What I made, by Sharon

Are these not the cutest wee things you have ever seen? I finished my Gloamin-Tide socks on Sunday, and since sOctober was not quite over, I decided to sneak in another pair. Baby socks, made with left over sock yarn. I decided to make these for my office mate Ian - he is having a baby, and the other day (he may have seen sock patterns on my screen) he asked "will my baby be getting socks?" I replied "If your step mother makes him some" I was joking, but it is true his step mother is an "obsessed knitter" with a yarn room. He got all embarrassed, I guess he understands that knitting can be asked for, or begged for, but never demanded. So I knit these for him. They are so sweet, only took 25 grams of yarn, and 2 nights knitting. And with that, my sOctober draws to a close. I'll do a wrap next Thursday in Once-Apon-A-Sock, but for now I'll just say it's been a good one.

When I finished Gloamin-Tide I had 60 grams of yarn left over, in the 3 fade colours I used. Obviously I decided I wanted to make socks to match the shawl - not just in colour, but to chanel the spirit of the shawl. When I found Cat Bordhi's Hither and Yon Socks , I knew I had found a sock that was just right. It had the advantage of also including the instructions for the Sweet Tomato Heel. Cat has free instructions for these on her website and you tube, but I prefer written instructions. So I bought the pattern and knit two other pairs of socks using the heel construction.  Because I knew I'd have just enough yarn I decided to do these two at a time, toe  on double pointed needles: It was fine when I was only knitting in one colour, but got a bit messy when i was using two. After I finished the foot, I realised that I wouldn't have enough yarn, so I pulled in a fourth colour for the heel - leftovers from my Boxy again.  I'm glad I did. The...

Remember when I knit Kate Davies' Strathendrick ? Of course you do. I went on and on about it. What I don't think I wote about was how I struggled with the name. In fact, when I first set up the pattern in fravelry, I called it "Strathdrick". I didn't change it, since I thought it was kind of funny, and who is going to see it anyway? Well, lots of people as it turns out, since Kate Davies featured it in a blog post today. I'm obviously rather excited, since now I have been on two of my favourite designers blogs (remeber when Ysolda posted my Blank Canvas? ) The only thing is,  now I wish I had named it something clever, or at least spelt it right. Small regrets, big thrill.

This is my oldest pair of sneaker liners and my first pair of socks, knit in 2009. I knit them in  from the left overs of a baby jumper. There are top down, heel flap and gussett. They are also getting too small for me.I have noticed is that over time, my sneaker liners  shrink  through the heel.   It also happens with the  Fish Lips Kiss heel. And when the heel gets shorter, the back of the cuff goes down, and leaves the back of my Achilles exposed. It probably wouldn't matter with socks with longer cuffs, but I do knit a lot of sneaker liners. Now, it's not uprising that this happens. I wear these socks with bike shoes, and sometimes it's raining. I wear them to the gym. Sometimes with shoes, more often without. What's surprising is that they wear so well and last as long as they do. It also led to me experimenting with the Sweet Tomato Hee l. Even though it is a bit more work to work than the Fish Lips Kiss heel, when I got up to the heel of the...

And these are a beauty, if I say so myself. I was planning to block them before taking photos, but last night I put them on to take a quick snap for Instagram, and ALL the cats came to help with the photos, which I love and am using, even if they show more cat than sock. Kate Davies'  Inspired by Islay  was such a gift of a club. As well as (so far) knitting 4 of the 12 patterns, it inspired us to go to Islay - and got us rather more interested in whisky than we had been! These socks are so well designed. They look lovely, but they are also cleverly designed so they will stay up, an important feature for knee high socks. The yarn (from Kris' destash earlier this year) is lovely. A discontinued Spotlight yarn, it is allegedly cashmere, although I have my doubts. Who knows how it will wear, but the foot is knit pretty densely, and I now live in a house with floorboards, which is definitly a bonus on the longevity of house socks.  So, another winner fr...

For sOctober I have the broadest definition of socks, so let me present to you thrummed slippers for my mother: I remember when I knit the first pair of these , I was quite concerned becasue they are a strange item: inches of fleece in the bottom, fluff everywhere, but she loved them. I like this colour so much more than the brown ones I made last time, which is not suprising, since last time I knit from stash, and this time I bought the yarn specifically for the project. Something satisfying about buying yarn for a specific project, and then knitting it up immediately. The only change I made to the pattern was to carry along some of Kate Davies Millorachy Tweed when knitting the sole. I'm hoping that adding a yarn with mohair will make these soles more resistant to wear.

I love knee high socks. I normally wear them around the house, in winter over leggings or in cross seasons with a house dress or shorts. My favourite pair was knit in 2009, with left over yarn from the first jumper I ever made Leon. The are very comfortable, stay up, fit perfectly, but the toes always had holes where the decreases are.  I had already decided to make Kate Davies Lord of the Isles socks (don't judge me, I haven't knit a Kate Davies pattern since September)when I found that this: Yes, a whole lot of hole. I will  darn it, but I'm pretty glad that I'm halfway through the stunning replacement pair. 

The other week my mother requested new thrummed slippers, because her's had worn through, and she'd already darned them once. They are knit in chunky yarn, and I started going through my stash in my head - I could hold together three strands of fingering weight, I could... and then I realised, I could buy the right yarn for the project. So I did. The chuunky yarn on the left, and the fibre for the thrums to the right. So that was fine. While I was on the Knit picks website I saw the felici was on special. I've always wanted to try this self stripping yarn, and resisted, because I have so much sock yarn alread - and so many socks. But I was in a shopping mood, so three balls of that fell into my basket:  For baby jumpers? sneaker liners? Who knows. I also bought a skein of sparkle yarn, because I love sparkle yarn. a couplde of my friedns have knititng machines, so I might make a sock blank and dye it, or I might use it for heels in sneaker liners. Or I could mak...

In January Kris destashed some yarn. I took some, because it was right there. I have actually managed to knit all that yarn (except the mint "cashmere") which is on my needles right now. Then she moved house and has less storage space, so she did another destash. Now Kris has exquisite taste, so even the yarn she is getting rid of is stunning. I wish I'd taken a picture of the pile. Initially I took these two "boy coloured" lots of yarn for socks for Leon. And then these climbed into my bag: I keep saying "for baby jumpers" but who knows what they will be. And then some self striping Regia, because Regia, and it was sitting on the table, and no one else wanted it, and I know it will make something nice. Like a baby jumper. I know I only need three baby jumpers right now, and I've got yarn for all of them already, but it never hurts to plan ahead, right? Also, there 'may" be a couple more balls of yarn coming in the mail. M...

I finished my first socks for sock knitting season - the Audrey sock yarn I was talking about earlier in the week . It's marvelous yarn, and the rumour is that Dani will be dying us a colourway for Christmas this year too, so I look forward to that too. The pattern uses a "strong" heel, which I think works quite well with self stripping yarn - the trick is that the heel turn is knitted in other yarn, which means the striping is not interrupted. It also seems quite comfortable, although I'm not one of those people who finds trouble with the fit of most heels. Additionally, its pretty: These socks used just over 60 grams of yarn - which means I have enough left over to make a pair of shorties, although I think some other yarn. Stay tuned - but first, I'm off to start some slippers for my mother.  

Socktober, Socktober, the funnest month of the year...specially if you are an incorrigible sock knitter, like me. Last month I made two pairs of socks - a pair of shorties , where Iearned Kat Borhdi's Sweet Tomato Heel and  marvelous pair for Leon which were a test knit for our very own Katherine of Fiber and Sustenance. This month it's going to be all socks all the time. I'm currently knitting some Black is the New Vanilla socks in "Audrey" a colourway dyed l ast Christmas specially for my knit group by  HalfBakedHandDyed , who is also a member of the Richmond Knitters. So far so good - a top down heel, without picking up stitches. Interesting. Then I've got planned a pair of knee high sock s with the yarn than Kris destashed in January. Kate Davies, or course, I don't think a month goes by when I don't knit a Kate Davies pattern. her slippers had worn through, and the darns she has put in had also worn through, and it's her birthda...

I was authoritatively informed by the Richmond Knitters last night that this month is called Socktober, and not sOctober, as I have always called it. Either way, it's the best month of the year. Obviously I'm knitting socks! Last Christmas the talented Dani from HalfBakedHandDyed made us our own Richmond Knitters colourway! I decided, since the colours are so pretty, so make plain socks, but also to try a new heel, the Strong Heel, in the Vanilla is the New Black socks.  So far so good. Fun, easy and the colours are just such a delight to knit with. I'm reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray , partly because I haven't read it since I was a youth, and partly because I'm about to read  Creatures of Will and Temper , which allegedly "riffs"  on The Picture... I'm glad I've reread it though, it's quite a book, with some really deep themes. I'm joining in with Ginny and the monthly yarnalong . I recommend popping ov...