Monday 24 June 2013

The Joy of Socks

I on a bit of a sock binge at the moment. I have finished the Monkey socks which are a fantastic pattern to make. Have yet to block them and take pictures. I have blocked the Snicket socks:


I really like the cuff on these where you knit through the back of the stitch to make a raised column. The lattice pattern can be a bit fiddly to do but looks really good so is worth it. I used King Cole Zig Zag which felt a bit rough but then really softened up after washing and blocking.
And yes I have cast on more socks. Two pairs in fact. I was only intending to start one, but then I watched The Knit Girllls podcast and they happened to say that the Opal Vincent Van Gogh sock yarn is being discontinued. I have been meaning to make a pair of sock out of this yarn for ages, so of course I quickly went and brought some in the Sunflowers colourway. I am just doing a plain vanilla sock toe-up and with an afterthought heel.
While waiting for the Opal yarn to arrive I cast on for a pair of  Business Casual socks by Tanis Lavallee. I am using Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn in a mottled brown and black colourway.
I also had to buy a new 2.25mm circular needle as the plastic tubing broke just where it connects to the bamboo needle on my old ones. I prefer using bamboo needles as I get quite a bit of pain in my hands and metal needles seem to make it worse. So I looked for something a bit stronger than bamboo but not metal and came up with Knit Pro Karbonz. So I ordered one and so far seem to be getting on ok with it. They are bit more expensive than other similar products but are well made and I am happy with them. The join between the cable and the needle does catch a bit, but the cable is very flexible with no memory and the metal points make it easy to see dark coloured stitches. This is why I didn't go for the wooden Symfonie needles. I brought a set of Symfonie dpns and found it really hard to see the stitches against the coloured wood. And it's difficult to find the small sizes in plain wooden circulars. I may have to get some metal needles for doing lace though as the points need to be sharper and I haven't seen any pointy needles that aren't metal. I shall stick to socks for now.

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