Socked

Ah, knitted socks. There's just something about knitting socks....I don't know what it is, or any useful way to describe it, but it's definitely A Thing. Initially, I was quite against knitting socks. I made a couple pairs to try it, and the experience was quite unsatisfying. All those teeny tiny knit stitches, and those awful, awful double-pointed needles. They're just so annoying. Neither of these pairs really worked out. The first set had one foot bigger than the other and mismatched dyelots (I lost the yarn label), the second set were just waaaay too large. They can be used for winter, when your feet are freezing and you want to layer six million socks - but that's about it. Unless you are a giant with giant feet.

(Please ignore how dirty my floor is.)

Recently, I tried again. Knitted socks, even badly made ones, feel amazing on your feet. I'd never thought store-bought socks were particularly uncomfortable, but apparently that was just because I'd never had knitted socks. I really wanted some socks that actually fit - maybe then they'd be worth it? I'd educated myself a bit more by this time, so I a) used two circular needles and b) found a sock pattern that was actually interesting.

Much better, right? Plus, no dirty floor!

These socks were actually fun! I really like patterns with creative construction (the heel was really cleverly put together!), and the increases/decreases that made the stripes diagonal made it much more interesting than just stockinette. When I want stockinette, I'll make yarn bombs. These were still a bit big, but only a little bit. Maybe socks weren't so bad...

So next, I made some diagonally ribbed socks that were worked inside out. Neat, right? So neat! I finished them on a car trip (which was good, because otherwise I would have run out of socks). They turned out a little small at the ankle, so they're a bit challenging to get on, but once they're on they fit nicely! I like interesting stitch patterns - this one was interesting, but easy to memorize, which is always nice. I also love how this yarn knitted up, I didn't expect it to be so marvelously rainbow!

So yeah, I'm pretty happy with these ones. And now I...really like knitting socks. I honestly didn't see that coming, I thought I'd enjoy it well enough, and the satisfaction of handknitted socks would be enough to keep me going. But, it turns out, the people who rant out making socks actually know what they're talking about! The last sock I made turned out HORRIBLY, but it's not going to stop me from making more socks, so I guess I'm devoted to the cause now. (I have a picture of it, but I'm not going to show you - it's just too ugly. It's frogged now, thank goodness.) I'm still not going to use $20+ sock yarn on socks (it just seems like such a waste, for at least three reasons) - but who knows what I'll think a week from now?

Handspun and WIPs

Today I've got some pictures of handspun yarn! Always exciting.

First, a couple small skeins of handdyed laceweight. The colours you can get with food colouring are really fantastic, I'm so pleased with how these came out. This was the first time I've dyed the roving and then spun it.

There isn't enough yarn to do much with, so I'm going to try making knitted jewellery with these. I really love the lace necklaces people make, and I've been meaning to try it myself for a while now.

As you may or may not know, I'm fond of taking yarn apart and respinning it. I had a bit of bulky yarn that was blue, green and two shades of purple. I separated it into colours, and respun it into two singles, a blue-green one and a purple-purple one, then plied those.

I like the yarn I spun much better than the original.

I tried to make a tam, but I ran out of yarn too quickly.

I really don't want to go buy more yarn. I think my options are to finish it with a contrasting colour (something plain though, maybe black? It's already pretty colourful.) or take it apart and make a toque instead. I'm leaning towards the second option, but I really don't know. Maybe it'll go into the unfinished projects bin and I'll forget about it for a couple months.

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I was going to try making socks.

Well, I'm trying. There are several things that have come up, and there's no way my socks are going to match now. First problem:

Wtf. There is no way these are the same dyelot. I feel so betrayed! The dyelot on the label was the same!

Second problem:

How did this happen? Dramatic tension change? Was I just really nervous for the first one? I just don't know. Maybe I can block them to the same size? (This seems unlikely but I'll try anyway.)

Sigh. I guess it will be sort of ok. Listening to the Robot Pirates helps a bit.

Good news though! I finished embroidering needle sizes onto my circular needle case! It's on my wall above my bed now, terribly satisfying.

For someone who is obsessed with knitting and yarn as much as I am, I appear to have a severe lack of scarves. This is madness!

I started a lace scarf last night. I've had this yarn forever, it's really lovely, I am so excited to be using it at last.

Plans

I just finished reading Sweater Quest, by Adrienne Martini and it has inspired me! First of all, it's a great book, it has a great flow to it, and I read it in a couple days because I couldn't stop! I totally recommend it. It inspired me to work on more interesting/challenging projects. I've made a few shirts and a sweater before, but now I want to learn Fair Isle...not on the same scale as Martini, I'm going to try a hat first. A wander through Ravelry came up with a few patterns I liked; atm I'm leaning towards Tracery Tam, but still considering Joni, Midnight Sun Tam, Floppy Fairisle Hat, or Star Flower Tam. Too many choices! The Fornicating Deer Chart definitely deserves an honourable mention though.

I also want to make socks! I haven't made socks before, mostly because I'm not really a big sock person...I tend to wear thick tights or nothing. But I think knitting socks is something I should know how to do, so I picked up some orangey-greeny sock yarn from Michaels, and I'm going to use Knitty's Universal Toe-Up Formula.

I've finished a couple more hats, which I'm happy enough with, but not really excited about. I'm going to take them to Rare Funk sometime next week...I meant to take hats this week, but I had a whole bunch of assignments to catch up on, and couldn't seem to find the time.

This hat is crocheted, I started it about a year ago, but only just finished it. I've made a similar hat before, I really like the spiral pattern. Acrylic single-ply yarn, it's really soft and I like it! It does pill a bit though.


This one is 100% wool. This is the first hat I've knitted, and I didn't use a pattern (of course) so it's a liiiiiittle wonky...but still wearable! I am reasonably pleased with how it turned out.

Next I'm going to see if I can make red and aqua look good together. This could be interesting, here's the yarn I've got:

It will at least be distinctive.

I also got some colourful tape for hula hoops! It's actually hockey tape from the sports store, it's cheap and colourful and I got a whole bunch of colours. So now my hoop has a few different shades of blue on it, so exciting!

I'm making a couple more hoops for friends, which is exciting, I've made back the cost of the materials already. Not sure if anyone else wants to buy hoops from me, but I still have pipe left over, so possibly I'll just make myself some different sizes.

In dumpster diving news, I found 21 tubes of watercolour paint the other day.

They were all in clean packaging, I don't know *why* they were thrown away. More free stuff, I guess, but still. No wonder everyone hates north america.

I'm home for thanksgiving this weekend, and I found some yarn bombing! I wish I'd had a camera with me, but no. In true London, ON fashion, it had been burned by someone...wtf?! It looked like it had been nice before...