Socks Socks Socks 

For a little change of pace, how about sock talk. I've knit socks in the traditional way in the past, but not recently. Earlier this year, i discovered sock looms. Who knew. Sock looms make life so much easier as I've discovered. When your hands start aching from the amount of work we do in our lives, no wonder they revolt. 

Sock looms take most of the stress off our tender over worked hands. These are the looms I have been using. 

These are available through Knitting Boards in the US. Here in Canada you can find them at Sitich it Central. You will see two colours of looms in that listing,  that's because they are sold as a 2 pack. Ladies and mens sizes. I bought 2 packages so I can work on two socks at a time. You don't have to do that, I just find it easy to do and it keeps them the same length as you work. 

The tape across the lower front is a guide for decreasing and increasing for the heels and toes. I am left handed, so my guide goes left to right. Should you try these looms and are right handed, the numbers would go from right to left. Here is a link you will find so helpful. It takes you through making socks from start to finish. It's very well recorded and you can stop and start, or rewind to watch parts over again.  Sock making with this loom.  

I bought a couple of accessories to work with, but not necessary to be able to knit the socks. First are these sock frames. They came as a 2 pack on Amazon. When you finish your socks, you can wash them and put them onto a frame to shape them. I do a light iron on them using a press cloth.

The other accessory I got, was this bowl. It's so convenient to keep my yarn from drifting all around my work space. ;o) I thread it through one of the holes on the side and it also keeps the yarn from getting tangled. The two colours of small pins in the envelope are stitch markers, and I found them on Knit Pics, but you can find many fancy and otherwise on Etsy.

These are the socks I knit with the loom. 

 

The yarn I use is from Arcane Fibre Works. They are based in Alberta, Canada. They have a newsletter and if you sign up, you will receive regular updates as to new colourways. Some are short term, some last longer. I just got these two skeins last week, so bright and cheerful. (Fingering weight for socks)

The last sock for this post, is the pretty blue and white sock next to the bowl in the picture above. That one is crocheted. The pattern is by a Russian designer, Miss Kochina. The instructions are good, but I recommend using a scrap ball of yarn to practice on, unless you find you are familiar with her work. She offers a link to her YouTube site to show you the stitches.

Socks reborn

I'm finally getting back to those socks I started last year. Never do one sock of many colours and put them down and think to yourself you will do the matching one later....Don't do it. It requires to much thought to remember what size and hopefully your tension is even. Mine worked out okay, but not without a few minor pull back of stitches...hate that.

So here are finally, 3 pairs done. One pair, the bright green/orange combination went to one of my sweet little ladies that I was caring for. I paid her a visit on Monday and wanted to make sure she got these. She told me once that her feet get cold in bed, so I thought these would help. One good thing to note, this yarn is machine washable and the pattern develops itself as it's built into the yarn. Check you local yarn shop or some craft places might carry it. One ball will do a pair with a bit left over depending on whether you make them a bit longer or not and the various colours of yarn and the different companies will give you lots of choices of patterns. Each one is so much fun to work with as you can watch the patterns developing without having to change the yarn throughout.

Socks Three

I know I said I wasn't going to do anymore socks until I got other things done...but do I listen to my own words...No ! And not only did I knit more socks but I worked on one of them on the hottest day on record around here the other day. Other people are out on the beach, in pools, anything to keep cool. What am I doing? Knitting socks.. I'm addicted to this yarn and can't wait to see what the patterns are going to turn into. Here's the latest 3 colours I worked on. Eventually they will all have mates, or I will be forced to wear two different socks continually...

Socks Two

As promised here are two more colours of socks.I try to just sit and knit for a short time, but because the yarn creates it's own patterns as you knit, I find myself knitting for a little longer (okay a lot longer) so I can see what's going to develop. For now, these guys will have to survive without their partners because I must get some other things done.....Do visit your local wool shop and have a look for yourself, maybe you could make some doll size socks if you're a doll maker, possibilites are endless and whoever gets to wear them will thank you....

Socks

Can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted. I've been busy and also went away on a mini vacation, which was wonderful. I'll post a couple of pictures later to show where we were. Today, I thought I would show you where my latest crafty ventures have led me. I haven't knit socks for ages, probably years but it's been renewed by the yarns that are on the market now. I got frustrated, like a lot of knitters I bet, by wanting to make interesting socks but hating to have to cut and rejoin different colours of yarn and then having to weave all those threads in after. To much trouble I think. However, now there are new yarns out there that take all the misery out of making socks. These are done with a basic sock pattern, using 4 needles size 2 3/4MM. I've done one of each of two colours to show you the different patterns that develop depending on the yarn you buy. I have other colours to try as well and when I get to those,I'll post another picture. Check your yarn stores if you're a knitter and see what's out there. Some are referring to them as computerized yarns. They are different than varigated yarns because they do form patterns as opposed to having different colours throughout.