Challenge Socks #4: Sleeping Socks For C, No. 2

When last we met the fourth installment of My So-Called Sock Challenge (a.k.a. Sleeping Socks for C, No. 2), I was second-guessing my yarn choice. As you may recall, I'd completed the toes before I realized that I was working with a thick-thin yarn that might not be sock-comfy.

On the advice of Shannon and some of my off-line knit compadres, I stopped second-guessing myself and just plain went for it. A mere four days from start to finish, my fourth challenge socks -- made to fit a child size 4 (that's 8 inches long and only an inch shorter than my own size) -- came screaming off the needles:

I had decided to call the handspun, of which I had just shy of 185 yards, Poisoned Apple as a nod to the fact that this project had seemed like it would be such a simple, quick, no-brainer but then I was zapped -- surprised by the reminder that I'd used this yarn to experiment with inconsistent grist. The other thing about this yarn is that I don't have a clue whether the wool is superwash or not. I'd purchased the roving from A New Yarn shortly before the shop went out of business, and it had come in as a donation with no label.

Of course, once I got past my hesitation of whether to continue using the Poisoned Apple handspun for sock, they really were a speedy knit. I didn't analyze yarn weight, but it's probably somewhere between Aran and worsted in the thick areas and between fingering and DK in the thin ones.

I stuck with simple stockinette and let the handspun do its thing. Ironically, the major color shift happened the same place on both socks. The yellow and dark green variations all landed in the space from the toe to the heel, and the brighter greens landed from the heel to the cuff. They're fraternal yet matched in an interesting way.

You may have noticed already that I veered from my standard sock preferences and put in a short-row heel rather than my favored turned heel with gusset.

What persuaded me to do such a thing?!

A reality check: These socks are meant for sleeping in; they're not being worn inside shoes or even on a person who will be upright much of the time they're on. Moreover, I had no intention of spending a lot of time on these socks -- especially considering that fact that if they aren't superwash, they might not have been the best choice for a sleep sock -- and short-row heels knit up more quickly than the heel-flap/gusset variety. The double-wrapped diagonal line is super thick in some places, but it did work quite nicely.

Finished off with a simple 2 x 2 rib cuff at ankle length, they now make a nightly appearance on the Girlio's feet.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to soldier on!

Pattern: Mash-Up Magic Toe-Up Socks (designed by Zhenya Lavy)
Materials: Poisoned Apple Thick-Thin Handspun, 183 yds, spun at my Mom's house in Ohio
Skein 1, 93 yds, spun and plied on my sister's Ashford Traditional, 1/27-28/10
Skein 2, 90 yds, spun on my sister's wheel and plied on my Spencer Parasol dropspindle, 1/29/10
Needles: US 4 / 3.5 mm
Gauge: 5 st/in
Primary Stitch Count: 36
Started: February 2, 2011
Completed: February 5, 2011

Challenge Socks #1: Marshland / A Bit Of A Rant About Pooling

Warning: I'm opinionated about pooling in yarn. Although I don't normally get crabby in my blog, I do in this one. If you just want to know about the socks, skip way down to "About The Socks."

On January 1 of last year, my sister, mother, and I went in together on a rather large purchase of sock yarns from DBNY. The girls at DBNY were hosting the 10th Annual Cherry Tree Hill Yarn January Sale and with free shipping on orders over $100, what better time to stock up? I picked up the usual Cherry Tree Hill deals found at DBNY and also tried some stuff from Indie Dyer and even-newer-comers Ivy Brambles and 2DI4 (a hand-dyed co-op). I won't go into all the inter-relatedness of the dyers and the retailers. Suffice it to say they're all related by blood or by virtue of having been trained/mentored by Cheryl of Cherry Tree Hill.

2DI4's Marshlands Duo colorway had seemed so promising. If you look really closely at the sock below, you'll see that it really does contain a lovely array of color:

When you take a wide view, though, less-than-desireable results in the yarn practically scream at you. For example, there's a dominant color split almost exactly dividing the top from the bottom of the foot. See how the green's on top and the brown's below?

It's only a problem on the foot; the leg looks lovely. The foot and leg are the same stitch count. The only difference is that I didn't do decorative stitch on the bottom.

Here's another aspect of the same problem:

Looking from the top you see that the sock on the left has a big swooping S-shape in brown; on the right is the same swooping S-shape, this time in green/yellow.

Ugh!

Pooling is unsightly and displeases me. It's the aesthetic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard. When the same shape of pooling appears in two different colors within the same hank of yarn, I question not only the dyers' sophistication and attentiveness but also their very goal. Are they serious about making a quality product? It seems to me that unless a dyer is deliberately aiming for a self-striping effect, a clearly repeated pattern of color, or long color changes, pooling of the kind seen above just plain shouldn't happen. Period.

It doesn't matter how beautiful the color combinations are -- and this color combination is quite pretty -- if the end results look like lazy hack work. This is what you get from simplistic space dyeing techniques -- the kind of stuff anyone can shlop together in their kitchen. It's not artistry, it's mindless pouring that lends itself well to what has, perhaps, become its own genre of fiber dyeing: mass small batch production (lay out 4 hanks, pour color A "here," pour color B "here," etc.).  The reality of that laziness is disguised when the yarn is re-skeined (often at a slightly different swift diameter), so buyers can't tell what they're really getting.

The whole "one-of-a-kind colorway," "done in small batches," "never to be repeated" exclusivity rhetoric is great when the product is great. (Think about Koigu PPPM: That's artistry... colorwork of the highest order.) But this product isn't great. The reason it can't be repeated has less to do with the dyeing process or any artistic inspiration than with the technical mixing of the colors.

It may be hand-made, but I'm not convinced it earns the descriptor "hand-crafted." It's priced more in line with the boutique yarns. (The $15.99 I paid for my 100g was a sale price.) For me, it's either a step just above or a step just below early incarnations of commercially produced variegation.


If you've been following my blog, you know that this isn't the first time I've mentioned my disappointment over pooling. 2DI4 is my example of-the-moment and certainly not alone in such criticism. Perhaps it's the rest of their PR that exacerbated my frustration:

From the 2DI4 PR: "'2DI4 Duo' starts as one 450 yard hank of yarn. Then it is divided in half and tied together with a gift tag. This enables the knitter to knit both socks, mittens, or gloves at once as desired while also ensuring that each pair will look similar and that one sock, mitten or glove can be knit from one duo. Plus, it allows for convenient portability." 

Fancy language for "dyed in 100g hanks and split at the shop so sock knitters don't have to do it at home." As for "convenient portability," doesn't that come with the territory of small yardage? It's not like they wind it into center-pull balls. The description is so over-thought as to be almost insulting to the intelligence of the knitters they seek to woo.

Thus endeth the rant. I have one final comment to make on the performance of this yarn within the sock description, but I promise not to go on at-length! 

About The Socks

Pattern: Mash-Up Magic Toe-Up Socks (MUMTUS) by Zhenya Lavy

Decorative Stitch: Lace Rib Stitch

Started: December 5, 2010

Completed: December 25, 2010

Materials: 2DI4 Duo, Marshlands colorway, 2 skeins (450 yards), 80/20 superwash wool/nylon

Needles: US 2 / 2.75 mm

Primary Stitch Count: 68

Gauge in Stockinette: 8.5 st/in

These socks are for my sister and will be sent to NOLA shortly. I hadn't set out to knit them for Beth, originally. I even wore them twice myself already. But when I washed and reblocked them, I looked at them on the sock blockers and realized that these socks practically screamed at me to send them to her. They look as if they were made for her -- and because the decorative stitch pattern is so forgiving, I'm pretty sure they'll fit her, too.

The decorative stitch, which starts at the toe, is the Lace Rib Stitch. I like it and will definitely use it again! As with the Mock Cable from my handspun, handknit socks, it's a simple 4-row repeat (multiple of 6 + 2, make sure to swatch for gauge/fit):


1 & 3 (WS): *P2, K1* repeat; end P2
2: *K2, P1, YO, SSK, P1* repeat; end K2
4: *K2, P1, K2tog, YO, P1* repeat; end K2

I love the serpentine effect of the line between the major ribs!

To finish off, I used Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, which has become my first-choice bind-off for toe-up socks. I like to shoot pictures of the top edge because this particular bind-off follows the line of the stitches you're binding off -- which means it always looks different. With these socks, I shifted from the decorative stitch to a simple 2x2 rib for the last 3/4 inch.

As I mentioned, I did wear these socks twice before the first wash. I thought you'd be interested in seeing how the yarn has performed so far:

See how the heel is fuzzy and lacking stitch definition? That's not a depth-of-focus issue, it's the yarn. I was shocked! This, after just two wearings, is worse than most of my handknit socks look after six months. Fortunately, the heels are reinforced with my favorite, Russian reinforcing wool -- and that yarn is still in fine shape, it's the 2DI4 that's fuzzing out around it. So for performance, too, I have to call this another strike for 2DI4.

My sister and I had a long chat about these socks. She knows my frustration with the yarn. She's also really excited that she's being gifted a handknit pair. As I've mentioned before, she's usually the one gifting to everyone else. 

Next time she gets a pair from me, I'll have set out with her in mind from the beginning. I feel bad for having missed out on that wonderful experience when I'm knitting something for someone else of spending the duration of the project thinking about that person, imagining how much enjoyment s/he'll get out of the gift, envisioning her/him wearing the gift, imbuing every stitch with love.

Short Row Heels Have A Place...

... and apparently that place is on any and all socks knit for my mother's feet.

Until this winter, I hadn't knit a short-row heel for at least 4 years. I understand the economies of time involved in short-row versus heel-flap socks. I just don't understand why anyone devoting their time to making hand-knit socks would want to put their creative efforts into a machine-style heel, especially when heel flaps have such luxurious extra cushion and the variations of beautiful stitches and stitch combinations in the heel-flap/gusset construction are so much more aesthetically pleasing.

My mother presented a convincing reason: short-row heels stay on her feet better. Post stroke, her right foot has been largely numb and doesn't function as it did before. The change to her foot is not only functional, it's also visible. It looks rounder and less toned -- almost in the same way as a baby or toddler's foot.

One of the things I prize most about hand-knit socks is their customized and, therefore, more comfortable fit. Given my mother's needs, I had no choice but to set aside my personal aesthetic and kinesthetic feelings about sock heels... and I did so happily.

Mom provided the yarn from her stash. Last year my sister and I had added up all the yarn Mom's collected in the last four years or so since she started knitting again, calculated it by the amount of time it takes her to complete a pair of socks, and determined that she could knit for 15 years solid before depleting her stash. Something had to be done!

So before her winter visit this year, I offered to knit up some socks for her from her stash yarn. I asked her to bring some from the lighter fingering weight options, figuring this would reduce her burden even greater because I would not only reduce stash stress but also take on a greater number of total gauge stitches per inch required by her stash choices. I'd rather leave her with yarn that works up more quickly with fewer stitches per inch rather than yarn that knits up at a gauge of 7.5 stitches/inch or greater. If she were working 9 stitches/inch, I think it would take her 18 months or more to complete a single pair!

We spent a good amount of time contemplating stitch patterns. She wanted a pretty, all-over pattern that hugs her foot and leg. It's also important to her that the socks keep her feet warmer and not be too airy. We ruled out lace or slip-stitch patterns. And based upon the yarn she had brought, I also ruled out cables. We settled on the lovely little twin rib stitch, which I placed on the leg and top of the foot.

The socks worked up quickly, and not only because she prefers a 7-inch leg height (as compared to my preference for a 9- or 10-inch leg height on my own socks). The twin rib is a very simple, 2-row, 6-stitch pattern that flows easily over the needles -- and the yarn flowed equally easily. I spent just a week on them, knitting only a couple hours each evening.

Ironically, my efforts made it possible for her to add another new sock yarn to her stash during her visit -- a gorgeous single-ply wool hand-dyed by Lollipop Cabin, a local dyer in Snohomish. How could I refuse her? She also added another skein to her stash for a pair of fingerless mitts like the ones I knit several years ago.

Not to be accused of moving her one step forward just to let her take two steps back, I've now taken on the project of knitting up the fingerless mitts for her before she leaves Thursday morning.

I've also spent the last week working to teach her how to knit short-row heels. She's determined to be able to do this herself rather than rely on me or my sister to work the heels. It took us 5 days to get her through the first heel -- and I'm pretty sure I unknit more stitches than she knit -- but she finally did it! And she's made good progress on the second heel all by herself, with no help from me other than to confirm that she's on the right track.

How wonderful for her! (And I can return to my personal heel-flap/gusset bliss.)

Project: Twin Rib Holiday 2011 Socks for Mom

Pattern: Mash-Up Magic Toe-Up Socks (pattern by me). Freely available here on Aesthetic Entanglementz (in pictorial or conventional pattern forms) or on Ravelry.

Primary Stitch Count 64. Modified for short-row heel.

Started: December 26, 2010

Completed: January 1, 2011

Materials: Regia Bamboo Color, 2 skeins, colorway 1065 (pink variegated)

Needles: US 2 - 2.75 mm

Accidental Bunny

It's a boy!

Friends of ours had a baby last April. I've been a little overdue on finishing his knitted gift, but I finally wrapped it up on December 23 and gave it to him Christmas Eve.

Pattern: Baby Brofsky's Baby Bunny, a shop pattern from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas

(not available online)

Started: Fall 2009 by my then 9-year-old daughter

Progress: Knitting completed by me in Spring 2010

Completed: December 23, 2010

Gifted: December 24, 2010

Materials: Rowan Handknit Cotton, shade 327

Needles: US 4 - 3.5 mm

I'm a sucker for the view from behind!

In all honesty, I never had any intention of even buying this bunny pattern and yarn, let alone knitting it myself. On a trip to Churchmouse Yarns & Teas on Bainbridge Island last fall, my daughter blackmailed me (with promises of good behavior) into purchasing the yarn and pattern. She assured me she would knit the project to completion, and for some reason -- despite the fact that she has never ever completed one single knitting project -- I caved.

She got through the head and about to the neck on one side (the back side) before she got distracted. Poor little bunny lingered, unfinished, until spring. When the neighbors' little guy came along, I knew just the thing to give him! I finished the knitting on an afternoon drive to the Tenino Vintage Motorcycle Rally with my family... and then with our move and the progress towards adopting a little guy of our own, I, too, got distracted and bunny lingered longer.

Call it shame, embarrassment, desperation -- I finally finished so I could make the bunny a present to Wes (now 8 months old) on Christmas Eve.

Wes's response? Put the bunny in his mouth. He likes it!

I like it, too. Although I have to admit being less than fond of knitting with cotton. I miss the sproinginess of wool.

The pictures were shot hastily before we rushed off to the Christmas Eve party, and I'm afraid they betray that hastiness in their quality. Bummer!

I would have made a second bunny for our own new little guy here. Sadly, the pattern uses just a little more than half the skein of Rowan. I won't be able to eek out anther bunny at full-size, but perhaps I'll take a chance on reducing the pattern a little bit.

Nicety From NOLA

When my sister flew up from New Orleans last May to help my family move, she brought a surprise:

This sweet little sock project bag actually was created not by my sister but by her friend, Terri. I love it!

Terri, who had only just recently learned how to sew, designed the pattern. It features a carrying handle, a zipper, and grommets at the top...

... and bottom. It's also fully lined!

I think her fabric selection is just lovely. Check out the sunny lining peeking through!

To what did I owe this unexpected generosity from afar? A few years back, I had let Terri purchase from my stash some yarn she needed to make the Tulip Purse. And, of course, we're friends on Ravelry, where we have chatted on a few occasions. But the biggest connection is my sister and their friendship (which has included many, many hours in knitting circles and several knitting travel escapades). It's always interesting to be reminded of the many ways knitting unites us.

I've long wanted to blog about this gift, but hadn't really been anywhere much near my knitting since the move and so had left it unannounced. With Christmas yesterday, I was reminded to give thanks for this very special and now-beloved gift. It's happily stuffed with a sock project right now.

Thank you, Terri, and many blessings to you for the New Year!

Long Overdue

I started a pair of socks for C back in August. She selected the yarn while my mother was here visiting in the days following her Alaskan cruise adventure. I cast on and knit the foot during the PRIDE training courses for our foster-adopt licensing.


But there was a strange flaw in the yarn that I thought I might be able to fix without cutting. I was wrong. I didn't want to cut the yarn, though, so the socks languished while I convinced myself I might find another way.

C got this for Christmas instead:

(She's actually much more excited than it looks in the picture!)

By this time, my mom was visiting again! And so on Christmas Day, after all the presents had been opened, with the guilt hanging heavy over my head, I finally gave in, cut the knot from the yarn, and got back to the business of finishing those socks.

But we had a trip to Orcas Island planned. If you're anything like me, the night before you travel you do anything and everything but sleep. Among my activities that evening was not finishing C's socks. Instead, I made this:


My Grandma Catherine's legendary apple pie, passed down to her by I don't recall how many generations! It was truly a spectacular iteration of the pie, started at 4:00 am and pulled fresh from the oven just before 5:25. That's 5:25 AM!

Perhaps aroused by the aroma coming from the kitchen, the rest of the family eventually woke up, and we headed off to the island -- finished pie and unfinished socks in-tow.

We enjoyed a lovely, long ferry ride.



And finally, sometime shortly after our arrival on Orcas Island, C got her long over-due handknit Christmas present from Mommy!

(And you've finally gotten this long overdue Christmas gift post!)

Bad Woman, Good Woman, Snow Woman!

What's that?
Over there... in the mailbox... do you see it?!
It looks like—why yes, it is:
Another present from Santa!!!

Good Mamma's Bad Woman Wrap

This was a holiday stealth project, so all has been hush. Unfortunately, the lousy weather prevented me from getting it mailed in time for Christmas. The snow on our street finally cleared enough that we were able to leave the house Sunday after 10 days of snowed-in confinement. Whew! So I was finally able to mail the last of my Christmas presents off to their recipients and can gleefully say, "It's in the mail!"


It's for my mom, who doesn't have internet access at her home and only just saw the version I made for myself on my blog about two weeks ago. She's been bugging my sister to get the pattern from me and go buy yarn ever since. Little did she know...


I think she'll like it! I sent my sister yarn and the pattern to make one for herself. I had the best of intentions, but with the new job just couldn't get the second one knit up.

Pattern: Bad Woman Wrap by Lee Burrow (Shop Pattern available at Bad Woman Yarn)
Materials: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, 3 skeins (645 yards), in colorway 6287 Denim Mix (I think—it's either that or 6288 Blueberry mix. I'll edit this when I locate the skein tags.)
Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Started: August 13, 2008
Completed: December 19, 2008
Previously Blogged Version: Bad Woman Wrap, Helluva Gal, and 2008 LYS Tour

As for the Snow Woman, check this out!


That's a fantabulous Snow Woman and Snow Cat made December 26 by my darling daughter, the Divine Miss Catherine (in a hat my sister sent her for Christmas)...

... and her artistic and ingenious father (in a hat he knit himself last year).

You can guess who did the lion's share of the work.

They're even cute from behind!


I have an amazing family. I am so lucky!

Crossed The Finish Line!

The stealth project is done. I twined my last twine, criss-crossed my last criss, around 1am last night. Stayed up later than usual so I could have the pleasure of waking up to a neat, FO this morning!


Pattern: Basic Twined Hat by Lisa Ellis (available via Ravelry or see retailer links here).
Started: May 1, 2008
Completed: May 22, 2008
Materials: Crystal Palace Yarns' Taos in Cochineal colorway. Just 1 skein! (128 yds)
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm (16" circ and DPN)

What's not to love? I know it doesn't look fancy from the outside, but this was one heck of a knit, and the thick, lofty, wonderful fabric more than makes up for the extra time spent on every single stitch!

Although I found the Taos frustrating during the knitting, I'm so pleased with the finished results that I'll happily forget those pains.

Since I've blogged about this little hat before, here and here, I don't have much more to say about it now.

It's tough to photograph the colors, so apologies in advance for the image below (the colors in the image at top are accurate). I just had to take one more look at the awesome edge produced by the twined ribbing.


It's a gift for my friend's birthday, which isn't for a couple of weeks yet. She'll never expect a winter hat in June! Hey — that kind of craziness is what knitting friends are for!

C has asked me to make her a hat just like it. On further clarification, she indicated that her primary interest is in the yarn. I'll probably do some kind of variation on this hat for her. Maybe experiment with different possibilities opened up by the twining technique to design my own twined hat.

Christmas Again: Pumpkin Koolhaas Redux

My sister sent pictures of the Koolhaas I made her for Christmas! She's been making wonderful gifts for everyone else for years — even when there's not really an occasion other than that she loves us. Back in December, when we talked about the Koolhaas hat and she mentioned how much she wanted one, I decided to make it for her for Christmas.


Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood
Started: December 14, 2007
Completed: December 17, 2007
Materials: Peace Fleece Worsted in Glastnost Gold
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm; US 8 / 5.0 mm

B adores all the colors of fall, so I knew the yarn would be in the autumn color range. I looked forward to an opportunity to work with colors outside my normal color scheme. I had just finished the J's Pumpkin Koolhaas, so I figured I'd keep B's out of the orange colorway. I knew from my conversation with her, though, that she was interested in something tweedy like I'd done for J. Peace Fleece had been on my mind since the planning stages of J's Urban Aran. I knew it would be great for this hat.

So off I went to my LYS, all but flinging myself towards the Peace Fleece. Fortunately, I had cell phone in-hand. As I perused the stacks and contemplated the options — and found myself holding tweeds in lovely reds and greens (colors I do usually work with) — I realized I needed to get B on the phone and talk through the fiber selection with her. Just hearing her voice got me right back on track with my thinking: "This is a gift for my sister. Her favorite color in the world is orange. Of course her hat should be orange."

Peace Fleece is quite dense in this pattern. (Read: Will get you through the deepest freeze.) I like the way the cabling nestles in to the fabric rather than popping way out on top. It’s a very different look that I find really beautiful – and the hat looks better on people (like me) who have fuller faces and, therefore, can’t pull off skullies in lighter weights.


It’s a little hard to tell from the online screed res, but this is a beautiful, subtle tweed, with red, yellow, and teal/green in the little nubbins.

I got better gauge with this than the Tahki Donegal I used on J’s. It didn't turn out as long as his. No need to roll the brim.

Note that I had quite a bit of yarn left over. I purchased one skein and still have about 50g left!

In the end, I'm so glad I went with the orange! My fears that two orange projects in a row would get boring were unfounded. The Peace Fleece and the Tahki Donegal used on J's hat are so different that I found myself fascinated with the nuances of difference between the two and was actually glad to have done one right after the other.

Best of all, B says she loves it and, occasionally, even has opportunity to wear this woolly wonder in New Orleans.

I enjoyed working with the orange so much that I went and got myself a skein of orange sock yarn and look forward to knitting it up!