Not only did I fuck up my sock madness qualification this year and therefore did not need any of my newly ordered beads yet, ALSO I had to order MORE beads for a shawl yesterday because I only had the colour I wanted in size 8/0 and needed 6/0 (I tried, believe me, they were not that visible and it SUCKED to force them onto the yarn). And siz e 8/0 are quite a bit smaller than 6/0! So I had to order THREE TUBES instead of one. I will never be free.
The Sock Madness qualifying round has started a week ago and this is my entry!
The pattern is Newspaper Socks by Shuyi Wu. I am knitting in Opal 4-ply (dark green), Gruendl Family Sox (light green) and Lana Grossa Meilenweit 4-ply (orange). I have more done by now but not taken new pictures - I will remedy that some time soon!
Look, they are finished! (Have been since Sunday...)
Also: due to my brain doing a solid amount of gymnastics I misremembered the deadline by like a day and missed it. So. Uh. No further Sock Madness for me this year...
The Sock Madness qualifying round has started a week ago and this is my entry!
The pattern is Newspaper Socks by Shuyi Wu. I am knitting in Opal 4-ply (dark green), Gruendl Family Sox (light green) and Lana Grossa Meilenweit 4-ply (orange). I have more done by now but not taken new pictures - I will remedy that some time soon!
I don’t like specific lists of things to accomplish in a year so I don’t vibe with make9s or long term project planning BUT I do love checking off squares and marking off things I did so I’m trying bingo.
No specific patterns or designs, theoretically fiber craft agnostic, hopefully a good mix of being encouraged to try new things without being overly prescriptive about it.
Please play along if you’d like. Interpret the entries in whatever way makes this process most enjoyable for you.
Happy Yule, friends and not yet friends! Tis a season of joy and community. I hope it's treating you well.
A couple years ago I made a post with a compilation of tv-friendly sock knitting patterns and people loved it. It's mostly forgotten about these days but I was reflecting on it recently and came to a conclusion that I'd like to share another lil something with the knitters of Tumblr this year. While I unfortunately don't have a new pattern compilation, what I do have is a bunch of personal knowledge as someone who knits an above-average amount of socks.
For background, this is my 3rd year of sock knitting. I average a pair a week. I'm no expert - I have never, for example, knit a pair of stranded colorwork socks - but I'm definitely on the high end of intermediate. I hope that in sharing my tidbits of random advice and knowledge this can help other sock knitters, too.
So, yeah. Here's an assorted box of chocolates about (almost) all things sock knitting. In no particular order, lessons I've learned thus far (under a read more so it doesn't clog your feed)
You never have to carry a stitch pattern down the foot if you don't want to
Try new things, specifically needle type, heel construction, and toe up / cuff down. I cut my speed from 1 pair a month to 1 pair a week just through experimentation (and practice, of course)
Contradictorily, there's nothing wrong with adapting pattern stitch count / repeats to fit your preferred recipe/dimensions.
If you gift knit, keep a spreadsheet about it. Mine has my friends/family, their shoe size, rows needed to fit their foot, and any preferences they might have (ex, wool allergy or preferred sock height). I wish I'd thought to put a birthday column so I could organize it by who I need to knit for next through the year, but I just use my calendar for that.
Lazy color change weaving in the ends: knot new color in leaving ~6 in tail on each color. Knit tails with working yarn for 6 st. Knit 1 more stitch with whichever tail is longer, then knot the two ends together and trim the excess. Yes it shows. It's also secure as hell.
If you're using a CC for the toes of cuff down socks, change colors like 5 rows before you start decreases. Trust me
I like to cast on socks every Friday. That way even though I usually have 2 pairs of socks on the needles I know I'm finishing one pair a week.
Make a pattern spreadsheet of owned patterns. Include a column for what type of yarn would suit it best (solid, self striping, variegated) and another column for when you knit this pattern last. Use a number generator to pick your next project or go down the list.
Use a lazy susan bathroom organizer for manually striped socks
Yarn cozies are your friend!! They eat up all your awkward scraps and keep your yarn cakes intact
Buying a sock organizer for handknit socks is incredibly extra but it also keeps your dresser drawers from getting overrun with handknit socks
A handknit pair of socks will fit into a 4x6 organza bag pretty neatly. Buy a pack of bags for like $5 at your local craft store and never gift wrap a pair of socks again.
Addi Flexiflips label both 2.25mm and 2.5mm needles as US1. 2.25mm is 1 and 2.5mm is 1.5. For me that's the difference between casting on 64 st or 56 st.
Chiagoo cords are Like That bc they're magnetized. This means you can store them on magnet strips if you so desire.
CC heel yarn can be knitted in with itself for a knotless join. Also when you go back to your MC after knitting a heel, you can start that row from any point in the sock, rather than from where the CC ends.
Nylon/silk/polyamide blends make wool more durable than it would be on its own
Nonsuperwash wool can't go in the dryer and will get more snug over time. Superwash wool will get more loose over time and putting it in the dryer helps it maintain proper dimension.
Kitchener stitch doesn't need to be pulled super tight (I learned this the hard way)
You don't usually need to change cast on stitches for men/women. You do need to change cast on stitches for someone with wide feet (I do +4 st)
The Row Counter app is your friend. Import patterns directly from Ravelry, track your rows, draw on charts, annotate instructions, and more. It's delightful
Subscribe to the newsletters of your favorite pattern designers. Yes it's another email. But I haven't missed a pattern drop or bought a full price pattern since April.
Join the knitalongs while you're at it! They're fun and you can win stuff.
If you have a knitting group, consider doing a knitting pattern exchange for a secret Santa. It keeps the cost below $10 and is super fun
Ok, I think that's everything I've learned this year. There might be more, but I've now spent upwards of 3 hrs on this LOL. I hope you find at least some of these tips helpful.
Have a happy holiday and some joyful crafting time! Ok byeee
I am not as prolific in regards to sock output, but have knit a few pairs.
You can Kitchener stitch pretty loosely at first and then tighten up the stitches to your preference before weaving in the end.
If you like to experiment with new methods, learn a whole bunch and have the patience and drive, I recommend joining Sock Madness on ravelry! It's a group that holds a sort of knitting tournament every year, registration for the event is in the first half February.
Started stoneknits' shrimply the best socks recently and am playing the most yarn chicken game of my life ever. I THINK I will get two socks out of this, but only time will tell (since I didn't weight anything)!!
my sock drawer is currently being overrun (by both handknit socks & commercial socks) sooooo idk what my thought process was in deciding to do so right before supper, but i'm attempting to take stock of all my handknit socks. theyre all spread out but there's maybe 5 or so pairs out of frame
also, not all of these were in my sock drawer; some were in a cardboard box in my closet (the ones that I knit when I was a teen/just getting back into knitting)
some of the older pairs are too big, weird fiber choices - one pair is acrylic??? one has cotton cuffs & heels & toes??? A couple pairs felted... some pairs keep getting holes... so i need to figure out how i should get rid of those cuz tbh I am not going to continue wearing them. Will prob frog the too-big wool ones but the others, idk.
I put my commercial socks back into my sock drawer & my thought for my handknits is to find a plastic tub or something to keep those in but holy smokes this is fairly ridiculous
