Saffron Knitworks

Finished socks....three pairs

Ok a mosiac of pics because I'm too lazy to do individual post for all of these socks. The grey are the baby cable socks I started a lifetime ago and the brown lace are from another life as well. Remember all of those socks that I needed to kitchner stitch the toes but procrastination took over. Yes, these are some of those and still more to come. You can get more info on all three pair at saffrondyeworks at Ravelry. 

Ann knitting and Ripping.....what else.....socks!

I stopped by my friends house yesterday to play. She is currently working on 2 pairs of socks. She's trying the toe up method or should I say methods because no one pattern as everything she likes. A figure 8 cast on to start or should it be the Turkish cast on etc. We are both in that experimental mode that is so fun and you never get bored. I was thinking about this on the drive home. This is why sock knitting is so addictive to people. The project is small but it can be big on technique. You can pack a lot into one pair of little socks. The variations are endless and since the item is so small it is not the end of the world to pull something out and try something else.

Telling this to Ann yesterday right before I was leaving would probably not have been the best idea because she had just discovered that the second sock was longer than the first and she had just finished the heel with short rows a second time because she didn't like the results she got the first time. So I thought why not go back to the toe cut it open!!!! Yes I said CUT IT OPEN, HOLY COW. Rip it back to get rid of the extra length and then redo the toe instead of having to do the heel with short rows AGAIN! The look on her face was not good let me tell you. But then we got into this discussion about ripping it out from the opposite direction and how that could be a pain because the yarn will not unravel as easily. She pointed this out to me in print from "Simple Socks Plain and Fancy" Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. I said, REALLY. So I thought about and it's true ripping from the opposite direction from which you knitted can be a pain. I googled it and some people have just cut the piece where they need to and picked  up and moved on that way but then there is the question of yarn. WILL YOU HAVE ENOUGH? In this case I don't think she will. So she is currently thinking about it. Will she rip out the heel and knit a third time or say screw it and live with the one sock being about 1/2" longer than the other. Of course this is just about fit. Will it be too bunched up in her shoe at her toes. I personally hate that.
It reminds me of being a kid and never having enough socks and having to wear my brothers which were too big. Yes, that is the true reason that I knit socks I have a childhood phobia because I never had socks. Sad isn't it. So what will Ann do? I'll keep you posted....."As the heel turns" could not help myself I'm shameless. Ha! Ha! Will she rip or not? My bet is she will rip that @%$#* heel one more time. 

So let's show the first sock it fits very nicely.

 

Ok, now lets see her new "Black Onyx" socks. Yarn dyed by me, yours truly. The yarn is really dark so she is going to do a simple pattern, 2 x 2 rib to show off the yarn. Cool. The toe looks great she is off to a fabulous start. I don't think she is ever going to have to frog a thing on this sock it has a good vibe.

A ton of toes to Kitchener

Where have I been? Well, summer has been keeping me outside and away from my knitting and other fiber projects. But this spring I did get some work done on several pairs of socks. Now I have a ton of Kitchener stitch to do. I thought I would do several pairs at the same time, sort of a Kitchener party. Maybe I should invite knitting friends over to Kitchener. Have you noticed I'd much rather start designing something and have fun playing with color and pattern, texture oh so fun! Must work on finishing some things up. Deadlines I have them all day at work and so I sort of don't make deadlines for myself. Actually, I find that I re-bell and don't set any deadlines for myself and my projects. I'll get it done in my own time period or not. It's the process that moves me. So with that said I should shoot a few pics and post a few things. I will be attempting to post with my iphone soon. I got a new app that lets me do that. I think I'm going to enjoy that. Working on projects with friends away from your computer. Use your iphone take some pics, write a quick post and post directly from your iphone sounds great. I'll let you know how that works out. With that said lets look at some socks that need toes added. Shall we. Oh yes if you don't know how to Kitchener check out this video on you tube.

How to Kitchener

Now for the toes:

 

Well, this is 3 different pairs. Not all of them more to come. All of these were posted with details when I started the blog. Now doesn't that tell you something. I started them and then did nothing for months and then a massive knitting frenzy and now here they are almost finished all with no toes. I do things in a crazy way I know. I get excited and I can't put it down.....then I forget about it and life takes over, kids, work, dogs, house, yard work, you know the drill. But that is how it goes in my life. I love it just the way it is. Get your knitting in when you can not to mention spinning, dyeing and tapestry weaving. Oh yes, have I mentioned tapestry weaving yet? Years ago, it's been about 8 now, I wove tapestries  and now I'm getting ready to try and fit that in again. Stop me! I know that sounds crazy but I really miss it and I am going to try. And I'm getting a new tapestry loom so that will make it all the more fun. I do think I will be adding post or another blog for the tapestry weaving if I'm so moved. Don't worry knitters you too can come and see what tapestry weaving is all about. But if you think knitting is slow then tapestry is probably not for you. It is slow but wonderful. So one day you might find a link to my new tapestry page here. Speaking of pages the Dyeworks page is not going well because I have not had the time to devote to dying the yarn. So for now Saffron Dyeworks is on hold until further notice. I will continue to dye for myself and friends. But there will not be any sales going on for now. Thank you to all that purchased my yarn and made me feel so proud of my work.

Blue Lagoon Socks......making progress

  Well, I have the leg completed and I worked the heel with the eye of the partridge pattern that I wanted to try. And I  have turned the heel that is all that I have got done so far because I've been pretty busy dyeing yarn etc.
I really like the eye of the partridge pattern with this yarn. I'm pretty pleased so far. For someone that has small feet and legs this pattern is going to have to be altered a bit. I'll keep you posted.

   

Blue Lagoon Socks

" I've started a new pair of socks using the color Lagoon from my hand dyed yarns from Saffron Dyeworks. I'm using a pattern from the stitch dictionary from "Sensational Knitted Socks". Charlene calls if "Welt Fantastic" it's one of the stitches in her self striping yarn chapter. I wanted to add a ribbing to the top so I started with 6 rows of k2p2 rib and then garter ridges rnds  1 and 3 knit  rnds 2 and 4 purl then repeated the 6 rows of rib and the 4 rows of garter starts the beginning of the welt fantastic pattern that has a 12 row repeat. I'm going to work this pattern down the leg and then change to just the lace/welts with no garter ridges on the top of the foot. I don't want the ridges on the foot section.

I'm still working out what I want for the heel flap. There is a heel in this book called the "eye of the partridge" that looks interesting. I'm also looking at heels in "Folk Socks"there is a wonderful section on heels and toes in Nancy's book. The one of many things that I like about Sensational Socks is the fact that she has patterns written for 2 cirs or 4 or 5 dps and the charts for sizing and gauge are great so you can measure your foot, knit a gauge swatch with your yarn and then pick out stitches that you like and just build a design of your own easily. Try this rib, with this pattern, and this heel, with this toe etc. Design as you go. I'm actually writing down what I'm doing this time so if it works out I'll post the pattern here when I'm done. The stitch dictionary is great because you don't have to convert your pattern into knitting in the round directions because she has already done that for you. I've done this before with many patterns out of Barbara Walkers stitch dictionaries and she explains how to do it but it's nice to have some stitches that you like already converted. So while on the subject of designing socks. I just purchased " New Pathways for Sock Knitters" by Cat Bordhi this is book one in a series that I think will be 3 in total. Wow! She has come up with some really interesting concepts and the new sock architectures are amazing. I haven't had a chance to try any of the small sample socks yet. I'll keep you posted on sock trials as I get them done. Really interesting book so far.