i really don't know why i have such a hard time posting regularly on here! it bugs me - it really does and i will have to find out why that is. (not the bugging but the not posting...)
it's between the beginning and the middle of may and when i look out the window it looks as if i should be sitting out on the terrace as i'm writing, with a chilled drink... but i won't be fooled by the blue sky and sunshine! it's soo cold!
but it's finally supposed to get warmer starting tomorrow. a little unsteady with clouds and the occasional rain but at least warmer - as in above 20°C. i'm sick of the cold and particularly the cold winds that come swooping in as soon as there's the smallest cloud behind which the sun can hide.
i have a lot of socks to show again. the clicking of my needles is never ending - haha!
pair #98 is made using drops fabel print "guacamole" 151 and a solid magenta from my stash. i chose it to match the little speckles of that very same colour that are in the pattern of the drops yarn already. i did 15 rounds of ribbing and 10 rounds in stockinette before i started the heel.
pair #99 was a pair for T - he asked for another one. i continued the rib pattern along the top side of the foot because i felt like his previous pairs had a tendency to slip down a little. looking at the picture now makes the socks look really long and when i think about it: they are! his socks are only about an inch shorter than mine and he's only six and a half...
i wanted pair #100 to be a special one and decided to make it my first ever pair of cable socks. i used Christine's fabulous Easy Cable Sock pattern - you can find it here - and i am really pleased with how easy they actually were! i have always been afraid of cables as they looked so complicated in all the charts and written patterns but it really is quite easy... Thank You, Christine for such a great tutorial!
i used 20 Jahre Opal "Wir sagen Danke" 10783 (as i did for T's socks above).
pair #101 is a pair of caterpillar socks i made for a friend. she had kindly agreed to make my birthday cake for me (even though she didn't have time to come to the party) and didn't want me to pay for it. i'm really glad she liked them and that they fit her. the yarn is atelier zitron trekking xxl 569. (i have to admit that i liked the ball of yarn better than i liked the socks but the colours are beautiful in any case.) the cake was banana caramel cream with lots of brittle. it was amazing!
pair #102 is another pair of caterpillar socks using opal Regenwald 11 - Anton 8973. i love all the colours and the irregular stripes this yarn creates.
pair #103 is a pair of mojos and i used Lana Grossa Meilenweit "Colorado" 6911. i have already used three other colourways of this yarn. i don't even know exactly what i like about it so much but i have another two colourways still in my stash! i think i'm a little nuts...
pair #104 is a pair of patchwork socks. i used cheap no-name yarn for the foot and the mitred squares in the leg. i quite like the colours and the narrow stripes and it came with the solid red in a pack. the sandy colour is from my stash and i think it wasn't the right choice but when i realised that i didn't really like it, it was too late to un- and re-do everything. i sort of explained how to do these socks in this post but if you would like better instructions let me know.
pair #105 was one of my long hoarded skeins of opal hand dyed "say it with flowers" 5124. it's a really old collection and i've knitted three of the other ones already. one is still left in my stash, waiting for autumn because of its colours... this is one of my rather rare pairs of plain stockinette stitch socks - at least the longer ones are rare, i do lots of ankle socks in stockinette. i just didn't want to distract from the spiral pattern the yarn creates by adding extra texture.
for pair #106 i used the new opal fresh & juicy "erntefrische Paprika" (freshly harvested bell pepper) 9360. the colours make me think more of ripe raspberries or rhubarb though. i think the red is not red and bright enough for pepper. it's more pink-ish... but i love the colours and the pattern they create as much as i loved all the sweet & spicy yarns and i hope there will be more collections of "fresh & juicy" as well... the pattern is Tennarisukka again and this time i did them exactly as the pattern said - even the heelflap and heelturn. this was my first heelflap and -turn since i started doing short row heels after my fourth pair of socks and i'm quite pleased with them.
i love how the colours worked out so perfectly that i started with a new colour right after each heel flap was done.
pair #107 is drops fabel print "Tex Mex" 153 and a solid petrol colour from my stash. it is exactly the same as #98. and when i mix them up i even have a pattern match only in different colours - haha!
for pair #108 i used opal Hundertwasser "Kuss im Regen" (kiss in the rain). i made it the same as #96 shown in the previous sock post. somehow i've established some basic sock recipes for myself that i keep doing again and again because they fit well and have nice proportions... and i'd like to be able to mix and match some socks in case i feel really funky or i'm invited to a bad taste or mad hatter party - haha! (we had a mad hatter party once and almost everyone showed up with mismatched socks.)
pair #109 is another pair of mojos. the yarn is opal happy... nr. 9024 with silver sparkle thread. i've had this in my stash for a while and i loved to see it whenever i opened the box. i wasn't sure if i wanted to knit this yarn with a pattern but then i decided to go for the mojo kind of last minute. i will probably not wear them any time soon - fingers crossed it finally gets nice and warm and more summery! - but they will be wonderfull when autumn comes storming in...
pair #110 is a rather special one - even if it doesn't look like it. i don't know what the yarn is any more. i got it years ago as a gift and i think it's Hot Socks by Gründl, but it must be a really old one. i don't know exactly when i started these either but it must have been about one and a half years ago or so... i only just finished this pair on april 30th. they are T's and they are special because i knitted them 2-in-1 which means i knitted them both at the same time, one inside the other with all the stitches on the same set of dpns, the stitches of the outside sock alternating the stitches of the inside sock. i followed this great picture tutorial and honestly: it was much less complicated than it seems to be at first! of course there is the danger of accidentally joining the two socks but that can happen with "normal" two-at-a-time socks that are knitted on long circulars as well.
on one of the socks the pattern is upside down because i knitted from the outside and the inside of the ball at the same time. had i wanted them to match or at least go in the same direction - pattern wise - i would have had to create two matching balls of yarn first. each sock had differently coloured stitches as i knitted them which helped me not to get confused too much.
i used one of these to keep the two strands of yarn from twisting and i got into the habit of reaching in between the socks every other round or so to make sure i hadn't joined them. the only fiddly bit is doing decreases because a few stitches need to be rearranged for that, but once i had done that a few times it wasn't difficult any more.
this is pair #111. the yarn is opal "The Little Prince and the Fox" and the colours are just beautiful! the picture doesn't really do them justice, even though i had nice daylight. my camera doesn't like to take pictures of oranges and reds apparently... the pattern is an easy wave pattern. i've typed it out in this post already (towards the end of the post).
now i have a game of yarn chicken going on with the rest of this yarn: i've already knitted a square for my sock yarn blanket and one short ankle sock with a contrasting colour cuff, heel and toe. now i have to see if the rest of the yarn is enough for the second ankle sock... if not it's not a big deal though - i'll just use more of the contrasting colour for the rest then.
i hope you are all well and happy with whatever you are doing or creating! big hugs for everyone!
you can find the patterns for the caterpillar and mojo socks in the right side bar under "tutorials and guides".