Long live the king. That is sort of
how if feel about knitting projects. The Blue socks done.... Quick! Find some yarn and cast on, for socks again!
I decided to jump into making my
S-I-L's birthday socks—and give myself lots of time to complete
them (his birthday isn't till October).
First there was the yarn—I tend to
buy yarn 2 skeins at a time--(and yes, I prefer 50g skeins over 100g
ones) I have big feet, but I don't like my socks too tall, (never
again do I want to wear knee socks!) and I find, with many yarns, I
have 7 to 10g's left over from a 50g ball.. I have make striped socks out of 4 sets
of left over bits--(and I will do this again, I am sure).
Some 50g skeins I do use all up, and
sometimes (extremely rarely) if I use a cable or other pattern that
requires extra stitches for ease, I have even run out.
But MOST of the time, (90% or more) 2
50g skeins (or 1 100g skein) is more than enough for a pair of sock—for
me.
But this is not true for men's socks.
My S-I-L has big feet. He isn't fat, but he is a big man. Broad
shoulders—big hands.. big boned, big feet. . And to make socks for
him (mid calf height/8 to 10 inches of leg) I need 3 skeins. I've
have only knit him 1 pair of socks, and I did need 3 skeins, so
mentally, (if not in reality) I want to start out making sure I will
have enough yarn—and that means 3 skeins.
I don't have a big selection of yarn,
with 3 skeins skeins in a colorway. If I limit my selection to
solid, some what dark colors, the selection gets even smaller. And to
be honest—I have a very limited amount of very light colors in my
stash—so knitting him (or me!) a pair of lemon yellow socks is not
an option! Yellow trimmed, or patterned (stranded color work
patterning) YES, but yellow socks? No.
I think eventually, I will be able to
make socks for him in jacquard yarns—something with stripes or
stranded like designs, in blues (his favorite color) but I am
breaking him in, and for now, dull, drab, solid colors are order of
the day.
So with hundreds of skeins of sock
yarns available to me, I was limited in my choices.
I had some Lion Brand Sock Ease—in a
lovely Prussian blue(though they don't call it that!) , and in the
root beer brown—but I wasn't certain a single 100g skein was
enough. And then there is the yarn its self--
Sock yarn comes in a range of weights..
Best explained this way: some times 100g of sock yarn is almost 500
yards (480 or so yard), but other sock yarn? 100G is 350 or so
yards. There is a range, from super fine (almost lace weight) to
chunkier yarn—almost sports weight. When the yarn is spun finer,
you get more yards for the same weight.
I LOVE the lace weight like Sock Ease.
I slip down to a size 1 or even a size 0(zero) needle and still get
soft, drapy socks. I love Sock Ease for color work socks, too. The
super fine yarn knits up beautifully with out being too bulky-and my
feet still fit in my shoes comfortable. With over 400 yards in 100g,
it is a fine sock yarn
But, I am not interested in making over
sized sock on super fine needles—Call me self centered, or selfish,
or what ever, but... I want thicker yarn. Not worsted weight book
socks, but on the heavier end of sock yarns.
So I was left with 3 choices:
1—4 ply Kroy—In color flax, a drab
taupe color (330 yards per 100g)
2—4 ply Kroy –in a stripe of mixed
greys and charcoal
3—buying new yarn.
I went with choice 1. I have a full 4
skeins of this yarn. I don't think I will need more than 3—but its
nice to know I have plenty. Maybe next year it will be choice
2--(and as for choice 3, I have been vaguely on a yarn diet—but who
knows, maybe in 2 or 3 years, I will be back to buying sock yarn!)
My original plan, a few months ago,
was the stripe—I like stripes, simple ones and spiral
ones--(naturally jogless), and I LOVE using up a few partial skeins,
left over from other projects and getting “bonus socks”.
But I found a pretty pattern—a great
easy, pattern.. Called Hugo, from Stefanie Bold (find her as stebo79
on Ravelry) (her blog is in German, so I suggest
you check out her Ravelry profile!)
The patten is, at once, simple and
stylish. It's subtle--(and that often translates well into masculine)
and works best in a solid color. (She shows a striped version, but I
don't like it much).
The pattern is free, and it comes in 5
sizes—so it will fit most any one—skinny little ladies feet, or
gun boat feet like mine, or men's, small or large!
So I am started. I have cast on, and
started. I used a Open Closed Long Tail (aka the Estonian Long Tail)cast on, a cast on the is very suited, in my opinion, to 2 X 2
ribbing. I have just finished the 20 rounds of ribbing, put the
markers in place and I am ready to get started on this new pair of
socks.
At the same time, I am sorting through
my cotton—I do want some new potholders, and a new bath mat,
and....When I want a break from sock knitting, I want to have the cotton handy.
