Tag Archives: self striping

School Line Knitting

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I am now officially a school pickup and drop off Kindergarten mom. Thanks to the weirdness that is 2020 the husband and I now have to plan school drop and school pickup into our work day. And with temperature/mask checks….the car line can be long.

I’m going to leave the politics and drama out of this and I’m not soliciting any advice or input. My family made the hybrid learning choice for Jellybean because that is what we need as a family. It will be CrAzY stressful and I have already forgotten to pick up Jellybean after school (it was day two of in person #momfail).

So I’m choosing to use this roughly 30 to 40 minutes a day to knit in line and have chats with Jellybean about superheros and the best snack foods. For as long as this lasts I hope to get some bonding time with Jellybean and maybe crank out some more socks.

PS. My Big Bang Theory project bag makes me super happy.

Happy Knitting!!

A Half Finished Rainbow

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Thanks to slow and steady progress I have my first finished Retro Rainbow vanilla socks made from MustStash self striping yarn.

I finished the afterthought heel. I have a pretty deep instep so I modify the afterthought heel to fit. If anyone is interested the recipe I use is on this Ravelry page. This go around wasn’t my neatest pick up and some of the stitches are stretched pretty hard. I may have to do some rearranging or reinforcing after I block these socks.

I avoided second sock syndrome my immediately casting on the second one. I knit about three or four stripes on the winery date with my husband. So I have a good start on the second sock.

Date Knitting

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The COVID situation isn’t really getting any better in my region of Kansas so my family and I are really limited in what we feel safe doing. And that has led us all to feel a little cooped up and grumpy. But I was able to find a great babysitter inside our “bubble” and I convinced the hubby to drive me out to my favorite local winery, Prairie Fire Winery, for our first outside the house date in 6 months.

The owners are extremely careful with sanitation and social distancing so I feel safe there. And on weekends they have live music outdoors. We grabbed our masks, my knitting and had some wine in the shade while we listened to a couple of very talented local musicians. I tasted some very yummy Traminette and a semi dry Vignoles varietal.

There was something very soothing about watching the prairie grass wave in the wind and knit round and round on my Retro Rainbow vanilla sock. Also, the hubby got pooped on by a bird….twice…I couldn’t stop laughing. May have lost some wife points over that one, oh well!

Happy Knitting!!

Retro Rainbow Progress

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Sock knitting really hasn’t been my jam lately, but my purse knitting is still a pair of socks. My Retro Rainbow Socks are a few stripes longer now.

I’m knitting these as sock tubes and I will cut in afterthought heels. The yarn is some de-stashed MustStash yarn in Stacie’ Retro Rainbow colorway. I’m working 72 stitches on US 0 needles.

I’m not going many places anymore so I don’t seem to pick these up as often. We largely go to work and then stay home otherwise so I am putting a lot more work on my larger projects. Good thing yarn and knitting doesn’t go bad!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Retro Rainbow Vanilla Socks

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As promised, after I finished my Antagonist Vanilla Socks I put some needles right back on the needles. I remembered that I still had the MustStash sock yarn wound up from my winding frenzy and so I got to work on another vanilla toe up sock.

I’m just doing a 72 stitch toe up sock on US0 needles. Nothing super fancy, I’m just going to let the yarn sing. I did notice that thanks to my winding I will be working one sock from the inside of the cake and the other from the outside to make them match. Whoops!

This is the Retro Rainbow color from Stacey at MustStash and it’s brilliant. I haven’t even finished the full six color repeat and I’m already in love. Self striping sock yarn is the most perfect kind of magic.

These socks are the perfect pick me up to tuck in my purse to wait in social distancing lines and drive thrus. Thank goodness for knitting!!

FO Friday: Dark Side Vanilla Socks (Take Two)

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Just a little cheery rainbow to cap off the week. I finished my Dark Side Vanilla Socks (Take Two) and got them washed and ends woven in.

Pattern: 72 stitch vanilla sock made from machine cranked sock snake

Needles: US 0s

Yarn: Knit Picks Felice in Dark Side and Cascade Heritage Sock in Grey

My stripes are reversed and the toes are a little squared off. But the socks are soft and warm and the perfect rainbow to brighten up any shelter in place order.

The next question is…what should my next socks be??

Happy Knitting

Weaving Fail

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I was trying to be a good knitter and give future Rachelle a leg up on finishing these socks. I decided to weave in the end on my Dark Side Vanilla Socks (Take Two) before starting the heels. I am making these from a sock machine cranked sock tube, so there are a LOT of ends to weave in from the contrast heels, toes and cuffs.

I was working with the sock turned inside out and when I turned them right side out I had a d’oh moment. I had accidentally dipped my needle in too far and grabbed a stitch from the sock. After a couple of curse words I turned the sock inside out again and PICKED OUT MY CAREFULLY WOVEN IN ENDS. It took 30 minutes because the universe was teaching me a lesson.

I very carefully re-wove in the ends after I released the extra stitch. It looks much better now! It was a total weaving fail but at least one I could correct. I think these socks are ready for their afterthought heels now!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Bullseye Vanilla Socks

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I have a FO this week!! My bullseye vanilla socks are done, washed and blocked!!

Pattern: My own 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe”

Yarn: Biscotte Yarns Bis-sock in the Bullseye colorway

Needles: US 0s

I used roughly 300 yards of yarn or 70 grams of this skein of yarn. They socks are in between my normal tall socks and a shortie sock. I have absolutely no rhyme or reason why. I just got tired of knitting the first sock leg and put the cuff on. So I made the second one to match. Perfectly scientific, right?

They fit quite nicely and almost perfectly match. It’s getting warm enough that these will likely go right into summer sock storage. But I needed this win this week. I can’t control the world but I can knit some royally good socks!

What is your win this week?

So Close To Bullseye

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My Bullseye Vanilla Socks are SUPER close to being done. I only need to put in one more afterthought heel.

I am pretty happy with how well I managed to plan the stripes and to get the socks to match. I did pull out some yarn to try and start at the same place. It’s not an absolute requirement for me in socks. But I do enjoy when they match.

I have cut in the space for the heel. I use the KirbyWirby afterthought heel with no waste yarn. It seems scary but it is really easy to do and doesn’t leave a hole at the corners. I can feel my mojo surging because I want a this finished socks SO BAD. The thought of new socks seems like the perfect balm to my soul right now.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Dark Side Socks (Take Two)

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I was digging around in my craft room looking for some progress keepers and I came across a sock project bag that I had shoved to the back of a shelf. To my delight, I found that it contained my second pair of Knit Picks Felici socks in the Dark Side colorway.

I had knit up the first pair for my friend in Portland when I went to visit last November. And then in the chaos of the holidays these just got forgotten. The two small tubes both had toes knit into them so all they need are cuffs and heels. I decided to get these fired back up.

The stripes are in reverse order because of how I split the tubes (aka sock snakes) but I really don’t mind. I will just be happy to have a short-ish pair of socks to add to my drawer. Though I think I have wrapped my brain around how to avoid this in the future if I want.

I worked one evening on them and made some decent progress on the first cuff. Maybe these will be my spring time present to myself?

Happy Knitting!