Tag Archives: self striping

Canadian Yarn

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A dear dear friend sent me a quick note to expect a little surprise in my mailbox. We live across the country and once in awhile we tuck things into the mail to surprise each other. Okay….let’s be real…we are 30 something adults with careers and kids. We try to remember each other’s birthdays and end up sending packages 6 months later, lol.

Well, this yarny beauty showed up in my mailbox!

She claims this was a combination of late night Instagram skimming with wine plus the favorable US to Canadian exchange rate. But she thought I needed a pick-me-up skein of self-striping sock yarn. This is even a new to me dyer! I have seen the Cozy Knitter yarn on several podcasts and thought it was amazing. This is a Bliss sock set in “Celebrate the Night”. Jellybean was ecstatic that the contrasting heel/toe/cuff skein was purple. That’s his FAVORITE.

If my Smooth Operator Socks go well and fit like I hope then this skein may just well end up being SOS socks as well!

Happy Knitting!!

Wow Those Are Stripes

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My Smooth Operator Socks have been my bedside knitting here lately. My baby bump has made it increasingly hard to be both comfortable and knit at the same time. I pretty much only feel comfortable laying down at this point. Which obviously makes knitting not always possible.

Despite my physical limitations, I have made a good bit of progress. Self striping always has that effect on me….just one more color change and then I will be don. And these colors…well they sure are vibrant and springy! The color is called Bam! Zap! Pow! and I think that’s apt.

I’m at about 6 inches of leg and I can’t decide if I want to put the afterthought heel in yet or not. I may go ahead and start the second sock to work in tandem until I can decide. I have another size 1 circ needle empty so it would be easy peasy to totally procrastinate that decision.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Smooth Operator Socks

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Hi, my name is Rachelle and I’m a bit a of selfish knitter. I have felt the siren’s call of a special selfish project for weeks but have put it off in favor of finishing some WIPs and baby knits. Now, don’t get me wrong I loved working on those but my deep deep down knitters heart was still yearning to be free.

So while Jellybean had some quality grandparent time I culled my stash and my Ravelry wish list and came up with the perfect pairing!

My Bam! Zap! Pow! skein of Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce sock yarn told me it wanted to be a some Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B Anderson. Now I normally knit my socks toe-up, I am going to give this pattern the full whirl the first time around. I will work cuff down and follow the pattern as closely as possible. I read the ENTIRE pattern and decided the only mod would be the stitch count. Susan tell you to go down to the nearest stitch count when your measurements fall in between sizes. Well fine blog readers…I have nice muscular volleyball shaped calves. I know using that stitch count and my standard sock gauge will result in a VERY tight leg.

So I’m working the cuff and the leg in a stitch count I know will fit and before I get to the heel I will reduce down to the pattern recommended count for the heel and foot. I feel like this is the best plan to avoid tears and cursing down the road. And you know what? It’s just knitting, if the first sock fails I can always rip out and try again. I’m the boss of my knitting after all!

Wish me luck! Happy Knitting!!

Yarning Again

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My knitting mojo has been a bit illusive lately. Even though I have lots of things on the needles and I love them all….I just can’t quite get excited about them. I’m in my third trimester and outside of ice cream or a nap not a lot make makes my heart go pitter patter, lol.

I got a small boost in my knitting realm the other day, I was the lucky recipient of a giveaway on the Bede Sisters Podcast and the host Kay. She’s a delight to listen to and the giveaway win is just the pick me up I needed! I received this special package in the mail…

And in it was two skeins of Felici Sock in the Soft Serve colorway. They are the most delicate Easter/ice cream colors and this yarn is my sister’s FAVORITE to receive hand knit socks in. She loves the soft fabric it creates. I’m not sure given my impending due date that these will hit the needles right away, but it’s nice to tuck away some yarn that I know will have an enthusiastic recipient.

I was also weak…..my job has really stunk here lately. Like it’s been super stressful and busy and just a hot mess where I may have actually cried one day. I sort of self-medicated with some super super duper wish list yarn. I have one pair of KnitCircus socks from their gorgeous rainbow gradient and I have been craving their yarn since then. And having an internet enable smart device while pregnant and stressed is a heady mix.

I picked up some KnitCircus Greatest of Ease 75 gram matching sock set in the Electric Mayhem color. These will need to be on my needles SOON! They are a pregnancy dream….already matched and wound into ready to knit cakes. Now I just need needles and a bag and I’m good to go. Soon my pretties….soon….

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Accidental Travel Socks

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Tah Dah……the Accidental Travel Socks are in the FO column and I’m in love!!!

Thanks to Daylight Savings time (the only time I will EVER type that, lol) I got some decent photos of my finished socks. You guys…this yarn is so fantastic that it practically glows in the sunlight. I would have taken photos on my feet but my ankles are starting to grow in all their pregnancy glory, lol.

Pattern: 68 stitch cuff down vanilla sock with contrasting afterthought heels and toes

Yarn: Kirby Wirby Hand Dyed Self Striping Sparkle Fingering yarn in Poly Pigtails colorway

Needles: US 1 nine inch circs

I used 69 grams or 300 yards of the self-striping and 10 grams or 44 yards of the solid contrasting color. So just around 80 grams of yarn or 344 yards. The foot is my standard 9 inch length and the leg is right at 7 inches. They have a lot of negative ease….whether that is due to the actual sock or my hormonally enhanced ankles is to be determined. For now these pretties are going to be tucked safely into my sock drawer for a cold and blustery winters day.

Happy Knitting!!

P.S. Stay tuned for Saturday morning where I will post the 1,000 Giveaway winner! 🙂

 

WIP Wednesday: Accidental Travel Socks

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My Accidental Travel Socks have officially reached the toe.

I would like to say that I carefully did math and made sure I had enough tube for both foot and leg. But that would be a bald faced lie. I knit the tube until I couldn’t stand it anymore and then knit up the tandem sock to match. I did measure and the tube is 14 inches so I’m probably okay.

I am pleased at how well the stripes matched up. I did intentionally try to do that but I was worried because the cuffs were slightly different from the beginning. I’m guessing that one sock is every so slightly shorter/longer than the other one because of the different initial yellow stripe difference. But I don’t care….if you are that close to my foot to notice then you deserve a kick to the schnoz. These are sparkly and just my everything right now!

Happy Knitting!!

A Tale of Two Socks

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My (accidental) travel socks have been giving me the call of the siren lately. They have been living in my work backpack and I have been pulling them out during my lunch breaks and car riding blocks of time. My work load at my job is totally whack-a-doodle and I have found the need for knitting comfort a lot lately. (Whack-a-doodle being an official accounting term, lol)

I have firmly decided to add contrasting toes and heels in some solid grey that matches nicely. And I am working both socks at the same time. I work a little on one and then some on the other as I feel to keep them roughly the same size. The yarn balls are the same amount by the way, one is center pull and the other pulling from the outside so the stripes match up. Therefore the yarn balls are more/less compact giving the illusion of two different amounts. I’m just going to knit peaceful stockinette until they are long enough or I run out of yarn, whichever comes first.

They only caveat to this plan would be to use the ball (left) that has an un-used center pull portion to add a square to my mitered square blanket before I use up all the yarn. I have been feeling the call of that project as well and I think this cheery skein would be a great addition.

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Travel Vanilla Socks

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My Travel Vanilla Socks were very handy at my work conference. (Side note….I saw a fellow attendee doing two handed stranded colorwork with a chart….I was in awe. She was still totally listening and participating. Legitimately awesome.)

I found myself picking them up very often at my conference. So in the span of three days I made the above progress. I’m pretty happy with a good chunk of two socks cranked out.

I also started contemplating how I was going to finish these socks. I don’t normally work cuff down so I don’t have a “favorite” cuff down heel. I recently acquired some plain grey Heritage sock yarn in my stash and I’m considering contrast toes and afterthought heels. So I’m thinking about just cranking these tubes until I get to the length I want and finish toes in grey. I think I’ll just see how my tubes turn out!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Antimuon Vanilla Socks

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My lovely pair of isomer paired sock yarn socks are done! My Antimuon Socks are in the FO column…

I created these using a basic toe-up vanilla sock over 72 stitches. My Ravelry notes are here. I only needed roughly 70% of the skein or 327 yards of yarn. I basically eyeballed the second sock instead of measuring the first. This may have led to an error. The second sock with the wider color stripes is a smidge shorter in the leg than the first. I was just so excited to finish them and stop at a navy section that they came up short. Shhhh, don’t tell the knitting police on me!


The first sock I knit was with the skinny stripes of color. I was very pleased with my color management on the heel.

Then the second sock….boy do I love these larger stripes even more! They are just so bright and neon, what’s not to love? And again I was very happy with how I was able to insert the afterthought heel and maintain the color progression. Both socks have been safely tucked away in the cedar chest for next fall!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Downpour Socks

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The PALKAL or Podcast Along Knit Along hosted by Michelle of the Actually Knitting podcast was in full swing this summer. I didn’t play along as my knitting mojo was more geared to working on non-podcast related things. But I sure did take advantage of some of the coupon codes. When Susie White of the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast released her latest pattern I jumped on it and used her PALKAL coupon code.

These top down socks feature a slipped stitch style panel down the leg and foot and utilize an afterthought heel. I don’t usually do top down because I hate turning a heel and having holes. I just haven’t gotten my brain to work that way yet. So this seemed to right up my alley.

Now I know, awhile ago I started Susie’s ZigZagular Socks back in early 2016. I still have the toe of the first sock hibernating in my box downstairs in the craft room. I just couldn’t deal with the cable and counting and being interrupted by a toddler. It’s an amazing pattern and yarn combo I will get back to some day…I swear.

But for now I want to try these! I pulled some Kirby Wirby self-striping sparkle sock yarn from my stash and printed the Downpour pattern. I’m getting ready to drive 8+ hours with my 2.5 yo…I feel like special knitting and a lot of coca cola is going to make that bearable…

Happy Knitting!!