Pair 14 - Milo

Pair 10/15 of the Sock Innovations Project.

This pair was started while I was still off work following knee surgery.

It was quite a complex construction involving 3 separate charts and a particular order to work them in.

I got the hang of the pattern and was progressing well, then I returned to work which cut my knitting time drastically!

I also deviated from the project rather with some side projects of fingerless gloves for my daughter and a hitchhiker scarf for my husband.  Both projects can be viewed on my ravelry projects - http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Girlieuk

The yarn was another of my favoured Laughing Yaffle yarns- Rhubarb and Custard which shows the pattern off well, although the photo doesn't do it justice.

Started September 12 2012
Finished November 25 2012

Pair 13 - Kai-Mei

This is pair 9/15 in the Sock Innovations sub project.

I completed these quickly as I was able to knit them during the day as I've been immobile following knee surgery.

It was an easy pattern to follow, mainly a simple but boring K3 P3 rib for the leg then a small lacy panel that creeps across the foot which was more interesting to knit. 
I also learned a new technique of a backwards loop cast on when I had to create stitches, this is a good technique for when I'm next doing earflap baby hats.

I chose a semi solid Laughing Yaffle Yarn I had in my stash.  The colourway is called Midnight owl and was lovely to knit with.  I couldn't knit the socks at night as the yarn is rather dark though.

It made a change to have a simpler pattern as my concentration was lacking in the immediate aftermath of my surgery.

Next pair will be either Bex or Milo, both of which are more complex and challenging.

Started August 28 2012
Finished September 10 2012

Pair 12- Lindsay

This is pair 8/15 from Sock Innovations.

Yarn used is another Laughing Yaffle one- Winterland
This pair isn't one of my favourites, took a few restarts to get the right size needle as the pattern does knit up generously.
Once I got going with the actual pattern, it was fine and lovely to knit, but I'm really not keen on the wrapped short row heel and toe.  They come out slightly baggy and I prefer the heel flap and short row(decreasing method)

Finished these reaonably quickly while in the first few days of recovering from knee surgery.
I'm currently incapacitated, so that means more knitting while my knee recovers from an arthroscopy and lateral release surgery.  Does mean I can't run or exercise at the moment, so knitting is keeping me reasonably sane.
Hoping to finish pair 13- Kai-Mei in the next couple of weeks and have a prolific sock period until I can get more mobile again.


Started July 17 2012
Finished August 26 2012

Fellow Sock Knitter

I forgot to blog this last month and I must name check Monique, who also knits socks.
http://onlysocks.blogspot.co.uk/

She has some fab patterns and I will be cribbing some for my target of 100 pairs:-)

Tonight will be spent finishing my Suduko blanket squares and spare square from the Liquorice Allsorts yarn, then hopefully in the next day or so pair 12 will be on the needles- Lindsay from Sock Innovations.

I do love Cookie A's patterns and have a feeling that her patterns will feature very highly in the overall total.

Pair 11 - Rick

This is also pair 7/15 from the Sock Innovations book.

Seemed to take an age to finish as I had several false starts while trying to get to grips with the pattern.
It was the first time I have knitted different left and right socks.  The pattern itself was only 4 rows, but jogged after each round and coupled with a yarnover at the start or end of a round, meant I had to shift where that was on my needles to avoid a large hole appearing.

This isn't one of my favourite pair of socks from the book, I have knitted better and I feel the pattern with all the loops and yarn overs looks a bit scruffy.

The yarn works well, it does mask the pattern a bit in the photos, it is more obvious when being worn.

Started 30 May 2012
Finished 15 July 2012

Pair 10 - Herringbone Rib

I've been in a prolific knitting period recently, not sure why.  Having a knee injury which restricts my running to 3 tiny 5 mile runs a week instead of at least one run being of 10+ miles may be a factor, there's certainly no increase in available time, maybe a small amount since my courses finished in April.

The patterns knitted recently have been rather quick growing or easy to remember like this one.

Several false starts with the lovely Odyssey yarn from Flamboyance. The colour is called Dazzle Ships and it certainly does!

I tried and failed with another Socktopus pattern - De Stijil which would have looed cool, but it was a mess, even after following the pattern to the letter.  So the yarn was rewound and I tried Cookie A's Hedera with it.  The pattern worked, but it was getting lost in the myriad of colour, so it was turned back into a ball of wool.  I finally found this pattern and it worked perfectly, complementing the yarn and being an easy pattern of 2 rows to remember.

So I am now 10% of the way to my target of 100 socks.  It's quite a milestone and a lot of socks already. 

I do like sock knitting, it's quick, portable and I like the organic nature of the yarns and never quite knowing how it's going to end up.

These socks have 2 different stripe patterns, from a single continuous skein which is weird, but also rather interesting.

Of course being more productive with knitting socks means I make space in my yarn bag for some more.......

Pair 9 - Owlies

Fetch Sockathon 3.

Started this pair on 8 May after a few false starts with yarns that the pattern got lost in the beige/natural colours seemed to suit the pattern very well.

Used black beads to compliment the yarn.

As the socks progressed, one round of owlies appeared to be ninjas with little black masks on them, which looked very cute and from then on the socks were referred to as ninja owlies.

When I started the 2nd sock, the yarn was in a slightly different place and I didn't quite get the full ninjas like the first sock.  There are a few hiding in different places in the 2nd sock though.

Happy with these, I learned a new technique of single cables without a cable needle which was much quicker and less fiddly. 

As this was the 3rd cable pair on the bounce, I'm feeling a little cabled out and after Herringbone Ribs are completed- they were started alongside owlies I will be switching to a lace based pattern for some variety.

LMG likes these socks and asked if I could knit a purple pair for her, so yarn was purchased and when I get some silver beads to go with it and a fine crochet needle I will get to work on them, I expect them to be number 12-13 of this project! 

Pair 8 - Sunshine

Today I finished the next pair from Sock Innovations.
This pair was knitted for my mother as I haven't knitted her a pair of socks for ages.  She was given free rein to rummage through both of my stash sacks and could choose whatever yarn took her fancy.  She settled on a yarn I've had for yonks, one me and LMG (Little Miss Girlie) dyed a couple of summers ago (at least) using Kool Aid.

We had great fun dying yarn, filling old Fruit Shoot bottles with the different colours and just going wild to create a funky colour mix.  With this one though, we did stick to one colour, but it is clear that we had some areas that took more dye than others. 

The effect reminds me of a cherry ice cream I saw once on holiday  and really suited the pattern selected.

This time the pattern really shows up well against the yarn, I am strangely drawn to the loud and colourful yarns, which often lose the patterns I want to knit. 

I did enjoy knitting these, although since I started them, with a brief pause to knit a couple of baby coats, it hasn't stopped raining, so hoping the weather will pick up now they are finished.

I am looking for a pattern called Persistent Rain (or similar) in the hope it is sunny picnic weather when I knit them.

Had enough spare yarn to knit a hexipuff for my Beekeepers quilt and a square to add to the pile that will become another sock yarn throw.

Pair 7 - Sockathon 2

March 2012 meant the start of the next Fetch Sockathon.  A pattern called Circles had been chosen.  This involved slip stitches to make the circles and required a self striping yarn. I was completing other projects, so I started this one a little late, but we allow 2 months for each one, so I had plenty of time to complete them.

In my other bag of sock yarns which is home to the Opal/Regia ones, I found a yarn in pretty stripes, but no ball band. 

The pattern was easy enough to work, but the yarn doesn't work well with it and I find these socks rather ugly.  They serve a purpose though and are very wearable. 

The actual pattern is only on the leg part, the foot is all stocking stitch, so the yarn became more pretty as the sock progressed.

Start Date: 10 March 2012
Completed 3 April 2012

Pair 6 - Eunice

Back to Sock Innovation for the next pair.

This pair was a bit more complicated, my first foray into cables and it involved 2 cable needles, fortunately they were only needed for 2 rows in a 20 row repeat.

The yarn was one that had been in my stash since May 2011- LY Peppermint.  This was a fledgling alpaca yarn and incredibly soft to work with.
Because it was so fluffy, you didn't get as much in a skein for the 100g as with the others.  It was a bit touch and go as to whether these socks were going to get a Chole's Meadow toe or not.  However, I knitted quickly and they were completed with enough yarn left over for a square and 3 hexipuffs!

This pair was on the needles at the same time as Pair 5 and 7, but these didn't travel as well as Pair 5, so remained at home to become an evening project.

Start Date: 12 February 2012
Completed: 30 March 2012

Pair 5 - Fetch Sockathon 1

On the Fetch Everyone running community website, a thread was set up for those runners/cyclists/athletes who also liked to knit and do crafts.  The thread quickly became a vibrant one and we came up withthe idea between us of doing a Knit-A-Long (KAL) as sock knitting was favoured and gave scope for beginners, we called it sockathon and had 2 months to knit the same pattern in the yarns of our choosing.

The pattern was an old faithful one of mine, well suited ot self patterning yarn- a K2 P2 rib pattern, that requires little thought and was ideal for the group.

My pair were knitted in Laughing Yaffle Festival Yarn.  This yarn striped in a pretty spiral, with a bit of pooling around the heel and gusset decreases.

This pair became my travelling knitting as the pattern was simple, and I took it every week to my NEBOSH certificate course, which I was attending on a day release basis. 
In a course that was predominately male, I caused much amusement as I sat knitting in the lunch break. 

Start Date: 1 January 2012
Completed 17 February 2012

Pair 4 - Angee

  This pair was the easiest so far, no complicated jogs in the pattern and no cables.
The yarn used was a gorgeous yellow and red mix called Mango Tango.  The thick, spiral stripe works well with the pattern, although the photo doesn't show it as well.

These socks took a while to complete as I got sidetracked with Christmas stuff and also knitting baby coats for a couple of the girls at work.

Start Date: 29 August 2011
Completed : 18 December 2011

Pair 3 - Glynis

By the 3rd pair, I had discovered Laughing Yaffle Yarn and the project was shifted slightly to try and use as many of her lovely yarns as I could.

This pair was the first pair I knitted using a yarn called Chloe's Meadow.  It was lovely and soft to work with and started a new buying habit which quickly spiralled out of control!

The only drawback with the yarn is I have to remember to handwash or at least use the handwash woollens cycle on the washing machine and NEVER to tumble dry them.  These socks have shrunk and felted a bit, but with my sock blockers I can stretch them so they are wearable again.

This pattern was a tricky one, I had several false starts and discovered the handy trick of the lifeline from Ravelry.  It basically consists of threading a piece of contrasting yarn through all the stitches at significant intervals of a patttern, e.g every pattern repeat.  If you do go wrong and need to rip it back you can safely take the knitting off the needles, pull it back to the lifeline where the stitches are safely held, ready to start again.

Start Date: 14 July 2011
Completed 28 August 2011

 

Pair 2 -Cauchy

This pair was knitted for Dad.

The yarn was a dark Regia one, the pattern more manly and easier to follow than Wanida!
They didn't take long to knit up, the picture doesn't really show the pattern too well, but he likes them,
I am intending knitting this pair again at some point for myself with a lighter coloured yarn.

Start Date: 20 June 2011
Completed : 14 July 2011

Pair 1 - Wanida

I chose a pretty yarn by Opal to knit these in.  The pattern wasn't easy to follow, and after a few false starts and discovering a mistake in the pattern I got the hang of them.

I was off the mark and started my challenge of completing the book

Start Date: 19 May 2011
Completed:  11 June 2011

The beginning

My friend Shirley bought me the Sock Innovations Book for my Birthday in 2011.
Loving every pattern in the book, I set out to knit all 15 patterns and complete the book.
I didn't set a time limit, I like to knit for relaxation and fun and don't want any pressures of deadlines.

After a while and on completing pair 5 in April 2012 I thought about using using up the scraps of left over, so have started a side project of hexipuffs to make a Beekeepers's quilt, this in turn gave me the idea of making a blanket with 100 squares, each one representing a pair of socks I have knitted. It also uses up a bit more of the leftover yarn!

So it began, I'm documenting every pair of the 100 and one day it will be completed.
There will be stories behind some of the socks, others will just be the pattern I knitted.

THE CHALLENGE

To knit 100 different pairs of socks and photograph and record them on here.

KIT LIST

Books

I shall intially be working from 3 sources:

Cookie A - Sock Innovation

Cookie A - Knit.Sock.Love

Alice Yu - Socktopus

I shall also be using patterns from Ravelry and other Cookie A patterns not in the books.

Yarn

I possess around 20 skeins of Laughing Yaffle and Flamboyance yarns which are a starting point.

This also feeds my habit of purchasing more sock yarn, so expect the stash to grow.