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.