I'm back after roughly one-and-a-half years! Oh dear! I'm the worst blogger - hahaha! Although, when I think about it, I've never really seen myself as a true blogger... It's more that I sometimes write about stuff and show you things and sometimes, well, I don't.
I've never really gotten into the habit of talking much about my everyday life here on the blog and it always felt odd when I did (which was only a few times anyway). Maybe I can get myself together and give you an overview, maybe not - we'll see.
Anyway, sock talk now! This is what I'm here for - haha! In my last sock post I ended with this picture-book sock in progress:
It is, of course, finished now (and has been since June 26th, 2019).
It is pair #166 and made using Aktiv Uni by supergarne.com 2522 (sonne = sun) and 2404 (orange). Each stripe is 7 rounds wide - remember: for that you need to be able to count 6 rounds in the colour you're working with, the 7th round are the stitches on the needles which will appear as round when you knit with the other colour.
Pair #167 is a pair of sneaker socks for my husband. The yarn is Opal Hundertwasser "Die Straße zum Sozialismus" 1430 - with Aktiv Uni in petrol 2414 for the cuff, heel and toe.
Pair #168 is a pair of ankle socks for my mother-in-law, who when she came to pick up the children for a start-of-summer-vacation stay (this was summer 2019 - pre-Covid) said that she is constantly wearing the pair I had made her previously when it gets cooler in the evening. I started them on July 1st and handed them over on July 3rd when she dropped the kids off again. She was very happy to have another pair... The yarn came in one of my Opal subscription boxes but was later released in the Comedy collection "Slapstick" 9830. The pattern is very simple but has a section of my bobble pattern around the ankle for a cute little detail.
Pair #169 is a pair of extra thick 8-ply socks I made for my grandma. I used Lana Grossa "Colorado" 6905 and Aktiv Uni Apfelgrün (apple green) 2423 held together on 3,5mm needles. I love how the colour changes of the self striping yarn are still visible but the solid green unifies the whole appearance. Had I used a solid lilac or pink or sky blue the effect would have been totally different.
This is pair #170. The yarn is Opal Schafpate IX - Der Albschäferweg "Charlottenhöhe" 9410. I love the earthy jewel tone rainbow this yarn creates and the black cuff, heel and toe makes it pop more and seem brighter than it is. The pattern is my own. I randomly combined little sections of simple knit and purl repeats to create all the different textures. The pattern is called "mixed stitch socks" - enjoy!
For pair #171 I used Schoppel Crazy Zauberball "Buntmetall" 2231 and a pattern called "Flaco" which is a free ravelry download. The pattern is written for 64 stitches and can't really be changed to suit a 60 stitch sock so I tweaked the sole a little: I made the leg and the heel of the sock following the pattern and using 64 stitches, but decreased to 60 stitches on the gusset. Then I divided the stitches for the foot into 32 for the top (still following the pattern) and 28 for the plain stockinette sole - that way you don't have to mess with the stitch pattern and the chart (which is really not possible for this pattern without it being very confusing) but you can still make a sock with less stitches. Just remember to re-divide your stitches to 30 on the top and the bottom when you get to the toe decrease!
I churned out this pair within 4 days while house-and-cat-sitting for my mum and my hands hurt quite a bit afterwards...
Pair #172 is another pair of sneaker socks for my husband. I used four different balls of left over Schoppel Crazy Zauberball: Buntmetall, Herbstwind, Kleiner Fuchs and Route 66, and each stripe is 7 rounds wide. (I just remembered that I haven't made a full pair with the Route 66 yet, but I only used a little bit of it for these so there's enough left for a full pair.) I absolutely love making socks like these! It's very addictive and I adore watching how the stripes change colour and how they play out in the finished sock. These socks are obviously a pair but each sock is quite different from the other. I kept the different colourways in the same order for both socks but stared with the third one on the second sock which changes up the look even more.
For pair #173 I used the smaller half of a 6-ply Crazy Zauberball I had left over from another pair. I wasn't sure it would be enough so I paired it with a 6-ply solid navy blue from my stash and made 7-round stripes again - once I start I can't seem to stop... The effect isn't quite as striking as when two (or more) colour changing yarns are used but still very nice. I gave these to my aunt who gets cold feet easily and loves blues and greens.
Oh, and the yarn is called "Der Lenz ist da" which means "spring is here" - "Lenz" is an old-fashioned German word for spring.
This is pair #174. The yarn is Atelier Zitron Trekking XXL "J1". The "J" stands for "jubilee" as this colourway was part of their 30 year anniversary collections. I love this colourway but I have a difficult relationship with Atelier Zitron yarns. One of my all time favourite sock yarn colourways is by this company (Trekking XXL 550), it is nice and soft and wonderful to knit with but I always feel like the finished socks don't quite hold their shape as other brands do. Maybe I'm just imagining things here but somehow they always seem to get baggy and don't want to stay on as I'd like them to. As much as I loved these socks I ended up giving them to my mum - who was over the moon so it was absolutely worth it. They fit her just fine and either she doesn't notice the baggyness (which is likely as she mostly wears them in bed or around the house) or it doesn't bother her as much as it bothers me (which is possible because I only wear my hand knit socks and baggy, slipping socks in shoes is just a no-go).
For pair #175 is used a hand dyed skein of Opal from "Lasst Blumen sprechen" (say it with flowers), a really old collection from maybe nine or ten years ago. I started these in autumn 2018 and only finished them in August 2019. I can't really remember why though. Either I got bored of them or I mislaid them, maybe both.
Pair #176 is a pair of mojos for my husband. It's his favourite pattern - it seems to fit his feet really well - and he chose the yarn which is Opal Fresh&Juicy 12061. He always picks out the funkiest colourways for his socks. I love that! I don't think I'd knit him that many if he only wanted boring "man colours" - haha!
I made pair #177 for a friend of my mum's. The leg has a mixed stitch pattern similar to #170 but the foot is Tennarisukka which I use a lot as it makes really cozy socks. The yarn was in one of my Opal boxes but the colourway was released later: Schafpate 12 - Wanderlust "Zollernburg" 9852.
Pair #178 was supposed to be a 2019 Christmas gift for one of my husband's colleagues but I didn't manage to get them done in time as my hands were acting up again. (It was okay though because my husband found something else for her and she got them after the holidays just as it got really cold.) The yarn is Gründl Hot Socks "Simila" 304. The "Simila" collection is one of these with a brightly contrasting starter thread to make perfectly matching socks - which is something I'm usually not worried about in the slightest.
They have a very long leg (at least they do when you only have 60 stitches) and a plain, slightly speckled heel and foot which you are to start after you're done with the colourful stripes. The toes are striped again but how many stripes you end up with in your finished sock depends on how long or short your foot is and how many stitches you have - in short: how much of the plain, speckly yarn you use. I loved working with this yarn and even the long leg section flew off my (aching) hands. I loved it so much in fact that I bought all of the other colourways but one - a turquoise-teal one which was out of stock. The neon green you can see does not show up in the sock, it's the starter thread.
Pair #179 is another one for my husband. He picked yet another funky and colourful yarn, again from my Opal box but this colourway was later released in the Opal winter collection: XLarge 8-ply Schneeglöckchen "Schneeengel" 9883. (All the yarns in the subscription box are 4-ply though!)
Pair #180 is Dr. Seuss 3.0, as I call it. These socks are made using two different gradient yarns in rainbow colours. The two yarns are Schoppel Zauberball "Frische Fische" and Next Sock Yarn "Samba" (which I think has been discontinued) and they change colours at different speed, creating the interesting colour play and making me think of Dr. Seuss illustrations.
Pair #181 was made for my uncle, just because. I used West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply in their "robin" colourway. I received this yarn as a generous gift from a lovely member of the knit&natter group I'm part of on facebook and it suits my uncle very well. And could you possibly guess the occasion he chose for wearing them for the first time? His daughter's - my cousin's - wedding! I couldn't believe when he showed me... I was very touched that he saved them for such a special occasion.
This is pair #182, for my daughter. I don't make children's socks very often - they just grow out of them too quickly! The pattern is Tennarisukka again and the yarn is from the Opal box. (I think this one is a subscription box exclusive.) R chose it herself.
I made pair #183 for my son and invented a child-friendly version of my mojo sock pattern called "Junior Mojo". The normal mojo sock is just way too long, both in the leg and the foot, to fit kid's feet well so I adapted it. The yarn was from one of my Opal boxes but is part of the Opal Schafpate 12 - Wanderlust collection: "Ochsenbergtour" 9853.
Pair #184 is another one for my son. The yarn is yet another Opal box one, but an exclusive I think. (At least I couldn't find it in any of the releases that have come out since I got the box.)
He's grown out of it (and the previous one) already... The thing is: a while ago - I can't remember when it was exactly - he asked for more socks but my hands were quite achy at that time and I couldn't knit him any new ones, or at least not as quickly as I would have liked to. So I rummaged through my sock stash for a few pairs I wasn't wearing very often. Not because I didn't like the colours or anything, they were all perfectly fine, but they were all just a smidge too small for me. Even with tried and tested patterns and perfect knowledge of your own sock size and how many rounds you need for the foot depending on the style of heel and toe you are working, etc. it can happen that they end up not fitting quite right. I suppose it has to do with tension - which can change even on a daily basis depending on personal stress levels, even when you're unaware of it - and the fact that ones feet get bigger as one gets older.
Anyway, all the socks I gave T were slightly too small for me which made me avoid them unconsciously but they were still a little to big for him. So I was forced to take up arms again and knit him some perfectly fitting ones. As I said above: they fitted for maybe two or three months. By now he's also grown out of the ones that were too big... Maybe I'll just do some toe-surgery on them.
The yarn for pair #185 is also one of my favourites. It's Atelier Zitron Trekking XXL 565 and I love the quirky colour combination. Again, my husband chose it for another pair of mojos. He followed into my footsteps - or perhaps I should say socksteps - haha! - and only wears handknits during the cold months so he needs a stash of them. The issue I talked about above with Trekking XXL yarn not keeping its shape so well seems to lessen with this pattern. The ribbing apparently helps with keeping the shape and staying on nicely. (I did notice that before but seemed to have forgotten when I made the rainbow stripe socks I ended up gifting to my mum.)
Pair #186 is one I love very much but ended up wearing very little yet - I'm hoping for next spring. The yarn is Atelier Zitron Trekking XXL 692 which I've been wanting for ages before I finally jumped at a chance of getting it. (I had it in my shopping cart several times but always cleared it out again, thinking it was not quite that necessary but when it was marked "out of stock" I was soo disappointed and then soo happy when it came back in that I was finally convinced of my really wanting it. Please tell me I'm not the only one shopping for yarn in this way!)
The pattern is yet another variation of my mojo sock - sneaker mojos that fit (better).
My son chose the yarn for pair #187 out of one of my Opal boxes. This is similar to a colourway from their 20th anniversary collection back in 2016 - maybe they'll re-design it for the 25th this year... This is the junior version of the sneaker mojo, which will also feature in the pattern I have coming up. He's grown out of this one too but his sister might like them when they fit her.
Pair #188 is an adorable pair of little girl socks. They are just so happy and bouncy and everything about them sings "sparkly unicorn" to me. The yarn is Opal Magic Sky "Morgenstern" 9805 and has silver sparkle. The cuff has three bobble rounds which makes them look rather playful, I think.
I'm so happy and glad that all my family love my hand knitted socks so much! I love love love making socks and I love seeing them worn and appreciated (until they get holes and I have to darn them that is, I don't love that so very much but that's part of sock-life).
I finished the above pair in May last year, as we were still in the first Covid19 lockdown, and I had to stop. My hands just could not do any more knitting, I had to pack up two or three pairs in progress and it made me very sad. (I threw myself into art journaling during summer and autumn but even that was hard at times - even holding a pen for any longer stretch of time was painful, not to mention using scissors.)
I only just started knitting again in late November I think it was. My hands are better now but I have to take it easy and give them plenty of rest. I was stupidly upset on October 2nd 2020, my 10 year sockiversary, that I hadn't managed 200 pairs - which I had done had my hands not given up.
Oh, well! That's life and I'm considering myself lucky and blessed with everything that I have and that we got through the mess that was 2020 reasonably well, both on the home and the health front, so I won't wine about missing my sockiversary event...
That was it for now. This really was a very looong post, covering 22 pairs of socks, if I counted correctly. Until next time, which will be very much sooner than this one! I promise!
Lots of love!