Five mistakes I made as a new sock knitter

Mistakes are part of life - there is no getting away from that. But when it comes to sock knitting there are a few simple concepts that it is helpful to grasp before you pick up the needles. Why not learn from my mistakes so that you don’t have to:

1. Not using specific sock yarn. Most sock yarn has a small acrylic component to help with wear and tear - and also to provide much needed stretch. Common blends are 75% wool/25% nylon or 80/20. Yarn with a higher acrylic component may not be as breathable and no one wants cold, clammy feet.

2. Not realising the importance of gauge. It’s essential to get socks that actually fit and are comfortable to wear. I tried to knit socks in DK yarn on 2.5mm needles and let’s just say they weren’t a success. If armour plated booties were a thing they might have had a role.

3. Negative Ease. It took me ages to figure out why my socks were always too big and slid off my feet. Well fitting socks need to stretch in order to hug the foot properly. This means that when you are deciding on heel placement or when to do the toe decreases, it helps to stretch the sock fabric quite firmly - not just a polite pull.

4. Persevering with DPNs because I thought everyone used them - and not realising that other options would suit me better. There are whole host of sock knitting options available to you - from magic loop to small circulars, Flexiflips or two-at-a-time. Don’t be afraid to experiment until you find the method that suits you best.

5. Offering to knit them for neighbours - never again!

If you take one piece of advice from this article it would be number 5. Trust me on this 😂

Of knitting and hats...and rituals

Adult Sockhead Hat - pattern by Kelly McClure

Now there’s nothing better than a good finished object - especially when it coincides with Finished Object Friday. But it struck me today as I was taking a photo that there’s more to finishing a piece of knitting and putting it away/wearing it.

For me there is a distinct ritual involved in finishing a project - almost closing the circle if you will. A process that started with an idea in your head, went through the planning and the preparation stages into the actual knitting of it, and finishing with the cast off.

Now of course the actual knitting of it can take a variable length of time and sometimes there are some false starts/swearing/ripping back to do. Sometimes you give up in frustration and file it under ‘nope - move on’. But at some point every project reaches the closing out process.

The part where you reclaim the needles, tidy away the bits that have accumulated in the bottom of the project bag - ah, that’s where your favourite marker pen ended up! - and squirrel away any leftovers into whatever system you have for dealing with these things.

For me it’s like saying goodbye to that phase of the project, before hopefully it moves on to becoming a fully functional and much loved item of apparel or home wear. If not in my house then with someone else. Sometimes I’m more glad to see the back of a project than others. But I always like to do my little finishing ritual before I do final photos and post it on socials.

This hat was an absolute joy to knit by the way. I am absolutely not a hat person normally, but this is wonderfully stretchy and slouchy. It fits me well, I love the colour (yarn is Eden Cottage yarns - need I say more) and it was a perfect downtime project for while I was away between Christmas and New Year. And even better there was only a small amount of yarn leftover.

The perfect project in every way. So much so that I’m having to fight the urge to cast on another one. But I have Things To Do and Designs To Knit, so it will just have to wait for another day.

Or I might just cast on a tiny baby one - you know - just to scratch the itch.

If I’ve tempted you, there’s a free adult sized pattern on Kelly’s blog here, or a paid version on Ravelry with all sizes ranging from tiny baby to huge adult.

The joys of scrappy socks

If you’ve seen any of my Instagram photos recently you will be under no doubt that I have recently become a tiny bit obsessed with scrappy socks - using up odds and ends of scrap sock yarn to create delightfully odd and mismatching stripy socks.

We all have those tiny bits of sock yarn lying around - too small to be made into a mitered square on the memory blanket (each of my blanket squares needs about 3g) but too much to bear to throw away - and these are the perfect project to make use of them.

Thrifty and colourful - talk about a win win!

If I’m totally honest though the one thing that has put me off scrappy socks in the past has been the words feared and dreaded by all knitters - “Weaving in the Ends”. But, after my friend Tash recommended a life changing new technique to me I have become a total and utter convert to the world of scrappy socks.

The Clasped Weft Join achieves the Holy Grail of the knitting world- being simple to work, super quick and requiring absolutely no end manipulation. Just a quick snip and away you go with the next colour.

I originally learnt the technique by watching the YouTube tutorial filmed by Boston Jen and I highly recommend taking a look - it’s super quick and you’ll have the method down pat after just a few practices.

This makes it the ideal project for when you are travelling or out and about. Just grab a few tiny scraps of yarn (more for a long journey) and a pair of scissors or travel snips and you are good to go.

I’ve knit one sock already and am already well underway with the next. Unusually me for I’m not trying to match them and I can say with some surprise that it really is quite unexpectedly freeing. I am drawing from the same batch of colours and each stripe is 7 rows deep but these are my only ‘self-imposed’ rules.

It's really quite addictive, just to be able to reach into my little bag, grab a new colour, quickly join and away you go. I can predict many more of these colourful, fun socks in my future now.

Scrap yarn challenge

Now don't tell me you don't have any scrap yarn about your person.

We all have those little bits squirreled away somewhere don't we. Over on the Everyday Knitter Facebook group we have set ourselves a challenge this month to learn the Russian Join technique and make a "magic ball" from all our scraps. I'm using sock weight yarn but some others are using DK. 

If you've never used the Russian Join method before I'd highly recommend that you give it a go. All you need is a nice sharp tapestry needle and it's a way of giving you a smooth join between 2 ends of yarn without any additional bulk. 

Once you've made your magic ball you can then knit (or crochet) until the cows come home, making a wonderful multi-coloured project without any worry about sewing in the dreaded ends.

I used this tutorial here which explains it all very clearly. If you find yourself with a spare 5 minutes this weekend why not give it a go. Be warned though, it's highly addictive.

Have a great weekend
 

Summer of speckles

I defy you to look at this beautiful speckly yarn and not want to cast it on immediately. Isn't it just wondrous? I treated myself to the summer yarn club from Vykky at West Green Loft Yarns and I was the lucky recipient of this sunset-inspired skein. It also came with a beautiful semi solid purple which matches it really well - but I'm totally blindsided by the speckles to be honest.

Between this and the Rusty Ferret yarn I am using for my second BOB socks (see previous post) I am declaring this my summer of speckles. I am mostly going to be knitting with speckled yarn. 

Now I can't deny that the odd bit of grey or semi-solid might creep in there. I'm only human after all and I do have a couple of commissions on the go where others yarns will be needed but for now, I'm happy to get the ball winder out, cake up this beauty and bask in enjoyment of fresh, speckled yarn cast on.

If you fancy joining me in some speckled yarn love - please use the hashtag #summerofspeckles. Always happy to be enabled into some new speckly yarn purchases.

What is a sock yarn swap anyway?

So, what's all the fuss about a sock yarn mini swap anyway?

If you are a member of the Everyday Knitter Facebook group you may have seen that we had so much fun with our last mini swap that we are doing it again. Many of us are knitting sock yarn blankets or scrap yarn projects and as much as we love our own stashed yarn it can be a real bonus to have an injection of colour from someone else's stash.

So, the sock yarn mini swap idea was born. For minimum hassle and maximum knitting time we use an app called Elfster which is an automated gift exchange service. You register and then after the sign-up deadline has passed you will automatically matched up to a swap partner. The swap is reciprocal - ie you both exchange gifts with each other.

If your swap partner has any particular preferences it's good to take these into account when choosing which yarns to send. You can set up your preferences by using the 'wish list' function in Elfster.

You then just need to wind off your chosen yarns into 5g mini balls or skeins. It isn't necessary at all to skein them but if you would like to there is a great tutorial here on how to do it. It's also nice to label the skeins - dyer and colourway - so that your partner knows what they are. It's a great way to discover new-to-you dyers or to get your mitts on something that you haven't had a chance to try out before.

Then just write a little note, pop everything in a Jiffy bag and post it by the deadline. It's a good idea to register on Elfster that you have sent your parcel. As an admin - that makes my job so much easier.

Then, when your parcel arrives please take a little picture and let us know about it on the Facebook Group. You can also record it as received on Elfster. This shows your swappee that their parcel has arrived safely and hopefully that you are happy with the contents.

All that remains to be done is to grab your sock yarn blanket and add your new mini skeins, along with some happy memories of a new knitty friend you've made.