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.