A happy yarn customer

Shirley bought hand painted yarn from me a few weeks ago (see the blog entry below with her photo). She recently brought in her socks to show me and they are fabulous! She cast on 64 st and knit on #2 bamboo needles. She says she made no attempt to make the socks match, but they are clearly a pair. She really loves her socks, and I do, too. I am planning to do a lot of dyeing over the Memorial Day weekend, so look for new yarn early June.

My first knee socks

I got a commission for a pair of knee socks, and took it on as a challenge. I made several false starts using various cuff down patterns, and finally settled on a toe up pattern for the foot. I chose a short row heel, which was very successful. There was a lot of trying on and readjusting of the number of rows between increases in the calf area. I used a Regia 75% superwash wool/25% nylon yarn, 210 m/ball, and used most of 3 balls. I knit on #1 bamboo needles. Along the way, I learned a very cool invisible increase stitch. I was very pleased with the final product, as was my customer, and I'll probably make a pair for myself sometime soon. If you are interested in the pattern that I developed, e mail me at maryjo@societysocks.com and I will send you the pattern.

Cotton Blend

Work in progress!

Alpaca socks

I've just finished my first pair of socks made from 100% alpaca fingering weight yarn. Since the yarn had no reinforcing fiber, I knit it with a strand of fuzzy nylon serging thread. I thought this might be difficult, but it was surprisingly easy. I kept the yarn and thread in a ziplock bag together, and they fed out together very nicely. I was fortunate to find nylon in the same color as the yarn, and it is essentially invisible in the final knitted product. I got this yarn from my friend Brad Neuman, owner of Big Meadow Creek Alpacas (www.bigmeadowcreekalpacas.com), who wanted to see how it would work for socks. I am happy to report that it was easy to knit, is wonderfully soft, and washed well. I washed the socks on the gentle cycle of my washing machine in cold water, and laid them flat to dry. They came out just fine.
This is a 64 stitch sock done on #1 bamboo DP needles. The pattern is a lace rib, a very easy 4 row repeat. I continued the pattern down the front of the foot.

Rows 1-3: K2 P2 ribbing
Row 4: K2,YO, Slip 2, P2 together through the back of the two slipped stitches. Repeat these 4 stitches to end of row

If you are interested in knitting very soft, slightly fuzzy, very warm socks, I recommend you contact Brad through his website listed above, and see what he has available. You won't be sorry.

Yarn Feeding Frenzy!

A friend asked if I could bring the yarn that I had hand painted to work one day. Suddenly my little office was filled with women with yarn lust in their eyes! They bought 8 skeins - what fun. They all promised to send me photos of their finished projects.

Socks and cats

This weekend we had a visit from my son Ian and his girlfriend Veronica. After a week at Christmas breathing the sock knitting infused air here, and helping me dye yarn, Veronica decided to take up sock knitting. She is doing very well, and is nearly ready to make her first heel. This is a photo of her two cats, Tully and Toby, and her first sock in progress.

New yarn

I want to introduce you to a new-to-me sock yarn, Berroco Sox. It is fingering weight, 75% superwash wool/25% nylon, and is dyed to make a Fair Isle pattern as you knit. The colors are very intense, and the interval between repeats is long. The owner of our local yarn shop says that Berroco is known for its color saturation in their yarns. The yarn was considerably lower in cost than most comparable sock yarns, $12.60 for a 440 yard ball. The yarn was a little stiff to knit, but softened up nicely when washed. It is made in Romania. I'll certainly try another ball. The socks pictured are my standard slouch pattern, 64 stitches on #1 needles.