Thursday, 27 July 2017

Slowed Down a Bit...

After my last burst of activity, I have slowed down a bit as I work on the penultimate round of my green doily.  This is another simple round of tiny rings connected with 8-8 chains.



🌿 🌸  🌿


And I finished another pair of socks.  These are "Ribbed Ribbon Socks" by Wendy Johnson, from her book "Socks from the Toe Up".  I really love working with Cascade Heritage sock wool, it's beautifully soft and a joy to knit with.  It's the second time I've used it but the first pair I gave away so I'm looking forward to wearing this one to see how the wool performs with wearing and washing.  The cascade sock wool has a fabulous range of colours so I'm already looking forward to knitting the next pair.  


They don't look like much in this "relaxed" state... and I nearly took them apart when I first started because I wasn't sure I liked them at all but I persevered and in the end, I think they're interesting looking... when worn!  I finished them off with my picot crochet cast-off which does look a bit frilly when unstretched (in above photo) but looks great when worn and is really stretchy and comfortable. I tried many different cast-offs for toe-up socks and this is my favourite at the moment.  I decided afterwards I should have carried on with the pattern a bit higher up the leg but never mind, it'll be for the next pair.


Best wishes,
Frivole

10 comments:

  1. It's so interesting how those socks morph from "nice enough" to "wow" when you put them on! Love the color! The JS is looking lovely!

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  2. 🦋Those are wonderful socks and lovely tatting too🦋

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  3. Beautiful doily and socks!!! :)

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  4. Absolutely beautiful work in both pieces. I *love* doing toe-up socks but haven't been too crazy about the cast offs I've tried. How do you think the picot crochet-cast off would work for baby socks?

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    1. Hi La Vonda, I think the picot cast-off would be perfect for baby socks! Because it's so stretchy, it will be easy to pull the socks onto those tiny wiggly feet! I've been meaning to make a video of it so I'll try to do that soon. But it's just basically crocheting the stitches off your needle as single crochets with a three-stitch picot every two stitches. Not sure if that makes sense?

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  5. Beautiful doily and colors.

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  6. Beautiful socks, love the pattern and colour
    Your doily is gorgeous looking forward to seeing it when finished

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  7. Great socks!! Love the color and pattern! All that matters is how the socks look and feel when they are on your feet!

    I've mentioned before that I like to start 'plain' socks (stockinette) above the ankle wih a provisional cast on, then work from the ankle down to the toe (I find it easier to decrease sts going down rather than increase sts going up). Then I pick up the cast-on stitches and and work 'up' in stockinette, so that I can control the length of the sock before starting ribbing, then can control the tension of the bind-off. However, with your textured pattern here, it's best to knit from the toe up!
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    I thought your picot idea when you first mentioned it was brilliant, and looks so much better than a plain cast-off. A video might help knitters overcome their fear of a crochet hook! (Of course, I am a crocheter, so it's easy for me.) Many knitters don't seem to realize that knitting is simply pulling a loop through a loop, just like in crochet. The 'mysterious' maneuvering of the knitting needles kind of hides that fact!

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    1. That's a good point Kathy! I hope to make a video of it soon. I started knitting toe-up socks relatively recently and personally, I'm a huge fan! Casting-on is not my favourite activity so only having to cast-on a small number of stitches for toe-up socks suits me. And I don't mind increasing rather than decreasing and then you get to knit the leg and cuff up as you like to do yourself. No wasting of yarn, you can keep going until your yarn runs out (especially if you're knitting both at the same time).

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