Socks for Mom

I decided to knit a pair of socks for my Mom for Mother's Day (still catching up on posting) and I ran into a few snags.

First, I chose some Regia silk (color 028 but I call it Apricot) and cast on the Uptown Boot Socks from Favorite Socks. I got to the heel and decided I really didn't care for the look of the pattern, I don't know if it was the yarn, the pattern or me but the three combined didn't make for a sock that I liked. I frogged the sock.

I liked the yarn, so I cast on the Cable Rib Socks, also from Favorite Socks. This sock went along perfectly, actually too perfectly. I was so pleased with the whole thing I thought of another pattern this yarn would look great in and it just so happened that I had more of this yarn. I went to the sock drawer to get the other yarn (it is not weird to want to hold the yarn while imagining the sock it will become) and that's when things started to go wrong. There was the yarn, right where I knew it was, but only one 50 gm. skein! Where was the other one? I was completely perplexed. As I stood there, staring at the one skein wondering where the other could possibly be, I realized that the second skein of the Apricot was not there either! That is when I proceeded to tear the house apart to find the missing skeins. I am one of those people who keep yarn everywhere so this was no small task. I tried to remember when or where I bought this yarn, maybe that would help me remember where I stashed the other skeins. I have absolutely no recollection of purchasing this yarn. Finally, after opening and closing the same sock drawer another 10-15 times, I threw the beautiful apricot sock in, needles and all, closed the drawer and walked away.

I still needed a pair of socks for Mom so I took up a skein of BMFA Sock Candy in Kiwi and finally came up with the right pattern for the yarn. I decided on the Highland Schottische Kilt Hose by Nancy Bush from Folk Socks but simplified to ankle socks. This was the first time I tried the Sock Candy cotton yarn. It knit up nicely, cotton is not my favorite to knit with but this was fine once I got used to it. I was pleased with the way the yarn looked in the pattern and the feel of the fabric was nice and would probably soften after washing. The color is what really got me. Is has yellow, blue, green and tan, but the yellow is so bright and cheery, just the right hue that every time it came around it would make me smile. I love when a color can do that. This sock knit up very quickly and when I got about 1/2 down the foot I decided I should cast on the other sock. This is part where this pair starts to go bad.

The first skein was a gift from my wonderful guys, and bless their little hearts, they only got one 50 gm. skein unaware that I would actually need two to make a pair of socks. I went back to the shop where they bought it but, of course, the only skein they had was from a different dye lot. I bought it and decided to hope for the best, after all the socks will be on different feet, who will notice. I started the second sock and it was quite obvious the colors didn't match. You could have kept the socks in different rooms and still notice that they didn't match. ARRG!! Frog.

Third times a charm, right? This time I cast on the same socks but with some Panda Cotton in Fern. I really liked the feel of this yarn, very silky, but also VERY splitty. I need to get some pointier dpns for this yarn. Sock #1 knit up quickly but the color just wasn't right for Mom (so I sized it for me) and set it aside because Mother's Day was quickly approaching and I didn't have time to be messing around knitting socks for myself.

Socks from left to right - Panda cotton (sock #1 done, #2 otn) - Regia Silk (I did go back and reclaim the needles) - Sock candy (totally frogged both socks, it's like it never happened)

Fourth and final attempt - I went for a (can't go wrong with this yarn) Koigu in a solid (works with any pattern) shade of (goes with everything) basic beige. I cast on the Cable Rib socks and they just flew off the needles. I got them finished in the nick of time. They fit Mom perfectly and she loves the color and the way they feel. They were worth every stitch.

Pattern: Cable Rib Socks by Erica Alexander from Favorite Socks

Yarn: Koigu KPM color #2390 - Beige

Needles: #0 Inox dpns

This is a great pattern, it looks and feels great. I love the way the cable runs down the side of the leg and then one side turns and becomes the heel and the other becomes a new cable down the side of the foot. I will probably make these again (for me!) but next time I plan to reverse the twist of the cables. The pattern has you twist the cables so that the one side of the cable goes under the other and then into the heel flap, but if you look closely at the pic. in the book that side of the cable twists over the other and then into the heel. I think the cable twisting over and then into the heel looks better, but that's just me.

Now I just have to get Dad's socks done before Father's Day. Wish me luck.

A bag, some socks and no scarf

I am pretty sure this was instigated by Lynae's great adventure bag. I think I wanted a felted bag but didn't feel like felting a bag so I just knit it at a very tight gauge and it almost feels felted. I knit this during my breaks from the Irish Hiking Scarf that I have been having some yarn shortage issues with. I guess I have been a bit distracted because I had to restart this thing 8 times! Talk about determination. Just silly little things - cast on wrong # of sts., forgot to knit edge sts., started over on wrong needles - every time I got about 1-2 inches before I realized it and had to start over only to make the same mistake again! Finally all went well until I got to the strap which I decided to change (knit roughly 20 different ways and settle on the first change anyway!) It's done and I am happy, and the scarf, for now I am done with that too!

I started the Irish Hiking Scarf with some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino that I had 2 balls of (not enough to make the scarf) but that didn't slow me down, I figured I would see if I even liked it before I worried about the little things, like having enough yarn to finish. It knit up quickly and I liked it so when I got to the end of the 1st ball I had to make some kind of decision. I bought the yarn last summer at a little shop up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, on clearance. There was very little chance that I could match the yarn and I didn't want to try so I figured I would just pickup a ball of the same yarn in a different color for the middle and finish with the 2nd ball of the 1st color. I went to my LSY and she didn't carry that yarn, but she did have this wonderful Zara yarn that matched nicely. I added the new yarn and the gauge was perfect, the colors matched nicely, the only problem was that I liked the Zara more and now I wanted the entire scarf in the Zara. I ripped it all out and restarted with the new yarn. I only bought 1 ball of the Zara so after knitting that up I ran over to my LYS to get 2 more balls of the Zara and guess what? She sold all 8 balls that she had in the 24 hrs since I was last there! During a Blizzard! ARG! So I picked up 3 more balls in matching colors and started again. Now the colors matched too well. I started over rearranging the colors. Over and over I tried different color combos. I took breaks from the scarf and worked on the bag until finally the bag was finished and I accepted the fact that I just wasn't going to be happy with the yarn compromise on the scarf. That was when I realized I didn't really need to own this scarf, I just needed to knit it. I rewound all the yarn and was done with the scarf. What I finally ended up with was; a new knitted bag, 2 balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino returned to my stash, 4 balls of Zara added to my stash and a whole week worth of knitting fun!


After all that I was in need of some relaxing knitting so I finished up these socks, they were supposed to be for Valentine's Day but better late than never (and you guys think I get to Group late).

Pattern: Basic sock w/ Chevron stitch
Yarn: Regia 4 color
Needles: #1
Start / Finish: Feb. 2 - Feb. 22