Christmas Socks for MrNifty

Life has been quite strange lately. We bought our "forever home" back in August, but it needs a lot of renovating and for one reason and another the building work is taking forever.

It's been hard to settle to anything or feel inspired to knit, so I was pleased to be asked to be part of Debenham's DebsKnittingChallenge. I was asked to knit something for "the man in my life" so was able to hand over the decision making - he chose this lovely self-patterning yarn for me to make him a pair of socks. The yarn creates an almost fairisle effect in simple stocking stitch, but no such luck - he wanted a mock cable!

The sole is stocking stitch though, see what I mean about the pattern?

One sock down, one to go... last time I knitted socks with a multicoloured I missed a trick that I remembered this time. I unwound yarn from the ball until I found the same place in the colour sequence to cast on, to create a matching pair. It worked!

Here's MrNifty toasting his toes in front of the fire, 

I shall have my work cut out getting them back to wrap!

 No time to knit? Debenhams have gifts for men - and a big thank you to Debenhams from me for sponsoring my Christmas knit.

Sockssssssssssssssssss

yay - socks in the plural! When last you saw them, they were not yet a pair. I'm pleased that I started sock#2 again so that the colour bands more or less matched at the top. They mostly keep together, but as I noted previously the colour lengths aren't always the same. I was disappointed that there was a break in the middle of the ball, and that it wasn't even knotted at the right part of the colour progression, but it was easy enough to unwind till I got to a matching bit.

You'll know what I mean if you've tried a self-striping yarn! Thanks again to Abakhan who gave me the Aviemore yarn to try. I'm now a real convert to knitting socks on two circular needles so I'm looking forward to my next pair. Guess what everyone will get for Christmas this year?

Not these though, these are MINE!

One sock finished, one to go!

This has very much been a case of sockus interruptus, I had to abandon sock knitting several times to knit a pair of wedded meerkats for a customer, a chick for my daughter and an anatomical heart for my daughter-in-law! One sock is finally finished however, and I'm pleased with the result!

I used a pattern from a book I was sent to review, Socks a la carte. I really like the wriggly lines in the pseudo cable. Looking back I see I promised you an update on April 27th (oops!)

The yarn, as you can see, is a self-striping yarn. It's called Aviemore, it's 75% wool and 25% nylon so should be hard-wearing and easy to wash. Hope so, I don't believe in handwashing, life is too short.
It's not the yarn recommended by the pattern so I was a little nervous but I weighed the leftovers after one sock and I have plenty more than half a ball to go.

I haven't used self-striping yarn before, so didn't think through how I would make the two socks match until rather too late...

Now, many people might find this adds to the charm, but I just know I would be trying to line up the stripes every time I wear them. It wasn't entirely easy to find where to start the second sock. The yarn has three shades of graduated grey and just one of purple, so if I was to start again from scratch I would definitely make sure I started at the beginning of the purple, much easier to locate. As it was, I needed to find partway through dark grey! *sigh*

Looking good now though. I've noticed the stripes aren't always the same width, so whether it'll still match by the time the second sock is finished is another matter - I'll keep you posted! To be honest though, I don't think my socks are a matter of national importance.

Thanks to Abakhan.co.uk for supplying my yarn, needles and accessories as part of their creative blogger challenge!

My sock is growing!

I said in my last post, a knitting book review, that I'd show you how I was getting on with knitting up my socks...

The recommended yarn is tofutsies which is way out of my budget, so I asked Abakhan if they'd supply what I needed in return for a mention. My challenge was accepted so I chose a self-striping purple and grey yarn, Aviemore along with two circular needles, a row counter and some stitch markers.

Casting on and joining with two circular needles proved to be the most difficult bit so far. I had planned to knit a fancy cuff, but following a pattern AND knitting in a new method was one challenge too many. Once I'd settled on plain rib, it became (almost) plain sailing. Knitting with two circs is ideal if you are on the move with your knitting. Each half slides safely on to the cable so no disasters as can happen with DPNs. Basically, you simply knit half the sock using each end of the SAME needle, slip those stitches on to the cable then turn the work around and do the same again with the two ends of the other needle. It's probably easier to use different colour needles, but I haven't got them confused yet (touch wood!)

The row counter was absolutely essential until I'd got accustomed to the pattern. I haven't used one for years, and was accustomed to keeping it at the end of my needle. This doesn't work out with circulars, so whilst knitting I just rested it on the pattern. I only needed stitch markers for the first couple of rounds, but they helped to get the pattern straight in my head.

I'm pleased with how the sock is coming along, I think the self-stripe draws attention to the wavy pattern rather than detracts from it. I'm also pleased (so far!) with working with two circular needles. I can't see any "ladders" as happens with DPNs sometimes. I usually avoid ladders by knitting an extra stitch or two at the end of each needle, but that tends to mean I forget where the true beginning of a row is - which would be a problem when I start the heel, my next task.

Do you knit socks? I'd be interested to hear if you have tried the 2circ method, or indeed whatever works for you.

Book Review: Nordic Knitting Traditions

As with my earlier book reviews,  I was given the books in return for writing reviews. It's not edited though, these are my real opinions.

Nordic Knitting Traditions by Susan Anderson-Freed

Susan has adapted traditional traditional Scandinavian and Icelandic Fair Isle designs to create 25 patterns for a range of accessories including hats, gloves, mittens, socks and leg-warmers. 

The patterns are presented in chart form and although the finished pieces are in a wealth of pattern and colour you use only 2 colours at a time - phew! Not for a novice knitter, but not as difficult as they look on first glance - and certain to impress!

Susan includes tips and hints to help you along the way. When I've knitted fairisle patterns in the past I've generally ended up with tangled yarns, so I was amused to read her suggestion of holding the yarns in each hand, dangling your work and letting it untangle. That's what I always did - but I'd assumed a "proper" knitting designer would have a more sophisticated system...though I don't know what else would work!

Will I be making up any of the patterns? To be honest I don't often take the time to knit for myself, but this tam is beautiful:

Like many of the other projects it's knitted in US fingering weight yarn. I've googled to find a UK equivalent, but came up with a variety of different answers which is worrying - so my advice is to always check by knitting a test piece and adjust your needles accordingly.

Warm toes for MrNifty!

It's not often I knit for family, so here's a rare example!

Don't just sit there, MrNifty, chuck another log on the fire!

Now, knitting meerkats from my head is easy for me - but socks? Not so much. I used a pattern by Kim Goddard available here (thanks Kim!) and an excellent tutorial for Kitchener stitch available here (thanks to Theresa Vinsen Stenerson)

Having allowed the poor man to pose for photos I'm now taking the socks away again to wrap in Christmas paper - he'll be SOOO surprised when he opens that package!

My new socks!

Remember the lovely yarn I won from A Geek's Yarn?



I've knitted myself a pair of socks using a free pattern from Knitty (click here) (Please note this pattern is for personal use only.)

I love the yarn, it's so soft and the colours are amazing. I kept finding myself trying to predict what would be next! It's really easy to count rows as each stitch is a different colour from the one below or above.



The pattern was easy to follow too. I got a bit confused at one point but decided "Keep calm and knit on" was the way to go. I continued to knit in rib all the way down the front of the sock as I figured (correctly) that if I made a mistake in the shaping, the rib would still hug the sock into my foot.

There was a new technique to learn at the end - kitchener stitch, which is a fabulous invisible graft. I learn best from the written word, so I used this tutorial (click here) but there are many free videos if you google.

Thanks again, Tiffany, for my lovely yarn!