Category Archives: Grey Socks

Ode To Socks

Posted on by

9

  I finished my second pair of Regular Ol’ Socks.  Socks as soft as rabbits, knitted by me!

Ode to My Socks  by Pablo Neruda

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks
which she knitted herself
with her sheepherder’s hands,
two socks as soft as rabbits.
I slipped my feet into them
as if they were two cases
knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,
Violent socks,
my feet were two fish made of wool,
two long sharks
sea blue, shot through
by one golden thread,
two immense blackbirds,
two cannons,
my feet were honored in this way
by these heavenly socks.
They were so handsome for the first time
my feet seemed to me unacceptable
like two decrepit firemen,
firemen unworthy of that woven fire,
of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation
to save them somewhere as schoolboys
keep fireflies,
as learned men collect
sacred texts,
I resisted the mad impulse to put them
in a golden cage and each day give them
birdseed and pieces of pink melon.
Like explorers in the jungle
who hand over the very rare green deer
to the spit and eat it with remorse,
I stretched out my feet and pulled on
the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:
beauty is twice beauty
and what is good is doubly good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool in winter.

Sock Pattern :  “Classic Socks” in “Folk Socks”  by Nancy Bush
Yarn : 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon, in fingering weight
Find on Ravelry.

Happiness Is…

Posted on by

11

My first pair of regular ol’ socks done & dusted !

:: claps wildly ::

And now I think I’ll start another pair just the same as I finished, in lavendar heathered yarn, and they will be for my nieces’ mom.

Sock Pattern : “Classic Socks” in “Folk Socks” by Nancy Bush
Yarn : 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon, in fingering weight
Find on Ravelry.

Speedy(er)

Posted on by

5

I am struggling with the perpetually fussy and tedious switching between needles in the 2-needle method of knitting socks ~ which I love by the way, as there’s just no way can I stand poking and catching and detangling of yarn using traditional set of four straight double-pointed needles, I’m just not that talented. Or rather, not that patient.  But it slows the knitting rhythm down quite a bit to have to adjust and switch out, (as on any style: 1 needle ‘magic loop’,  2 needle style, and 4 straight dpns)… but I have discovered just now that the 9″ length circular needle I had bought a few years ago and never used, is perfect for the socks !!!  Especially the straight-a-way stockinette section in these …  So yes, I do love the two-circular-needle-method through all the rib and the heel flap & turn, but folks, when it’s time to knit the long foot section of stockinette with microscopic yarn at a gazillion stitches per inch, when no attention is really needed for stitch pattern,  I have just discovered ~finally~ that these little 9 inch circulars work like a dandy !

I remember the lady at the yarn store giving me attitude when I wanted to order them (they were not in stock) and she said ” I don’t know why anybody would want to use them…”.  Okay, well, one of the few physical blessings I guess I was born with, is small hands and feet, and thus I can knit a sock with 9″ circulars.

Mainly, I am trying to learn habits which will allow me to knit in a more speedy fashion, just little time-saving tricks such as this. Now I can do other things while knitting… um… like reading knitting blogs. 

*   *   *

Edit in :  Okay, I’ve changed my mind,  I think I can actually knit nearly the whole (adult) sock (excluding the toe section)  using 9inch needles !  Which is exactly what I will do with my next pair coming up.

Edit in 2:   Evidently I don’t know what the heck I’m doing when I say one method is better than another . Eating my words about now , how with socks I prefer two, or one circular needle method, and never double-pointed needles (they tangle so…and stab…ouch ! ) Here I am in the toe sections of the grey socks, and I happen to have a set of four #2 dpns,  yes, I do, and the tips are sooo pointy…(I think they’re Addi stainless steel)…  and those tips decrease soooo efficiently!!!  I am not only deciding that…wow…the dpns  really *do* make a difference, but, dang it if I don’t really like the super pointy needles (since trying to knit faster is my *thing* right now.  Please pass the salt and pepper…

Amusing

Posted on by

12


Okay folks,  I really blew it.  So badly in fact, that I’m embarrassed to admit it, but come to think of it, I’m positive it’s a mistake common enough among knitters, but it is quite amusing. Still. I knit merrily along on the first sock using two 16″ circular needles ~ five inches of 2/2 rib in fact ~ and I realized something funny about it when I wanted to start up the second, to catch up to the first. Don’t you know…I had two different sized needles on the sock.  Yup the correct size #3 and then for the second needle, a #2.  Yes, I admit to you total brainlessness, but at this point I’m really laughing because:

I thought I’d start ribbing on sock #2 with the suggested size needles for the pattern , #3’s, and see if they are really all that different.  Either my karma is for me , or against me, hard to tell, because after knitting knit 1.5 inches on second sock, I noticed I did the very same thing, used both a #2 and a #3 in the ribbing…. again !!!! How can this be? I have a needle size measuring tool ! Ha ha…

I suppose it’s better this way, making the two ribbed sections the same. Blow off knitting over, I’m going to just repeat my mistake.  In fact, I’ve fashioned this neat method of knitting 3/4’s of the round with one needle, then switching, knitting 3/4’s of a round again, and so on, thus rotating the different sizes around the sock pretty swiftly. My guess is that is will jsut look like homespun.  Oh, and I will make for dang sure I switch to *both* needles #3 when I begin the foot section next.

I have successfully knit both socks to the end of the rib, but I’m noticing my left thumb hurting a bit. (drat). I am ready to knit the heel flaps !!!!  Last time I did this was the one pair of kilt hose, when Morrie coached me through the eye-of-partridge-stitch last year about this time. This pattern does not call for any particular stitch for the heel, just has knitting pattern instruction… just ” Add reinforcing yarn if desired.” Um…  I need Morrie ! (Morrie, do you have Nancy Bush’s “Folk Socks”? ( Pg.59) And Lizzi ! And Sarah !

Okay though, seriously, my thumb is killing me, and I’ve got to stop knitting. I believe it is from playing a 4hr gig on Sunday which has inflamed the tendons, and now this frantic sock knitting has made it quite sore. Going to put the needles down for the rest of the day.

Folk Socks

Posted on by

6

Have started a little project from this book :

The “Classic Sock” .

Finally something for Jeff, though I had to twist his arm leg to let me knit them for him.  He’s just so sensitive to anything even remotely woolly, but I’m very confident the soft superwash merino wool & nylon blend will be soft enough. At about a thousand stitches per inch, these are going to take the remainder of spring and into the summer.  However, I do have a little fantasy of whipping them out, then carrying on with yet another pair from the same book ~maybe the Welsh Country Stockings I posted over in the sidebar, which I envision making for my sister-in-law (I’ve bought the yarn already) Then, after flying through those, I’ll be finally ready to knit myself a pair of knee-high socks of some kind.  Maybe even still another from the book, such as the ” Schottische Kilt Hose” from the same book … or something very kilt-hose-like from another source. We’ll see, that’s far down the road, and as yet, aside from these kilt hose … I’ve not knit a single pair of regular socks yet ! Ever !