Tag Archives: self striping

Hot Socks

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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

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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

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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!!

Dad’s Socks Go To The Frog Pond

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I need to start playing sad violin right about now. I was so excited to have finished the first sock of my dad’s Christmas present. My husband made a comment that the sock looked extra huge. So when my dad was helping with my floor I had him try it on.

You guys it sagged EVERYWHERE. It was loose on the leg, the heel and the foot! I had no choice but to resign it to the frog pond. I realistically need to take out eight stitches from the stitch count. And it’s my own fault. I was knitting DK weight yarn using a sport weight sock stitch count. (Read: too many stitches for that thick of yarn.)

So during a Netflix re-watch of a favorite episode of NCIS I turned the above sock int these….two balls of ramen. One sock ball and one heel ball because I cut in an afterthought heel. Sigh….

I still want these for his Christmas so I need to get back on them. But I may need a mourning period first…

Happy Knitting!!

Not Quite A Full Foot

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I have been pretty diligent about getting off my rear end for lunch and walking. Aside from feeling less stressed and hitting my step goal most days. I’ve been adding more stripes to my Cheery Vanilla Socks.

It’s hard to see from this angle but I have about 5.5 inches of foot complete. I have a 9 inch foot so I like to get to 7 inches (or just shy of) before I add waste yarn for a forethought afterthought heel. Based on how much I get knit…I think I have three more walks and I’ll be at the heel!

Happy Friday to all and keep on Knitting!!

FO Friday: Soft Serve Sock Snake Socks

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It’s full on summer here in Kansas so seems like a perfect time to get my Soft Serve Sock Snake socks completely off my needles!

I managed to get two pair of ankle socks out of two 50 gram skeins of Knit Picks Felici (with the help of some contrasting heel/toe/cuff yarn) in the soft serve color way. The snake tubes were cranked over 72 stitches. The top  pair is for my sister’s birthday and they fully coordinating. I had to get a little more creative and go sort of franken-sock with the second pair.

My leftover tubes weren’t equal so I had to use scraps to extend the toe of one sock. And then I didn’t have enough speckled contrast yarn to do more than the cuffs. So I pulled out some Cascade Heritage sock yarn to do the toes and heels. I think this makes them superbly unique and a great addition to my sock drawer.

With the socks tubes I finished two pairs of socks in like two weeks with only half-monogamously working on them. You certainly can’t beat that!

Happy knitting!!

A Heel For Dad

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I made really good progress on Dad’s socks while on vacation. I finished a good chunk of the leg and weighed my skein. I was already dangerously close to using 50% of the skein and I hadn’t put in the afterthought heel yet!

So in an effort to stave off knitting disaster I split the skein in half by weight and looked at my remaining ball for sock number one. It was tiny! So I broke the yarn and inserted the heel. I managed to finish the heel but I wasn’t going to have enough yarn to do a decently tall cuff.

I did a quick Ravely search of my stash and found a single skein of Berroco Vintage DK in my stash that would be about right. It was plain black and coordinately decently with this stripe colors. And it has a relatively close fiber content so the washing instructions would be the same. I am still periodically holding this sock up against previously knit socks that I know fit my dad. And this sock matches the measurements but it still looks to my eye to be crazy big.

Dad will be here for a visit in a few days. I might break down and have him try this first sock on to see if it fits before I start the second sock. I risk having to re-knit the first sock but that is better than wasting a whole skein of perfectly good sock yarn that won’t get worn!

Happy Knitting!!

Self Care And Socks

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My four year old Jellybean is testing my limits with all he’s got. Bedtime has turned into a huge ordeal. I know this is part of his growing up and learning to question the world and push boundaries. But ooof, it’s exhausting and consumes almost all my patience. So last night after a 55 minute bedtime battle I settled in for some self care.

I poured myself a low carb beer, turned on the Wet Coast Wools podcast and worked on the toe of my Soft Serve Sock Snake socks. As far as self care goes I feel like this was the better option than the large bowl of ice cream I really wanted. Though my sock toe might be a little wonkier than if I had skipped the beer, lol.

Happy Knitting and take care of yourself!

Happy Anniversary to Me

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As of June 30th, the husband and I have been married 12 years. We’ve added two dogs and two kiddos over those many years and boy are we exhausted! I’ve said this before (with all due respect and love) that my  husband is a terrible gift picker outer. So these days I keep a google doc where I link to things I would like to have. He then only has to click and purchase from a list of things hes certain I want. It has served us both well.

This year he picked out some wonderful things from Tuft. He chose a sock soap, bath bar and some hand balm. I think the sock soap is just natural scent, the body bar is honey scented and the hand balm is definitely blueberry lemonade. They are all heavenly and this is my first Tuft experience and I’m not disappointed so far!

And he managed to throw in some yarn from String Theory Colorworks. This is Stark Effect on their Inertia base (80/20 blend of merino and nylon). It’s crazy rainbow bright and should make some brilliant socks.

P.S. Don’t worry I didn’t forget the hubby. He is getting his car professionally detailed to rid it of kid crumbs, dog hair and about 7 years of Kansas mud and dust!

Happy knitting!!

Second Set Of Shorties

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The first set of shorties are off my needles and I’m starting to work on my pair. These are pair number two in my Soft Serve Sock Snake Socks.

I had to do some finagling with my scraps for these tubes. I went ahead and added the speckled yarn for contrasting cuffs. But those cuffs completed used up that mini skein with nothing left for heels or toes. Also, the tubes were not the same length by a noticeable amount. So I dug out the leftover scraps from the first pair and added until they were the same length. You can see the strip sequence is off for the sock on the right.

Now my dilemma is what yarn to use for the toes and heels? I pulled a couple options from my stash but I’m not completely sold on either. I might need to do a deeper stash dive after the kiddos go to bed. I don’t need these perfect but some degree of coordination would keep my brain happy.

Happy Knitting!!