First socks where made from some yarn I'd had for a while. I'm not usually a pink person, infact I'm usually the first to run from most things pink..but this looked funky, and the name made me laugh! Plus it came from an etsy shop that I like very much cause she has some stunning colourways, it is of course, Gemini knits, totally recommend any thing from her shop!
(Black)hearted socks in blue purple moo!I actually had these completed by the time I went to Woolfest, I wanted a new pair of socks to wear and partially show off (not that I showed any one!) but as sods law would have it, the shoes I wore, which I've had for ages (talking a good 18mth if not longer!) decided to bleed red dye all over the heels of the socks!! Bloody typical if you ask me. You can just see it in the first pic, because naturally I didn't photograph them before I wore them. There is a lesson here I am sure...
I actually tried out a new technique with these socks, I was board of doing a heel flap, I'm not keen on how it looks and I find it a pain to do, esp with the heel turn as well because I haven't worked out yet the numbers to divide it up by and have got to look it up every time. So, I test drived the afterthought heel! Basically means, when you get to where the heel would be, you knit in a piece of waste yarn, and then just carry on! No heel flap, no turning the heel, and no gusset! Just knit the number of round appropriate to your foot, finish the toes as nomal. The tricky part is unpicking the waste yarn and catching all the stitches...
(Yikes look at the tarnish on those needles! Good job I found the brasso...)
But once you've done that, you just basically knit the toe again, decreasing at each edge and voila, a perfect heel! It will give an interesting looking heel with stripy yarn, but with a varigated yarn, it eliminates the pooling that happens whilst doing the gussest on anotherwise perfectly patterning sock, and it gives a nice looking heel that matches the rest of the sock.
After thinking about it for a while, I realised that it could prove useful to me on making other socks. At the moment I avoid doing toe up socks, because I just haven't managed to do a top up cast on nicely since Lolita legs, and short row heels are just frankly scary and complicated! But with an afterthought heel, I could do a provisional cast on for the toes, to go back and knit later, and also put in an afterthought heel in the right place and carry on knitting to the top of the sock, bind off, and then add the missing parts! I'm sure this will work in practise, but I have yet to try it!
It will come as no surprise, that my next finished item is....socks! This time some baby socks, for my friend, I've yet to finish the main present, as I'm getting up the courage to reverse the shaping without instructions for the left hand side, never knitted basically blind before, with general instructions to just reverse shaping, takes more of a thought process for me! But any way, quick pair of socks, that I will send off, hopefully tomorrow!
Baby to toddler socks, in Krafty Koala fairground.
They are uber cute I have to say, and almost (note I said almost!) makes me want a baby of my own to knit some for. (I said almost, don't panic!)
And and, I've been spinning on my new spindle!
I have it on good authority that this is pretty good going for a first attempt, bit overspun and a bit uneven, but hey, I managed it! I'm going to finish off the roving and do it properly to skein it up and set the twist, think I'll leave plying for another day, but I'm pleased with my first go, and this spindle is bloody lovely to use, its so nicely balanced, I'm sure that made all the difference. I do think, however, I'm going to start stalking ebay for a spinning wheel. I can just see my self enjoying that, nothing would please me more to spin my own sock yarn. It would be a great sense of achievement!
Its some thing to look forward to at any rate :-)
I actually tried out a new technique with these socks, I was board of doing a heel flap, I'm not keen on how it looks and I find it a pain to do, esp with the heel turn as well because I haven't worked out yet the numbers to divide it up by and have got to look it up every time. So, I test drived the afterthought heel! Basically means, when you get to where the heel would be, you knit in a piece of waste yarn, and then just carry on! No heel flap, no turning the heel, and no gusset! Just knit the number of round appropriate to your foot, finish the toes as nomal. The tricky part is unpicking the waste yarn and catching all the stitches...
(Yikes look at the tarnish on those needles! Good job I found the brasso...)But once you've done that, you just basically knit the toe again, decreasing at each edge and voila, a perfect heel! It will give an interesting looking heel with stripy yarn, but with a varigated yarn, it eliminates the pooling that happens whilst doing the gussest on anotherwise perfectly patterning sock, and it gives a nice looking heel that matches the rest of the sock.
After thinking about it for a while, I realised that it could prove useful to me on making other socks. At the moment I avoid doing toe up socks, because I just haven't managed to do a top up cast on nicely since Lolita legs, and short row heels are just frankly scary and complicated! But with an afterthought heel, I could do a provisional cast on for the toes, to go back and knit later, and also put in an afterthought heel in the right place and carry on knitting to the top of the sock, bind off, and then add the missing parts! I'm sure this will work in practise, but I have yet to try it!
It will come as no surprise, that my next finished item is....socks! This time some baby socks, for my friend, I've yet to finish the main present, as I'm getting up the courage to reverse the shaping without instructions for the left hand side, never knitted basically blind before, with general instructions to just reverse shaping, takes more of a thought process for me! But any way, quick pair of socks, that I will send off, hopefully tomorrow!
Baby to toddler socks, in Krafty Koala fairground.They are uber cute I have to say, and almost (note I said almost!) makes me want a baby of my own to knit some for. (I said almost, don't panic!)
And and, I've been spinning on my new spindle!
I have it on good authority that this is pretty good going for a first attempt, bit overspun and a bit uneven, but hey, I managed it! I'm going to finish off the roving and do it properly to skein it up and set the twist, think I'll leave plying for another day, but I'm pleased with my first go, and this spindle is bloody lovely to use, its so nicely balanced, I'm sure that made all the difference. I do think, however, I'm going to start stalking ebay for a spinning wheel. I can just see my self enjoying that, nothing would please me more to spin my own sock yarn. It would be a great sense of achievement!Its some thing to look forward to at any rate :-)
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