Once Upon A Sock – September 2019

How is it already the first of the month? I think I wrote about most of my sock updates in my last post, and the socks I was working on then, I’m still working on.

My Half Blood Prince socks are just past the heel and gusset. I must say, I’m OBSESSED with this yarn. I bought it back in April when I visited Montreal, bought from Espace Tricot. The yarn is Asylum Fibers (I can hardly resist the Canadian urge to spell it ‘Fibres’), and this yarn is so very soft. I’m a bad knitter who didn’t knit my gauge swatch which, to be honest, made me a little nervous. When I’ve knit lace socks in the past, they’ve typically been more loose than my stockinette socks, but the cables seem to counteract the loose lace, so all in all it’s looking go so far!

I’ve made quite a bit of progress on my Doctor Who socks. They came with me last week when my friend and I went to the Canadian National Exhibition (or, to those in southern Ontario, the CNE or The Ex as it’s better known as). We ventured to The Ex because we had tickets for a concert at a neighbouring venue – I may have also snuck in a few rounds between the opening act and headliners. This is the yarn I overdyed, and while I may have made it a wee bit too blue, I’m not mad at how it’s coming together.

Well, that’s all for now. Back to the knitting!

 

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About Once Upon a Sock: On the first Thursday of the month, a number of sock-knitting bloggers share their progress with the theme “Once Upon a Sock,” an awesome initiative co-ordinated by Paula @ Spin A Yarn! It’s well worth checking out the other posts because it’s always interesting to see what other people are looking at; it’s like sock yarn eye candy!

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Totally Tubular

After finally finishing my Flying Vee, a project that has been on the go for four months, I had a moment on Saturday of ‘what am I going to do with myself now?’ My secret pair of socks are still on the go; sock #2 needs a lot of attention to be done by deadline, but whatelse was I to start? I still largely consider myself a project knitter, but socks don’t count. I never not have socks on my needles.

Back in January, I bought The Weekender by Andrea Mowry; in May, I bought enough Cascade 220 to make the sweater.I was perfectly positioned to start this project. It also provided the opportunity to try a new cast on method – the Tubular cast on.  The advantage to this method is the aesthetic – when used when a pattern calls for ribbing right away, it makes the ribbing look absolutely seamless, like there is no cast-on edge at all. After a few false starts, I got the hang of the motions to cast on.  I did not get the hang of counting the cast on stitches (they can get all twisty-looking on the needle initially), so I literally counted out all 117 cast on stitches as I was doing it, where if it was a normal cast on method, like long-tail, I just go through the motions and count at random intervals until I get the required amount of stitches.

But gosh darn it if this isn’t just the tidiest looking cast on edge. It was totally worth the fuss of the cast on.

And, because you may be curious, here’s me wearing my Flying Vee. My hair, which I just dyed and LOVE, still doesn’t like the humidity, so it’s much bigger than I would prefer it to be!

My weekend of self care and knitting

About this time last week, I was feeling burnt out.  I had to real reason to be feeling as such, having just come off a week’s vacation a little bit before, but I was feeling run down. Thankfully, last weekend was a long weekend here in Ontario, and I took an extra day off, making the long weekend super long.  I knew I needed time for self-care, disconnecting, relaxing, re-centering.

I accomplished just that. Books were read, tv shows watched, a cat was cat-sat for my parents, allergies were slightly aggravated, and things were knitted.

I FINALLY got the socks for my grandad finished! Despite my frustrations with this yarn, I was super happy with how it finished.

They are squishy and will be very warm once the weather necessitates warm socks.

As well, I made very good progress with the Flying Vee t-shirt! I’ll HOPEFULLY have it finished, seamed, and blocked by the end of the weekend.  Despite my bumpy road with the project, you know, the whole frogging incident, I’m still loving how the yarns look together, and I’m just hoping this time, it will live up to my expectations.

This past weekend was everything I needed to be.

Once Upon A Sock – August 2019

More sock progress this month!  I’ve finished one sock that will be a present.  I don’t want to share pics of the sock or yarn until both are finished and gifted, but I WILL say that this pair was made with the Vanilla Latte Socks pattern by Virginia Rose-Jeanes.  I’ve made this pattern twice before and love its simplicity with enough interest to make the progress feel faster.

With a few days with high heat and humidity, I took myself to the movies and got some movie knitting done. These vanilla rainbow socks are making me super happy. The yarn is Regia Pairfect.  The only thing stumping me is how to do the heel.  I’m thinking of grabbing some left over stash yarn for heels and toes and making it a heel flap (which is very likely what will happen).  Afterthought heels aren’t really my jam, so it will likely be a flap. However, if I do afterthought, then I don’t have to work as much before continuing with the heel… hmmm…. if anyone feels strongly either way, leave a comment.  Apparently, I’m changeable!

And finally, the dreaded Kroy socks are still in progress, although sock #2 is creeping along round by round.  I swear, Kroy, never again!

At least the colours are pretty.

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About Once Upon a Sock: On the first Thursday of the month, a number of sock-knitting bloggers share their progress with the theme “Once Upon a Sock,” an awesome initiative co-ordinated by Paula @ Spin A Yarn! It’s well worth checking out the other posts because it’s always interesting to see what other people are looking at; it’s like sock yarn eye candy!

Sometimes, it’s just the yarn

Back in January, I lamented a pattern I purchased because it was lace but not charted.  It was for the Lace Eyelet Cowl, comprised of three lace sections.  I got through section 1 and then it essentially stayed on my needles without much progress, one of those UFOs getting stale at the bottom of a knitting bag. It just wasn’t wowing me enough to keep going.

Pic from January – note the space heater going and the blanket draped over my legs.  What I wouldn’t give for a blast of January weather in the middle of this July heatwave!

Well, it turns out it wasn’t the pattern, and it wasn’t me; it was the yarn.

I originally cast on with Robosheep Yarns Sock in their Zombie Face colourway. It was purple and green and lovely. It wasn’t right for this pattern, however. Last week, I frogged it back and cast on again with Log House Cottage Squishy Sock‘s Sweet Orange colourway (a fun orange speckled yarn), and I couldn’t stop knitting it.  It was simple enough to work on while camping for a few days but exciting enough to capture my attention and get it finished in a week.  One week.  After sitting for six months untouched, this cowl was finished in a week.

Now, I haven’t completely changed how I feel about the lack of charts. I do love me some charts, and lace knitting is SO much easier for me when charted, but sometimes all a project needs is a little change in order to get it done.