I think it’s clear that I just need to find more knitting time in my week. I had so much fun getting lots of socks done on vacation (and of course shopping, eating, watching movies, hanging out, etc. Hmmm – maybe I just need to be on vacation all the time?) As promised, here are photos of the completed pairs. These first four are ones that had a sock done and needed the mate. (Except these Duets. With this one, I had just 1/2 of 1 sock done and frogged it back to change the pattern anyway. So that counts for 1 1/2 socks knitted up for that pair, right?) So the Duets – I decided to add the solid color on the top as well as on the heel and toe. What do you think? I kept the instep just plain knitting so that I could see the rows of color. The pattern on the top is basically P2, K5 for 3 rows, and then stick a row of P2, k2tog, yo, k, yo, ssk in there. Very quick and easy. It really is fun to knit with contrasting toes and heels. We have an order of Skinny Duets (her fingering weight) coming in the near future.
The All Things Heather you might remember as my official Frank socks. I think it’s not good that I only finished one for the first challenge, for pete’s sake! But now they’re done and they’re eye-poppin’ bright, aren’t they? This yarn is so soft and comfortable to wear. (Because yes I did need to wear socks out in Colorado in the evenings. I’ll tell you, what is there not to like about that state? Sock wearing, year-round.) The pattern is Penllyn from Wildhorse Farm and I liked it a lot. I may not knit another pair of orange/pink socks (does one need more than one pair like this?) but I’m glad to have them. And really glad to have them done. (Heather is sending more sock yarn to us very soon.) Are you liking the Frank and/or Martha socks that you knit for the Q1 Challenge? And did it encourage you to knit more of the “other” types of colors in the future? I find myself being a bit more bold in my color selections. (Q3 info in Friday’s blog. Time for a new Challenge!)
This pair of socks is out of Crystal Palace’s Panda Cotton in the Jeans colorway. It’s a wonderful yarn – no wool. Just 55% Bamboo, 24% cotton, 21% elastic nylon. It’s so soft on your feet and this one, of all my twinless socks, is one that I really wanted to finish up soon because I knew I’d wear them a lot. That’s how much I like wearing this yarn on my feet. Now I get to pick another Panda Cotton colorway to work on. This yarn IS a bit splitty, but I found that that went away as I got more into the ball. The pattern is another Wildhorse Farm pattern – Savannah Socks. I have made this pattern before and it’s one of my standard favorites. I keep thinking I might do a pair of Panda Cotton socks and pick coordinating yarn for the toes and heels. (Like Strawberry Lime for the socks, and Lime for the heels and toes. Or Fruit Salad with Lacquer Red. Or Mardi Gras with Royal Purple. Or …. well … you get the idea.)
Next, the socks I knit up out of Fiesta Boomerang. Wow – this was great to knit up. It’s a heavier weight. I knit this on 2’s with 48 stitches and each sock literally took just a few hours. (So, really, it’s almost not fair to count them because they went up so fast. But I’m counting them anyway, because a pair of socks is a pair of socks, after all.) The thing that I love about Fiesta – besides how fast it knits up – is their colorways. They have some of the prettiest color combinations around. We have the other half of our first Fiesta order going up in the Sneak Up next week, and you will see more of what I mean. I also really like the “squishiness” of the yarn. It makes it a very comfortable sock to wear. The pattern is one that Loopy friend Josiane from Switzerland sent me and she said I could share it. You can also see how she used it just on the top of the cuff on her Sknitches Breathmint sock in our photo gallery. As soon as I saw that photo go up, I emailed her to ask what the pattern was. It’s: 3 rows of K3, P3, and then one row of: yo, sl1-k2tog-psso, yo, p3. That’s it. Easy but so pretty, don’t you think?
Last, the yarn that cured me of my twinless sock habit. I knit one sock and then immediately cast on and knit the match. I’m so excited to have this Wollmeise in-house and I can’t wait to get it up next week for you to get your hands on. The colors are so deeply saturated and wonderful. (I was so amazed that this didn’t bleed when I washed it. Because of the intensity, I was sure there might be bleeding.) I used another one of my favorite sock patterns – Parting Ways by Heartstrings. There are over 500 yds. in each skein, so you could make kneesocks for someone with very very long feet! I had a lot of yarn left over and I wear a size 11. Or – how fun would it be to make matching socks for a little one? For sure I’m going to make a sock blocker keychain with it. We’ll be getting more Wollmeise in August again because I know it will sell out quickly, despite the large order that I have sitting here. So don’t panic if you miss it the first time – we’ll keep getting it as often as we can!
Now I just wish it was winter and I could be wearing all of these. Somehow, 90+ degree weather and sock-wearing don’t mesh. sigh. Still wondering why we live in St. Louis.
Sheri anyonehaveanytipsonfindingmoreknittingtimeinyourweek?
Glad to see you are home! All the socks look so nice!
I found extra time for knitting today in the ER! And I will kniw away tomorrow while Big Boy has his tonsils out! And then friday another DR visit, this time with the orthopedic surgeon. So, I seem to be knitting alot while waiting in waiting rooms!!
WOW – I love those socks! The Fiesta Yarn is fabulous – I can’t wait to start with it. And the Wollmeise looks wonderful – although I’ve never seen it. I did visit her website, and the colors look amazing. Is it fingering or sport weight yarn?
More knitting time….hmm…..we are headed to Memphis to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, so I’m hoping to get some knitting time in there, on the trip, and while waiting for appts. It helps ease the tension somewhat. I am trying my best to finish a worsted weight sweater, despite the heat…..UGH – give me my socks back! 🙂
Good for you with conquering some of the SSS!
Wow! What an output!
I’m also trying to find more knitting time. I’ve been trying to take a small project with me wherever I go just in case some down time finds me (waiting in line, etc).
Congrats on all the FOs!
Love your socks, Sheri. All of them!
I’m technically retired, so I have lots of knitting time–yay! Actually, I’m a catsitter now, so I can even knit at work–great for me and fun for the kitties as well!
stoplights. s’all i’m sayin’
I thought about those Fiesta Boomerang socks all day so I just came home and cast on, knit a bit and then realized where that pattern’s from… they’re almost (like 1 stitch off) Mock Croc socks by Susan Lawrence. Whew! Maybe I can sleep now. You know how something gets into the back of your mind and you can’t stop thinking about it? Like Wollemeise… but with this many knitters after it, I may have to wait a few shipments until the buzz has died down. 🙂 At least the pattern fever has abated.
I knit everywhere but the bathroom and dear hubby says I will probably figure out a way to knit in the tub without getting things wet. I like to knit at the movies when I get the chance to go, using circs..except of course when DH is there because then handholding definitely outranks knitting. 🙂 I love the Panda Cotton, as you know, I just ordered the brown color, can’t wait to see it. great socks!!!
Great job on all the finished socks! I’m impressed. And hey, it was 119 degrees here in Chandler last week! And that’s fairly common here in the summer. I can’t even convey to you how miserable that temperature is, even when it’s a dry heat. But wait…the dew point is 56 degrees to boot!!! But I am knitting my wool socks anyhow because I know I just won’t live in Arizona forever.
Beautiful socks!
I generally just wear socks to bed, no matter the season. I hate wearing socks for the most part but at night they get cold, even in the summer sometimes. It seems my children have inherited the dislike of socks because my 2.5 year old never wears them, and has taken to pulling off his baby sister’s (1 yr) socks as well. So now she takes hers off all the time as well. There goes knitting them any socks…they won’t keep them on!
I knit while I’m on the computer (online college stuff), and knitting helps with the wait for pages to load. (I live in the country and nothing is available but dial up, something about the phone lines…) So I get knitting done then, it adds up!
Well I knitted socks on the way over here from Arizona…..no wait, I drove. But I have made 3 socks since I’ve been here. And I walked into one of the local yarns shops…that I had not been in for a bit over 2 yrs and the very first thing, the owner, Irite (sp), said was…”Oh hi, you’re the sock lady from Arizona.” I couldn’t believe that she remembered me.
I am glad that you are back from vacation, Sheri. You were missed.
I love love love the Boomerang and can’gt wait for the Baby Boomer to come out.
Is that Wollmeise the Pfauenauge colorway? Her yarn will deifinitely keep you knitting. I just ordered directly from her one last time before I have to make my way back to the States. I got some of her lace yarn too… are you going to have that? Needless to say I am very excited you will be carrying Wollmeise and I don’t have to worry about shipping more in all the way from Germany.
Anyways, in regard to finding more knitting time… I have a huge pile of dishes and a paper for work that should be farther along.. but I finished a sock! Haha.
Welcome home, Sheri!
You were missed. I just had to place an order for more Apple Laine during your absence and still get the same wonderful service I know I can expect from The Loopy Ewe.
Congratulations on finishing some pairs. It really is much better to have socks in pairs.You’ll be so thankful this fall when it’s time to pull them all out. Our weather in NH has been so strange – with many cool days and nights – and I’ve been wearing socks almost every day.
I carry a sock in my Loopy Ewe Sock Club pouch and take it with me everywhere. Right now the two youngest boys have swimming lessons at the lake every morning so I get one hour of knitting time then. Watching the Red Sox play gives me numerous knitting hours. I also sneak in knitting while the boys read to me or while sitting with them while they do their math and have gotten LOTS of knitting done during doctor and orthdontist appointments this year (two broken arms by Oldest Boy and two in braces).
BEAUTIFUL socks! and I’ll echo the reader who is chanting for the Wollemeise too, when that comes in I will also be a Groupie,yay!
I love all the socks. I have completed my first ever pair and I’m working on the second. I have a question: what shoes do you wear with your handknit socks? It seems like a silly question but so far I’ve only knit with sport weight and they definitely won’t fit in my tennis shoes. (I’ll send a picture of my Schaeffer Lola socks as soon as I can take a decent picture.)
A good bout of insomnia does it for me. That’s when I get a LOT of knitting done – quiet house, everyone sleeping, no TV blaring, just peaceful blurry-eyed knitting. You should try it! Of course, it does tend to catch up with you later. 🙂
Your socks look great, Sheri. Can’t wait for the Wollmeise!
Quit work? I wrote something about this on my blog back in June. It’s so hard to stay inside when I can be playing in my garden.
Your socks look might impressive.! I can’t wait to see the Wollemeise. Now I just need a bigger budget.
I’m with you, Sheri, on loving the mountains, in the summer time. I’m glad you had a great trip. Congratulations on all of your beautiful finished pairs of socks!
As for more knitting time, other than take it with you when you leave the house, I don’t have a good answer.
For now, I’m trying to figure out how to knit again. I fell hard, a freak fall, at the end of our trip UP north about a week ago. I ended up breaking my back (L-1 vertebrae), a nasty break. After 5 nights in the hospital, I’m now in a turtle-like hard shell brace. Sitting up is excruciating. I’m trying to figure out a way to prop myself up (from a flat position) a few inches, so that I can knit. 🙂 Do you all have any ideas? In the meantime, needless to say, my style is badly cramped! (Dr Jackie, I thought of you when I spent many hours in the ER on 4th of July.)
Beautiful socks Sheri – Way to go!! I think everyone has about covered ways to make more time for knitting…Being an avid baseball fan, I always knit while watching the Astros play on TV which is several hours in the evenings. I have truly thought about knitting in the bathtub and have even tried in the pool on a float. I just put all my yarn in a big bowl and keep my hands and the part I have already knitted over said bowl to keep it dry. I am sure it would work in the tub as well, but I am usually too sleepy to knit by the time bath time comes! The big thing is that I just have to MAKE time to knit, even if it is just a few rounds at a time. Since I work at the computer all day, I take 15 minute knitting breaks from my work…can’t be having a repetitive stress injury from all the typing I do!! HAHA!! Waiting with major anticipation for this week’s sneak-up!
Oh Marianne, I do hope your injury heals quickly. In the meantime my prescription is…knit a lot! At least it will take your mind off your troubles! Best wishes…
i specifically bought a purse this spring because it was completely divided down the middle with a zippered pouch in between the two halves– i always have a sock in one side and the rest of my junk in the other. it’s amazing how much more patient i am with those, “i’ll be back in one moment” doctors and phrases like, “can you please hold?” when i have a sock within arms reach.
Very nice! Love the Wollmeise ones. I hope the sneak happens a day I can get to it – some month anyway. LOL
I get up at 5:45 a.m. so I can knit and listen to some knitting podcasts for about an hour and a half before I get my day started. I really look forward to this time and don’t even mind getting up early. My mood gets very grumpy if I miss my morning knitting session!
WOW! You made pairs! 😉
Gorgeous. 🙂
Welcome back!
Remind me….what colourway is that Fiesta? Congratulations on all the finishing. Doesn’t it feel great?
I really like the Duets with a solid cuff! I’ll have to knit mine up that way, too.