Advent Socks

This is the second year that I chose to knit the Advent socks. You knit one stripe/day during Advent. There is enough yarn for a second pair of socks. This is the perfect Advent required knitting, as it only takes a few minutes each day, and at the end you have a pair of socks to keep or gift. I chose a white accent color for the cuffs, heels and toes.

And, I did not peek until December 1st.

In my previous posts I documented the progress, along with opening my other Advent boxes. Here is the finished pair of socks, I knit 2 at a time (with DPN’s). I used an afterthought heel with a gusset. Need to modify my gusset a bit on the next pair.

And here is the comparison to last years socks, which I gifted to my husband for Christmas last year. This years socks are sitting in the to-be-gifted pile.

This year feels like much brighter colors, although you can see some of the same colors in both socks.

Looking forward already to next year! And I still have the yarn for 2 additional pairs of socks.

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

Lost Sock

I started knitting these socks for my SIL last week. He has large feet, so they were a lot of knitting on the foot. We went away for the weekend and I took the newly started second pair to work on. While knitting in the car, I quickly realized that I had forgotten the first sock to match. No matter, as I had the pattern and color changes easily memorized, so I started knitting the second pair. When we got home, I looked and looked for the first sock. Even my husband helped, but it was nowhere to be found. I knew that it was in the house somewhere. This befuddled me, and I had a restless sleep over a lost sock, but kept knitting away on the second.

I have plenty of orphan socks from the washing machine, but this was a first to lose one of the socks as I was knitting up the pair. I normally keep them together in the same knitting bag.

I finally resorted to my friend Becky’s all-time cure for finding lost objects. Say the following while turning around 3 times.

“Tony, Tony turn around I’ve lost the sock and it cant be found.”

I had to text Becky to say that it wasn’t working, and with her review while I was sitting in bed, low and behold there was the sock. Sitting amongst the patterned cover on my husband’s side of the bed. He had been sleeping beneath it for the past 2 nights! Luckily neither he nor the cats were stabbed by the darning needle that was still hooked in the toe.

It was like a “Where’s Waldo event. This made me so happy.

This is the 4th of my #BackyardChicken socks from #HueLoco. There is still a bag more of roosters and hens to come. The yarn is the Swedish Flower Hen. There were lots of photos, but I thought this looked the closest to how she dyed the yarn.

It is knitting up a little pinker than I had thought it would. I am trying to knit each of these Chicken socks a little differently. I opted for cuff stripes and alternating toe colors. Here is my progress thus far.

I am alternating the purple adn green stripes from sock to sock. The toes will also be alternate colors. Should have them finished in plenty of time for Christmas.

#HueLocoBackyardChicken

Counting up, 1/2 way there

I have now finished through Day 12 of the Advent box, yarn sets and striped sock yarn, I want to find a pattern for the Advent mini-skeins. School is winding down, and I think that I will have time now to start one of the Advent mini-skeins. the Hue Loco one is calling me. My afternoon is searching for that perfect pattern.

Day 9

Day 10

These were Alpaca socks that I bought at the Michigan Fiber Fest last summer. Will be very cozy for the winter.

Day 11

Koigu skein of yarn, pretty Christmas colors. Destined to become a pair of fingerless mitts.

Day 12

I have not finished the 12th Advent stripe on the socks. Normally I knit top down socks, and have my lengths down to a science. Starting at the toe is not my go-to and I am not sure where exactly to put the salvage yarn to do the after-thought heel. I am thinking mid-point of the day 11 stripe. Still muddling this over. And the Herman the German roasted almonds are one of my favorite treats!

#HueLocoAdvent

#MoonglowYarnsAdvent

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

5,6,7,8

I need to catch up on my Adventing. I continue to surprise myself with what I put into the Advent re-used box.

Day 5

And the Advent self-striping socks from Cozy Knitter. This is absolutely the best Advent item. It is a very busy time of the year for me, and I can always find the time to knit 4 rows on the 2 pairs of socks. By Christmas, I will have a pair of socks to gift out. As a bonus, this yarn will make 2 pair of Advent socks. I still have the remainder from last year to knit up.

Day 6

Yummy caramels

Day 7

Needle point guards, and more beautiful mini-skeins.

Day 8

One of many Coco Knits products, stitch markers. And the Moonglow rainbow continues.

#HueLocoAdvent

#MoonglowYarnsAdvent

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

Chicken #2

The second pair of Chicken Socks is finished. This time, Dark Cornish Rooster. I do seem to be attracted to the Roosters, I think that they have more vibrant colors.

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This was a highly variegated yarn, and therefore also needed a pattern to compliment that. Hence the Monkey Socks by Cookie A yet again. I cannot count how many times I have knit this pattern.

The sock knit up nicely, I opted to change the heel and cuff colors and do a striped toe.

One thing that was written in the original Monkey pattern, was after you have finished the heel and picked up the sides for the gusset, on the next row do a twisted stitch to firm that pick-up. I had glossed over that part on my first few Monkey socks, but when I tried it, I really liked the effect. Every sock that I make with a heel gusset now has this technique. If you look closely, it is visible in this photo.

#HueLoco

#BarnyardChickens

#MonkeySocks

#CookieA

Chicken #1

I finally decided to start knitting my chicken (rooster) yarns. The first one that I chose was Blue Splash Wheaton Rooster

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The yarn has so much variegation to it, that the sock pattern wanted to be fairly simple.

I chose just a simple 1×1 rib with a cable running down each side.

They came out so pretty. Saving for Christmas gift.

The contrasting heels and toes are a nice accent.

I really like this yarn and the colors. There is enough left for a pair of short socks.

Trying to stay away from the website!

#hueloco

#barnyardchicken

Butterflies

I finished these socks using yarn from MoonGlow Yarn Co.

I really struggled with a simple motif to put on the socks until I landed on the butterfly pattern. I had a bit of white MoonGlow yarn left from my previous socks.

Really happy how these turned out.

And now I am finishing working on the Chicken socks.

This past week someone decided to “gift” me with 2 boxes of yarn. No name, no note, no text or email. The yarn was a box of small remnants and a second box with more salvagable yarns (for someone), and a 1/2 finished narrow garter stitch scarf. Many not natural yarns. So this meant that I had to take an hour out of my time to throw most of it away and deliver the remainder to a resale shop. Took about an hour of time total that I don’t really have right now. It was not a pleasant surprise to see on my steps. I guess someone thinks that I would be happy with any yarn. They have obviously not seen my stash!

#moonglowyarnco

Sweetheart Socks

I finished my Sweetheart socks, and could not be more pleased with them. They are so fun and playful. I have not decided yet if I will keep these or not.

I reversed the color sequence to make them a bit more interesting.

There were a lot of ends to weave in! When doing the heart section, I had woven them in as i knit, but it still required some more fastening.

And, there is enough yarn left for some anklet socks. I think that I like the rainbow in this sock using less rows better.

#moonglowyarns

#sweetheartsockalong

Striped Socks

Has yarn ever spoken to you?   For several years these skeins of sock yarn, from JaWoll, sat there and I wanted striped socks.  I think that they reminded me of my favorite summer dress as a little girl that was blue and white striped.  So, in my recent sock frenzy I took out these skeins and decide to knit them up.

JaWoll by Lang is absolutely my favorite sock yarn, it is consistent, high quality, comes in many colors, and has its own reinforcing thread in each skein.  These are the go-to sock yarns for me, and my husband has socks knit up with this yarn that are 20+ years old!  And he does wear all of his socks.

And using my newest favorite revision of the tubular cast on (Japanese tubular cast on), I started with 24 towns of twisted rib.

Then, I wanted to try a new type of knitting to reduce the dreaded jog in yarn color changes.  Here is the technique that I have tried in the past.  And there is a good tutorial video here:

Trying this technique for a few rows, I was not happy with the result.  Even though it does show the rows the same height, I was not happy with how far it had traveled over in just a few short color changes.  I am a nut for symmetry, and this would have always bothered me.

And here is another tutorial on just using a straight slip stitch.  I like the way that this looks better.  I tuck my yarn in as I carry it though:

So, the finished socks came out beautiful, and look like I had hoped.  However, I decided to put these in the gift pile for now.  I just knit up a pair of socks with Fiber Optic yarn, that I think I want to keep for myself instead.

Does anyone else notice the color difference in the blue skeins?  I ordered them online years ago, and in the skein they looked the same, but when knit up, the bottom one is definitely more grey in tone.

I made a short row heel for these socks, but with a twist.  I first made a small increase gusset prior to getting to the heel portion.  Then, I knit the short row heel, and decreased that gusset down again.  In the process of doing the short row heel, I added stitches by picking up at the end of the short row segments.  And using the German short row technique in the process.

This makes for a better fitting short row, in my opinion.  Myself, I have a high instep and between the mini gusset and the increases in the short row, these pull over my foot without stretching out at that point.  I also think that striped socks work better with a short row heel.

And, I finished off with a traditional toe decrease.

Now, I knit these socks at separate times, and there were a couple of vacations in between (these were knit on my beautiful signature dpn’s and I did not want them confiscated by TSA).  To keep track of my decisions on socks, since many of them are my own “designs” or improvisations, I have taken to the habit of writing down my instructions on small pieces of paper and inserting them into the leg of the first sock as I knit is up.  This helps when coming back later to finish the second sock.

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Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Revisited

Finally, after a 4 year hiatus, I was able to return with Dan to the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival (why do people always want to get married on this weekend?!).  We drove up and back in one day, something that we are not going to repeat, it is so much more enjoyable to stay overnight and not have the nighttime driving.  It was a long day, but fun.

 

Sheep judging, interesting as always

 

There was a different sheep shearer than we had seen in the past.  Amazing how docile the sheep get when put on their backs.

And we got to see a new sheep breed being introduced to the US, Valais Blackness, a breed from Switzerland.  Look at that fleece!  Apparently it is a coarse wool, I wonder if it is like Churro sheep.  This was the hit of the fair for breeders.  They are so cute also.

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We also watched the sheep dog trials, which is so fascinating.  I am not sure how they train the dogs so well.  My photos were not great of that event.

And then, on to the market.  The first year that I went to this event in 2010, the market overwhelmed me.  I was a brand new spinner, taking my first class up there, and picking up my first wheel, the Ashford traditional.  That didn’t stop me from ogling over other wheels at the fair.  There were several vendors selling wheels, and so many with big bags of beautiful fleece and roving that you could buy in whatever quantity you chose.  By the next year, I had my eye on a Jensen wheel that was on display at the fair, and finally got it that winter,  I still love my Jensen.  The Traditional was sold right after I got the Jensen, and I still have my Ashford Joy for traveling, both great wheels.

The market, while still occupying both of the large barns, was different.  There were the weaving and knitting and dyed fleece, but much less emphasis on spinning and I only saw one vendor with 2 big bags of roving.  That was a bit of a disappointment for me.

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Fiber Optic, my favorite dyer for roving was there, as they have been for the last several years.  I hesitate to admit how much of her roving I have in my stash waiting to be spun up, so I was not looking at that.  However, I have never knit with her sock yarn, and this seemed like a good time to purchase it, especially after my Clown Barf experience.  The owner, Kimber Baldwin, has a degree in Chemistry, and a great sense of color.  Plus, if you don’t like the outcome you can call her and return it!

Their yarn seems to be more popular now than the roving.  One day I will make it down to her shop, which looks amazing.  I purchased yarn for 3 pairs of socks.  the deep red/brown color is what Dan chose for himself.

I have already wound up the multi-color.

My purchases also were for my Ravelry birthday twin, and then a new book for myself:

It is a lovely book, and I looked through it thoroughly.  Happily adding it to my stitch dictionary collection.