Magic Potion Socks

MAGIC POTION SOCKS

Just a quick post to show you my latest socks.  This is really fun yarn by Opal.  The yarn color way is called “Zaubertrank” which translates to “Magic Potion”.  Opal seems to come up with themes for their lines of yarn and then the color way names fit into that theme.  The theme for this line of yarns is “Fairytale”.  My friend Belinda also bought some Opal Fairytale yarn and her yarn color way is called “Elfenlachen” which translates to something like “Laughing Elf”.  See, all that German I took in High School and College is really paying off.  

The pattern I used for this sock is Fruit Strip Gum Socks.  I think this pattern was a fun choice for this yarn.  When you compare the leg of the sock (which is knit in the spiraling rib pattern) to the foot of the sock (which is just knit in stockinette) you can see how different this yarn looks when knit in the fruit strip gum pattern vs. plain old stockinette. Of course this yarn would also look great if just knit up socks in plain old stockinette.  

Here are a few more photos to show you these socks.

I mailed these socks to my good friend Tracy W.  She loves anything Harry Potter and she loves purple.  Since the yarn is called “Magic Potion”, I was reminded me of Harry Potter and I thought Tracy would love these socks too.  

Heel Toe Do Si Do Socks

Heel Toe Do Si Do Socks

Another pair of socks... hot off the needles! 

This yarn is great. I got it at my local yarn shop, Yarned & Dangerous in Canon City, Colorado. The yarn is called “Uneek” by Urth Yarn. The yarn is self-striping as you can see and comes as a “kit” which contains two pre-wound identical cakes.  I knit my socks from the cuff down and I opted to pull my yarn from the center of the cakes since I liked the colors of the yarn I saw there.  Of course you could opt to pull the yarn from the outside of the ball if you prefer.  

The pattern I used is called “Heel Toe Do Si Do” and is available for purchase on Ravelry.  

Here is a link:

 https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heel-toe-do-si-do

I can’t recall what sort of heel the Heel Toe Do Si Do pattern calls for. I opted to work my favorite heel which is called a “Fish Lips Kiss Heel”.  Some time ago I got a great idea; I wish I could recall where I read it.  

As you may have noticed, sometimes I make obsessively matchy-matchy socks and sometimes I go to great lengths to accomplish this.  Basically what I read suggested that when you work your heels of your socks, use the strand of yarn from the opposite end of the yarn.  More specifically, in these socks, I was knitting the socks from the cuff down, pulling the yarn from the center of the cake of yarn. When it came time to work the heel, I grabbed the yarn from the outside of the cake of yarn. When I was done working the heel, I resumed knitting with the yarn from the center of the cake of yarn.  I never cut the yarn coming the center of the cake.  It was just on hold while I worked the heel. I hope that makes sense.   

This one last photo shows you this sock design a bit better. It is interesting to me because the chevron stripes are just on the front side of the leg and the top side of the foot.  I really enjoyed knitting this pattern and I LOVED knitting with the Urth Uneek yarn.  It is very soft and squishy.  

I Knit a Butterfly...

Butterfly Cowl

This is a pattern by Marin Melchior and it’s called “Butterfly Cowl”.  It is a rather small cowl that I would call bandana or kerchief shaped.  The cowl is primarily knit back and forth on a long circular needle, but as the project is nearing completion, you join to work in the round (see photos).  It’s fun to check out the completed Butterfly Cowl on Ravelry to see the great yarn and color combinations other folks have chosen.  My color choices definitely remind me of a Monarch butterfly.  

You can find the pattern at the link below:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/butterfly-cowl-11

Some folks might feel that this pattern is kind of expensive but when you see how well done and how well written the pattern is, you will understand all the hard work and creativity that went to this design.

This same designer has a larger shawl in a similar design called “Butterfly / Papillon” and it is stunning.  You can find that pattern here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/butterfly--papillon

I think the designer notes that if you are not sure if you will like knitting the larger shawl, you might first wish to try out the smaller Butterfly Cowl design to see how you enjoy the technique (Short Rows and Wrapping and Turning).  Well, I definitely liked the technique and I definitely plan to make the larger Butterfly / Papillon in the future.  

The multi-colored yarn I used in this project is called Jojoland Melody Superwash.  The black yarn, leftover from another project, is from Canon Hand Dyed Yarns.

More Socks for Ron

More Socks for Ron

My gosh. Can you handle yet another post about socks?  I think I have made nine pairs of socks during the 2020 Pandemic.  I have lost count.  During the first part of the Pandemic when my local yarn shop was closed, I did make a number of pairs of socks with scrap yarn or yarn I had on hand. When my local yarn shop was able to open up again, I went down to the shop and bought a number of skeins of sock yarn.  

My favorite yarn shop, Yarned and Dangerous (Canon City, Colorado), has been carrying yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners (WYS) for awhile now but this is the first time I used it. I like it. The color way is called “Kingfisher” (Signature 4-ply Self Striping).

When I initially cast on this yarn, I was intending to make socks for myself. Not that I needed any more socks for myself though.  Ron saw the socks and for some reason the orange yarn at the very top of the cuff really caught his eye. He said he liked the yarn/socks for himself.  Great! I like that kind of input!  I ripped out what I had done and cast on the socks again with 72 stitches so they would fit him.

I just knit plain old socks and once again used my favorite heel (Fish Lips Kiss Heel).  

Ron tried on the socks and they are a good fit. It’s nearly hitting nearly 100 degrees F everyday in Southern Colorado this week, so these socks won’t be getting worn out anytime soon.  

Socks for Sylvia

Socks for Sylvia

Sylvia is my son’s girlfriend. I love her just like a daughter. I love having her as part of our family.  

This cheerful yarn reminded me of her.  Plus she likes orange.

The yarn is pictured above. I am a sucker for anything with smiley faces on it.

The pattern I used for these socks is called “Swirl E. Socks”. It’s a fun pattern to do and gives the sock a bit of texture.  The pattern, I believe, calls for a traditional heel flap and gusset, but I worked a “Fish Lips Kiss Heel” in the sock. I just like to do that heel. I have it memorized, I don’t really have to count anything, and I don’t have to pick up any stitches.  The Swirl E. Sock patterN is free and you can find the link here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/swirl-e-socks

You can find the pattern for the Fish Lips Kiss Heel on Ravelry here (It’s a $1.00 pattern and it’s incredibly well written... totally worth the purchase in my opinion):

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fish-lips-kiss-heel

Ta-dah!  All done. I love how they turned out. Sylvia has some tiny feet. She says the fit is perfect and she looks forward to wearing them when it’s not so hot out.  We are having a heat wave in Colorado this week.  Good weather for sock knitting; not good weather for sock wearing.

Socks for Carrie

Socks for Carrie

I made these socks for my sister, Carrie. I still need to mail them to her. Shhh! It’s a surprise.

The yarn is Full Moon BFL Sock Yarn and is hand dyed by an awesome Colorado lady.  Her yarn shop is called Hummingbirdmoon Yarn.  She likes witchy things.  This yarn’s color way is called “Eye of Newt”.

My computer is not cooperating with me.  I am adding photos chronologically but the computer is jumbling the photos up.  You can see in some photos that the yarn is pooling in a really haphazard way.  I was having trouble knitting tightly enough with some of my sock needles.  When I knit loosely, the yarn pooled. When I switched to different needles and about 4 stitches less per round, the yarn striped instead of pooled.  Amazing.  

For these socks, I just knit plain socks with k2p2 ribbing. The heel is a Fish Lips Kiss Heel.                    

Tube Socks for Ron

Tube Socks for Ron

I made these socks for my husband but in the photo above, I am trying the socks on myself.

Wow, I am really behind in blog posts. I’ve been knitting socks like mad during the Pandemic.  Here is a pair of tube socks I made for my husband. I’ve had this yarn for many, many years.  

I had a hard time getting good photos of these socks.  

The yarn is Schoppel Wool and it came packaged like this.  You might be able to see it in the photo... it’s two separate disks of yarn that were dyed side by side to be identical.  I am you can see in the photos that one of my disks of yarn is bright while the other is quiet muddy.  Oh well.  These socks are tube socks. I improvised the pattern. There is no heel in tube socks and the toe is decreased like the top of a stocking hat so you can put these socks on any which way you like.  Tube socks with no heels are a great gift to make for others when you don’t want to worry about the size being just right.

Snap Hat No. 6

Snap Hat 

Number 6

Snap Hat is a pattern I bought about a year ago.  I paid a few bucks for the pattern but have definitely gotten my money’s worth out of the pattern. I’ve made six Snap Hat’s so far.  This is a great pattern for using up leftover bits of socks yarn. The pattern gives great information about how you can hold multiple strands of yarn together to create a bulkier yarn and quickly knit up a hat on larger needles.  Many of my Snap Hats were knit using four strands of sock weight yarn. For the hat above, I used one strand of worsted weight yarn in gray and two strands of sock weight yarn in navy blue.  My husband has been wearing the hat on our daily morning walks and he really likes it. That makes me happy.  I don’t usually bring my camera on our walks so I took this photo from across the living room when he tried it on for the first time.  

At the very top of this post you’ll see a photo of my IPad.  I have been participating in some ZOOM conferences while we are staying at home during the pandemic.  I had never heard of ZOOM before.  If you are not familiar with it, it’s like a teleconference over an electronic device and you can see the participants and you can all talk together.  ZOOM is the name of the app that you download on your electronic device to participate in the ZOOM conference calls.  On Saturdays, I’ve been chatting with knitters I met at a retreat in the San Juan Islands about six months ago.  On Sundays, I’ve been attending some on line Vegan Cooking Classes. Fun!

Here is my husband wearing his hat.

The gray yarn is Abundant Earth Fibers “Aviary” in worsted weight that I purchased at my knitting retreat in the San Juan Islands.  Here is a link to the Abundant Earth Fibers website.  I’d love to visit their shop in person; it looks like an amazing place:

https://abundantearthfiber.com/

The blue yarn is Knit Picks “Stroll” sock weight yarn from my mom’s stash of yarn. Thanks, Mom!

Tweed Socks

Lots of knitting going on at my house.  I bought this Regia Tweed 6-ply Sock Yarn awhile back. I contemplated making this into lots of different things but more socks for my husband seemed like a good idea.  I was watching a sock knitting class on “Bluprint” with instructor Lucy Neatby and I thought the pattern called “Smocked Guernsey Socks” might be nice in this yarn. I also considered a pattern called “Simple Skyp Socks”.  Both patterns are FREE; I’ll link to these patterns below.  

I cast on my husband’s socks with 72 stitches with 2.75 mm needles.  I did some ribbing and then I did a purl round.  I decided to try out out the special stitch in the Skyp socks and I found that way to slow and tedious.  I decided to make my socks ribbed socks with knit 6, purl 2 ribbing.  Just for kicks, I decided to purl a round after 10 rounds of the ribbing.  I think this resulted in a fun knit with a nice look. I will do this again.  For this heel, I used the Fish Lips Kiss Heel with is my current favorite heel (I have it memorized so that’s always nice).  

Smocked Guernsey Socks pattern here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/smocked-guernsey-socks

Simple Skyp Socks pattern here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-skyp-socks

Also, here is the Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern; there is a small fee for this pattern but it’s well worth it (like I said... it’s my favorite sock heel to knit):

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fish-lips-kiss-heel

Here are some photos of the socks in various stages of completion.  As you can see, there is ALWAYS a dog or two in close proximity when I snap a photo of my knitting.  Our Labradoodles think the current Covid-19 Pandemic and Colorado Stay-at-Home Order are just fantastic!

Socks and one dog (Brutus) above).

Socks and two dogs below (Brutus next to me and Sandy balanced on top of my legs). 

Below... all done!

I love the colorful flecks in this Regia Tweed yarn.

Ta-dah!  All done. Warm and cozy feet.  We are expecting a few inches of snow later today.  Husband is enjoying the hand knit socks.

In The Pink

My friend, Harriet, game me some yarn recently.  Thank you, Harriet!  She did not have a specific use for the yarn and she asked if I’d like to knit it up.  My pleasure!  This is Berroco Comfort DK yarn in the “Kitten” color way.  I made up a bunny using a pattern called “Bonbon”.  This is Bonbon Bunny #5 for me. I love this pattern.

Here is the pattern link:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bonbon-13

I decided this yarn would also look great in a cap.  In the past, I have made lots of chemo caps using Berroco Comfort DK yarn.  It’s an easy care yarn and it’s nice and soft.  Here is the hat knit up in a pattern called “Alternating Cables Cap”.  This is my own design.  

You can find the pattern link here:

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alternating-cables-cap

I am really enjoying my knitting over the past few weeks while we have been spending so much time at home due to the pandemic. I am finding that I am doing a better job of casting on and sticking with a project until completion.  I still have MANY unfinished objects/works in progress.