Void Socks - One Sock Done!

I finished up the first sock Tuesday, so less than one week to finish.  I am already working the gusset decreases on the second sock, so that one will be finished soon.  Knowing that I will soon have these finished I went looking for another sock project to cast on.  Over the years I have joined several sock clubs.  I have a nice series of socks based upon the Chronicles of Narnia, so I will probably be working through those next.  I did dig out an in progress sock that I had cast on just over a decade ago.  I had unearthed it when I was cataloging and organizing my yarn, and putting it up in nice plastic containers, and had set it aside.  I knew that there were issues with it as I saw evidence of carpet beetle activity.  It has been stored in a thin cotton bag.  I finally took it out last night to evaluate the damage.

Yeah, I think that skein is pretty much a total loss.  There are a few larger balls, but nothing big enough to knit a sock, and I really don’t like having joins in a sock.  I already have two joins in my second Void Sock, one because there was a knot, and one because of a thin spot where a carpet beetle had been at work.  There were actually a couple of thin spots, one I discovered very early in the winding, one I discovered just as I started the heel (I had just joined the second ball, so I tinked back and started again), and one that I discovered this morning as I was starting to work the gusset decreases.  Both joins are in spots that are not going to have much impact, thankfully.  I am hoping that I don’t find any more thin spots and that I rescued that skein in time, unlike this one.  I will be stash diving for a replacement skein, fortunately I have a lot of sock yarn in my stash.  The sock pattern is Danube by Janel Laidman.  She was a very talented designer that has pretty much vanished from the knitting scene - based on the lack of activity in her group on Ravelry.  I have some other sock kits from her that may have met a similar fate.  I have them in a plastic bag and one of these days I’ll muster the courage to evaluate the damage.

In the mean time, back to my Void Socks.  When I get to this point I really just want to keep going until I finish.

Pattern:  The Void Socks by Melanie Gibbons

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Logwood

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

 

Mermaid - Twelve Skeins Done

This is good mindless knitting, for reading, or watching TV.  I did set this aside while I concentrated on my Celestial Socks, but pulled it out again this weekend when I decided on what I was going to do to finish the neck and armholes.  I-Cord.  The typical finish would be ribbing, but I really didn’t want to do that.  I thought about some sort of fancy knit on edging, but in the end decided to just keep it simple.  The color is Skein 24.  I am going to continue knitting until I have used up the rest of the Advent set, and I will do another I-cord bind off at the end.  If I do another one of these I will start with an I-cord cast on and work short rows to get all of the shaping, which I think will give a nicer neck line.  I have started adding some increases to give a little more ease as I go over my hips.  The top portion has about 3-4 inches of ease, so I will probably try to keep that ease amount going.

Pattern:  Simple Raglan from KnitsThatFit 

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed Advent Calendar - Sport Weight

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Void Socks - Cast On!

As soon as I finished the Celestial socks I caked up the yarn for the Void socks and cast on.  I did find a knot in the skein, which is annoying, as the larger of the two cakes I ended up with is not enough to make two complete socks, and the smaller of the two cakes is not enough for one complete sock, so one sock will have a join in it.

I started out with 80 stitches, same as I did for the Celestial Socks, and just worked the extra stitches into the pattern.

I also decreased every 12 rows, during the pattern section, and ended up working 64 rows (16 repeats) of the pattern before I started the heel flap.  I worked the decreases with the first and last two stitches on each needle as that seemed to be the least disruptive to the pattern.  I also am doing a right twist instead of a left twist as the pattern calls for.  The right twist is easier to work - no trying to work into the back of that second stitch - and somehow I don’t think the orientation really matters.

Pattern:  The Void Socks by Melanie Gibbons 

Yarn:  Madelinetosh Tosh Socks in Logwood

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Celestial Socks - Done!

While the first sock took a very long time to complete (about 20 months), the second sock only took me three days.  I will confess that I did not actually count the stitches that I picked up along the side of the gusset, I just decreased until I was back to 34 stitches for that needle.  I did use a row counter to keep track of how many rows I knit on the first sock so that I could match with the second, but I also counted the repeats of the pattern on the top of the foot, because sometimes I just forgot to click the row counter.  I decreased every other round for the toes until I had 12 stitches left (the pattern had you decrease every other row, and then every row, until 4 stitches remained) and then grafted to close up the hole.  I am well pleased with the fit.

Pattern:  Celestial Socks by Melanie Gibbons

Yarn:  1 Akasha Zeropoint Colorworks SW, N Quasi-Solido Sock

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Celestial Socks - One Sock Done!

I started this sock back in February of 2021 - February 15, 2021 - according to the project page.  The pattern has only one size, and I had not gotten very far on the cuff before I realized that the size was simply too small for me.  I could barely fit the cuff around my ankle.  I put the project in time out while I worked on and finished some other things (36 other things, to be exact) and pondered how I wanted to approach this problem.  I considered changing the pattern to work toe up instead of cuff down, as then I would be able to adjust the pattern on the fly, but I really just did not feel like making that big of a modification.  Finally, this past Monday I was looking around for something to knit and I thought I would pull this one back out of the WIP pile.  I decided to take some measurements of my ankle and calf and just cast on more stitches at the start.

I quickly determined that I needed a 10” circumference at the top of the sock and an 8.5” circumference at my ankle.  I also decided that the length of the cuff for that stretch of my leg needed to be 4 repeats of the pattern, plus the 12 rows of the ribbing.  But now I had to decide what to do about the patterning.  Did I expand the patterning to fill up those extra 16 stitches?  Create some cable pattern that would transform into the original cable?  Expand the panel of star stitches?  In the end I decided on simple.  Both the cable and the star stitch are a bit of a pain to work in this sock yarn, and I decided I just didn’t want the extra hassle, so I just filled in those stitches with extra stockinette.  I did chart the pattern with the decreases, just to make it easier for me to work.  After I finished the decreases I worked an additional repeat before I started the heel flap.

My modifications resulted in 34 stitches per needle when I reached the cuff, as opposed to 32, but the modifications to the heel and gusset were straight forward.  I did work 34 rows for the heel flap, instead of 32, and decreased back down to 34 stitches when working the gusset.  I stopped the toe decreases when I had 12 stitches on each of my needles and Kitchener stitched them closed.

I am pretty well pleased with the fit.  Looking back in my projects on Ravelry, the last time I knit socks was back in 2017, but I wore a pair of my hand knit socks two weeks ago when we were going out to dinner with friends and family and remembered just how nice they are to wear.

Pattern:  Celestial Socks by Melanie Gibbons

Yarn:  1 Akasha Zeropoint Colorworks SW, N Quasi-Solido Sock

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

 

Hearthside Crochet Along - Clue 9 Done

The clue 9 yarn for this one also arrived last week, in fact both skeins arrived on the same day, in separate little packages.  I worked the first row last night, but had to redo about half after I figured out how many stitches I needed on each side.  Once I had that row established the rest of the clue was pretty easy.

Pattern:  Hearthside by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted

Hook:  5.0 mm (H)

 

Perseverance Knit Along - Clue 9 Done

My yarn for clue 9 arrived last week and I took advantage of a long weekend to get it knitted up.  I did stay with a US 7 needle for this clue, and that seems to be giving me a good gauge.  With this clue we are turning the corner and decreasing to the other point, so the rows are getting shorter, which is nice.  I’ve woven in most of the ends, but haven’t trimmed anything yet.

Pattern:  Perseverance by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Enduring Worsted

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Mermaid - Nine Skeins Done

I’ve finished the raglan shaping, and am now just working round and round on the body.  Easy knitting, good for reading.  Jezebel approves.  I had thought to use all of the mini skeins on this top, but now I’m not so sure I will do that.  I will knit until I get to a good length for a top and then do the ribbing, and then figure out what to do with any mini skeins left over - some sort of accessory probably.

Pattern:  Simple Raglan from KnitsThatFit

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed Advent Calendar - Sport Weight

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)