Kitchener: Take Two

Posted on January 20, 2015 by atangledyarn84

I’ve finished the afterthought heel of the first sock of my Very Berry Vanilla Socks. I utterly failed at the Kitchener closure. I tried to do from memory…not a good idea! I ended up with this:

I ripped back my heel (very tedious and frustrating) and inhaled deeply. Then I went to YouTube for a refresher course in Kitchener. I finally managed to get this:

Not the best but not too shabby!

I’ve got one complete sock and one to go! I’m not sure how I like the fit versus the gusset style heel I’ve knit before. I’ll want to take the pair out for a spin before I decide.

What’s your favorite sock fit?

What’s On My Needles #2

Posted on January 19, 2015 by atangledyarn84

My overly organized OCD brain has convinced me to number my entries with KnittingSarah’s #whatsonmyneedles posts. I just can’t help it. I kinda want to see how many I could do in a year?

Anyhoo….back to the point!

My Plain Rye socks now have the gusset complete and I’m cruising into the foot section!

Yay for worsted weight yarn! I’m really hoping to finish these soon so I can start my husband’s socks I blogged about last Friday.

What’s on your needles today?

A Recipe For My Husband’s Socks

Posted on January 16, 2015 by atangledyarn84

Recently my hubby asked for hand knit socks. This is the FIRST time he’s ever requested or even indicated he’d wear a hand knit. So of course I’m happy to comply. Well he’s a size 12 US shoe so I might be less happy when I’m knitting forever!

I used my Very Berry Vanilla Socks as a gauge swatch and measured the aforementioned giant feet. That’s a lot of stockinette so I decided a simple ribbed sock was in order. Not to mention it would give the fabric a little leeway with the stretch. Here’s the “recipe” I came up with:

Husband Ribbed Socks

CO 24 stitches (I prefer the figure 8 method)
Knit one round
K1, incr 1, knit to last two stitches on needle, incr1, k1. Repeat for second needle
Repeat these two rows until I’ve got 80 stitches total.
Work in K3,P1 pattern for 9 inches (from cast on edge).
Insert lifeline for some sort of afterthought heel across 40 stitches.
Continue to work in K3,P1 pattern until 2 inches short of total sock.
Work in K1,P1 or K2,P2 for cuff for 2 inches.
Decide on and Insert heel.

Sounds good right? Fingers crossed it works! And I’ve got the yarn narrowed down to some kind of Opal or Knit Picks Stroll. Oh the choices!

(Ps. I’m blogging this “recipe” more as a helper/reminder to myself and not so much as a published pattern. Be warned this has not been tested so knitter beware if you attempt it!)

WIP Progress: A Plain Rye

Posted on January 15, 2015 by atangledyarn84

Today’s #whatsonmyneedles is brought to you by my Plain Rye socks!

I’ve completed the heel flap and the heel turn. This is worsted weight yarn so it’s going quickly. I have no idea why this project suffered from SSS for so long!

One interesting thing I’ve noticed is that my tension has changed since I started these months ago, can you see?

I’m really trying to relax to match the original but I’m also hoping blocking will do wonders. Fingers crossed anyway! Now I’m on to the gusset and foot section.

Have you checked out KnittingSarah and the 2015 what’s on my needles project?

Warm Wooly Wednesday

Posted on January 14, 2015 by atangledyarn84

Today I’m wrapping my feet in hand knits. It properly cold outside so out came the boots. Pretty jazzed they still fit after all my pregnancy swelling and shifting!

My project is raveled here and blogged here.

I’m off to work so happy Wednesday to all!

What’s on my Needles

Posted on January 9, 2015 by atangledyarn84

I had a blast with #sockswithsarah last year with KnittingSarah so I decided to play along with her #todayonmyneedles project.

Nothing fancy today, just getting ready for my first afterthought heel!

Notice the photobomb from Chloe, lol.

Happy Knitting!

Goals and The New Year

Posted on January 8, 2015 by atangledyarn84

I have a thriving baby, a career, loving family, and a pretty amazing husband. I just don’t knit as much anymore as the aforementioned things are taking a bit more time. I don’t mind, to all things there is a season. I’ll soon enough have more knitting time and miss these previous days.

That being said, I still have some knitting goals for 2015:

1: Ravel all my projects
2: Keep better track of my yarn in versus yarn out (I heart spreadsheets)
3: Make at least two pairs of socks for my loving husband
4: Knit a winter sweater for Jellybean (12-18 months size)
5: Finish all my 2014 carryover projects
6: Find a space for and use my cedar chest

There you are, nothing drastic but rather logical and reasonable goals for a knitting mommy and wife.

Do you set goals?

WIP Wednesday: Very Berry Vanilla Socks

Posted on December 31, 2014 by atangledyarn84

After I cast off the last pair of vanilla socks I had the itch to cast on another pair. I dug around in my stash for some more Knit Picks Felici self-striping yarn and came up with two skeins of Mixed Berry. Then I hunted through my Rav queue and found DVD – Simple Toe Up Socks .

So onto the needles they went. I quickly realized I need to change the pattern….

The toe increases at 2 stitches per round just don’t cut it for my man-like toes. So to the frog pond I went. I used a 4 stitch increase per round and got this…

Much better! I’m working both socks at once, just on separate sets of circulars. So I actually have two toes made. On to the foot sections I go. This pattern uses an afterthought heel and I’m excited to learn this method!

Ps. Happy New Year to all 😉

Finish It or Frog It

Posted on December 30, 2014 by atangledyarn84

Jellybean is napping and I’m taking advantage of it. It’s the end of the year and it’s time to go through my WIPs in a “finish it or frog it” frame of mind.

Here is what I’ve decided so far..

The Baby Bunting from Jellybean’s nursery…Frog it!! With Jellybean coming early I just couldn’t finish this and honestly don’t have the time or energy to work this now. I’d rather knit him cute clothes now that we now that we know he’s a he, lol.

A random ribbon scarf from at least two years ago…Frog it!! I was working these for craft fairs, and in which I’m no longer interested. So into the frog pond this went and the yarn back into my stash.

Fingerless Mits from who knows how long ago made from leftover bits from some sweater yarn? …. TBD. I don’t want to frog these as I could really use some fingerless mits, but I don’t have the urge to knit them currently. I’m going think more on these.

My Plain Rye socks…Finish them!! These woolen socks are perfect for my cold feet. I’ve finished the first sock and then fallen victim to the dreaded SSS. I’ve put these on my night stand to finish this winter!!

Random sock project…Frog it!! These pre-date my Ravelry tracking. I don’t even know what in the heck these are, lol. Nuff said..My Cuff to Cuff Sweater…Finish it! I’m excited to wear this. It might not get done this winter. But get done it shall! I’m enjoying this knit so I’m not in any hurry.

There you have it! My craft room feels so much better already and my project bags are organized and ready to go for 2015. Anyone else out there do any purging these last few days of 2014?

FO Friday: Toe Up Vanilla Socks

Posted on December 26, 2014 by atangledyarn84

I have conquered my socks! What a great way to wrap up my #sockswithsarah year!

I used size 1US dpns and 8″ 1US circulars. I loosely followed this pattern and adapted to fit my gauge and yarn weight. I used almost two whole skeins of Knit Picks Felici fingering weight in Aquarium.

I’m really sad that this yarn is discontinued because it knit up like a dream! Except for some laddering in the foot sections I’m pretty happy with these. I wore them to work on Christmas Eve and they kept my toes nice and toasty!!

Happy Knitting

My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures

Ramblings from an obsessed knitter

Tag Archives: socks