no plans for any of these items other than they brought me joy on Christmas morning. Does anyone else ever go to these lengths to surprise themselves?
Happy Knitting!!
I could not get the idea of black sparkly handspun mitts out of my mind. So here I am casting on!
This handspun is thicker than the pattern calls for. So due to the rules of gauge, I am going up in needle size and down in stitch count to get a Women’s Med/Lg size mitt at the end. Did I swatch? No. But these are quick knits and I plan to treat the first mitt as a swatch.
If I have to rip back and start again? No biggie, just means more New Years knitting time for me! 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!!
I needed another easy project on the needles to kick around when I am tired or watching movies. Another hat it is!
I cast on this hat during a 90 minute customer care call with a work vendor. I added 96 stitches and then did a single row of 2×2 rib and then switched back to stockinette. Those few rib stitches are really helping the brim to keep from rolling all the way up.
I am going to work a folded brim for this one, but in stockinette this time. I just didn’t have the fortitude to work 4-6 inches of ribbing. My brain is still digesting the Christmas haze and carbohydrates. Other than that decision, I am just winging this hat. I’ll decide the rest as I go!
Happy Knitting!!
Michele plays with yarn, food, and music in Portland
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