socks – Rush Hour Knitting

Sunday, 1 November, 2020

Socktober. Of a sort.

I finished two pairs of socks last week, let’s pretend that they were my Socktober!

Two finished pairs of finished stockinette socks, one in purple fingering weight yarn, one in warm red/orange/yellow stripes in aran weight.

The truth: these socks were both started months ago in the beginning of the pandemic and then they sat in my WIP bag and waited very patiently for me for the whole summer. The purple socks were my Traveling Socks for a few months, but since I’m only commuting into the office once a week, and I’m not really going very many other places… (Baseball season is over so I can’t even knit them at my nephews’ games) I was not making very much progress on them. The striped socks had been sitting by my desk for those moments when your hands need something to do while you’re on hold on a call… and I wasn’t making much progress on those either. So I sat them both down and decided to just get them done. They’re both plain stockinette socks so it was easy to pick them right up and just go.

It turns out when you’re actually making an effort, you get finished socks. Who knew?

I have enough striped yarn left to manage a pair of ankle socks and I’ve cast on another fingering pair as well. I’ve got holiday knitting to start but for this upcoming week I think simple and comforting is the way to go.

Details:
Sock 1
Pattern: Stockinette, top down. (Cast on 72 stitches for leg with 2×2 rib to start, decreasing twice to get to 64 at the ankle).
Yarn: Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm Bubble Sock (80% Superwash Merino Wool/ 20% Silk Fingering Weight) in Mrs. Weasley’s Knits, purchased at Rhinebeck 2019.
Needles: US 1 DPNs (2.5 mm)

Sock 2
Pattern: Stockinette, top down. (Cast on 48 stitches with 2×2 rib to start.)
Yarn: Â Novita 7 Brothers Raita (75% Wool/25% Polyamide aran weight in Spice, purchased from WEBS.
Needles: US 3 DPNs (3.25 mm)

Monday, 7 September, 2020Sunday, 25 October, 2020

Summer’s still hanging on in my part of New York, but I’m starting to feel ready for fall. Last week I had dinner at the local beach with family and cast on a sock. That’s what you do at the beach, right?

A newly cast-on sock lying on a beach blanket with the Long Island Sound at sunset in the background.

But I feel autumn creeping in. The leaves are ever so slightly starting to let their colors peek through; the nights are growing delightfully chilly. Autumn is my favorite season and I have a newly organized stash and notions collection all ready to go. I also have revamped the site here and my pattern sales.

Over the last few months I’ve realized I have quite a few ideas for accessories I’d like to work on developing, and that I’ve really let my attention to the blog lapse over the last few years. So this autumn I am going to work on rectifying both of those things. I also have set up a new pattern store on Payhip for people who are no longer comfortable using Ravelry. I am going to continue maintaining my pattern store on Ravelry as well for the time being, and if you give me your Rav username when you check out on Payhip I am happy to send the pattern to your Rav library as well if you plan to continue using that as a backup.

Long story short…I’ve been busy. But I’m pretty happy with everything right now, and I’m feeling a bit celebratory. So how about a coupon? I love coupons. If you purchase a pattern on Payhip, use code happyautumn for 25% off until September 30, 2020. Autumn is coming, accessories are great, and today is a great day to cast on something fun.

Tuesday, 12 February, 2008Tuesday, 6 April, 2021

Restraint

reÂ·straint (rÄ-strÄnt’) n.
The act of not stabbing with your knitting needles the man across the aisle who is snoring so loudly he keeps waking himself up.

knit’ter n.
One who engages in restraint for the sole reason of not bloodying magnificent yarn.

Current train WIP:

This would be why I exercised restraint this morning. Great Adirondack Sireno, a 50/50 silk/merino blend, in a colorway they call “Nantucket Blue” but I prefer to call “Prozac fiber.” It’s crack — granted, my ol’faithful bamboo circs are hardly the pointiest needles in the world, but when you knit in a moving vehicle there are times where the needle will try to split the yarn no matter what you do — and this yarn just refuses to be splitty. It’s a joy to work with , and the Clap is going to show off its variegation really well.

Finished: Whitby socks. Will photograph, when I remember to charge my camera batteries.

Other WIPs on the needles at the moment: Tigger hat for Sunday’s baby shower (and still have to seam one sweater, wash ’em, and throw on the buttons — but that’s short work) and booties if I have time; Lady Elanor, which I haven’t touched in a week or so, but will probably crack down on this weekend.

Saturday, 2 February, 2008Saturday, 2 February, 2008

Departures

I promised myself at New Year’s that this year I would start a proper knitting blog. Since it’s now February and a twelfth of the year has slipped by…well, no time like the present.

For Christmas, Santa did not give me enough time to knit, but I finished everything anyway — albeit at the last minute. Have an assortment:

Then I immediately dove into post-Christmas recovery, started working on presents for upcoming baby showers:

…knit a hat, cast on a Clapotis, cast on the Lady Eleanor stole from Scarf Style, and now it’s February and I still haven’t finished the mate to my lonely Whitby sock. He’s my train knitting at the moment, and trying to cable without a needle over the Jamaica Shuffle… well, it’s taking a while. But soon. Soon there will be more socks. And posts. Perhaps, even… posts about socks. Fancy that.