Sock Challenge: March 2006 Archives

The past couple of weeks have been busy ones for the folks knitting family socks along with me. Last time I posted we were up to 18 pairs. This week we've got 26 . Hopefully that means 26 pairs of happy feet. Here's where everyone stands:

Annie
Socks for son Luke finished!

Carole
Working on Socks for Daughter Hannah

Caryn

Heatherly
Socks for Baby finished!

Janine
Socks for Husband Finished!
Socks for Husband Started.

Janna
Socks for Mom Finished!
Socks for Sister Started

Jess
Finished socks for Grandmother!

Julie

Started Socks for Grandmother

Kristi
Socks for Hubby Finished
Socks for Dad Finished
Jaywalker Socks for Sister-in-Law Finished

Lisa

Socks for BIL Finished!

Socks for Husband Finished

Lora
Opal Dreamcatcher Socks for Mom finished!
Jaywalkers for Sister started.

Maggie

Maud
Regia Silk Socks for Her Son

Michelle H-K

Michelle K
Blue Socks for Daughter Kathryn finshed!
Jacquard Socks for Daughter Lindsey finished!
Starting green socks for Son Ian

Hedgemom Nancy
Socks for Husband Almost Finished
Trekking XXL Socks for Mom Started

Just Knitting Around Nancy

Natalie
Socks for Mom Finished
Socks for Daughter Finished
Socks for Daughter to Be Finished
Socks for Mother in Law Finished

Polly
Twin Jaywalkers for her Twin Boys finished!
Socks for Husband Finished
Jaywalker Socks for Husband Started

Tish
3rd daughter finished!

Traci

Wendy DG
Opal Socks Finished for Sock Partner Molly
Sockotta Socks Finished for Sister-in-Law Mollie

Together We've Finished 26 Pairs of Socks!

I'd like to say a big welcome to some new folks who have joined the Challenge. Hello to Janine, Julie and Lisa!

Since this challenge isn't just about me, when I can, I'm going to share pictures from people in the Challenge with me as well as stories and other anecdotes relevant to what knitting socks means to recipients and knitters. While pictures are limited to participants, if you have a special sock knitting story that relates to the knitting socks for family theme please feel free to send me an email (see my link in the side bar in my "About Me" section to get my email address) with your story (normally I wouldn't mind getting it in my comments, but then it wouldn't be a special surprise for the Sock Challenge update post.

Today's picture comes from Kristi who finished a pair of Jaywalker socks for her sister-in-law. They are modeled by the lovely and sweet Otis. I couldn't resist this picture because I don't get to put too many cute dogs up on my blog.

Otis and a Pair of Opal Jaywalkers

Completely unrelated to socks, you need to check out Julie's new podcast, Stitch-Cast! Her first full episode is up and ready for download. I know I'm biased, but I think it's great! She introduces herself, talks about quilting, entrelac and indigo dyeing. And if you ever wanted to know how Julie and I met, you can find that out in the show, too!

I'm incredibly late getting to the Family Sock Challenge update this week -- and there's been a lot of activity and I haven't had time this week to update my lists completely. So I'm going to hold off until Monday.

I will, however, not end the week without posting a sock project that I am working on -- socks and spinning are about all I've gotten to this week.

The First of Two Victors: One Sock in Lorna's Laces UMich

This sock is partly to blame for my not being able to get up-to-date on Sock Challenge goings on. I actually knit a short row toe, thought it was just about the most dreadful (not in a good way this time) thing I'd knit in a long time and ripped it out and finished the sock with my regular toe. I'm not sure why the heel looks more or less okay while the toe looked so awful, but it did. I gave it a while to sit while I thought about it, but the more I looked at it, the uglier it got. I was so proud of myself that I didn't get at all distraught about ripping out 36 stitches worth of grafting the toe to the bottom of the sock.

I'm beginning to think that short row heels and toes work best when your sock fabric density is quite tight or you're working with a yarn that's squooshy and likes to fill in the gaps. I'm knitting these socks on US 1's and I could probably go down a needle size and still get a nice result. Also, while I think Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock is soft and foot-friendly, I don't consider it to be all that thick and squooshy. Of course, it could also just be something about my technique with those yarn over wraps or how tight I pull my yarn or some wierd artifact of the fact that I knit continental style.

Normally, I wouldn't draw attention to a ball of yarn (although I do want to mention that immediately after sewing in the ends of the first sock I cast on for the second one), but tonight I did a little experiment with the one you see here. You see, I've been reading Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning">Big Book of Handspinning (something I'll be reviewing soon) and he talks about making a center pull ball twice when winding a ball from swift to ball winder. The first time you wind the ball, the natural resistance of the swift means that you get a very tight compressed ball on your ball winder. If you take that center thread after you've made the first ball and re-wind a second time you get a much looser ball that's easier to knit with (because the fiber isn't compressed so tightly) and is a little more yarn friendly since the yarn is under a lot less tension (which is generally a good idea... it's better for yarn to be as relaxed as it can when you're storing it , which is why I don't take my yarn out of the skein configuration until I know I'm going to use it). The ball in the picture was subjected to the double winding procedure. And, the advice is good advice. I have a nice loose center pull ball, which allows the yarn to flow more easily as I work on the second sock.

It's been a big week for the Family Sock Challenge!

Annie
Socks for son Luke finished!

Carole

Caryn

Heatherly
Socks for Baby finished!

Janna
Working on Socks for Mom

Jess
Almost finished with socks for Grandmother

Kristi
Socks for Hubby Finished
Socks for Dad Finished
Started on Socks for Sister-in-Law

Lora
Opal Dreamcatcher Socks for Mom finished!
Jaywalkers for Sister started.

Maggie

Maud
Regia Silk Socks for Her Son

Michelle H-K

Michelle K
Blue Socks for Daughter Kathryn finshed!
Jacquard Socks for Daughter Lindsey finished!
Starting green socks for Son Ian

Hedgemom Nancy

Just Knitting Around Nancy

Nathalie
Socks for Mom Finished
Socks for Daughter Finished
Socks for Daughter to Be Finished
Started socks for Mother in Law
Polly
Twin Jaywalkers for her Twin Boys finished!
Socks for Husband Finished
Jaywalker Socks for Husband Started

Tish
3rd daughter finished!

Traci

Wendy DG
Opal Socks Finished for Sock Partner Molly
Sockotta Socks Started for Sister-in-Law Mollie

I want to welcome a few new sock knitters: Jess, Kristi and Nathalie have joined the project -- all of them have finished or are almost finished with a pair of socks. Polly and Wendy have been busy, too, and have both finished a pair of socks and are already started on their next pairs.

Where am I? Well, I've finished the first of John's green Dragon Scale socks (more on that tomorrow) and I've started my dad's socks:

Socks for Dad in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock "UMich" Colorway

I'm thinking I might have to make him sing "Hail to the Victors" before I give them to him.

In sum total, we're up to 18 pairs of finished socks for our family and friends. Everybody knitting along, please feel free to "check in" in the comments and let me know your latest progress.

I promised happier stuff for today, and if there's anything happier in knitting than socks, I just don't know what it is! This evening I finally got my Family Sock Challenger list up to date. My apologies for taking so long on updating the list with new names and new socks. I hope I've gotten everyone who emailed me. My plan is to update this list once a week, and share everyone's progress and pictures and links to the finished projects. Feel free to leave me a comment here or drop me an email.

Here's the updated list of participants:

Annie
Socks for son Luke finished!

Carole

Caryn

Heatherly
Socks for Baby finished!

Janna

Lora
Opal Dreamcatcher Socks for Mom finished!
Jaywalkers for Sister started.

Maggie

Maud
Regia Silk Socks for Her Son

Michelle H-K

Michelle K
Blue Socks for Daughter Kathryn finshed!
Jacquard Socks for Daughter Lindsey finished!
Starting green socks for Son Ian

Hedgemom Nancy

Just Knitting Around Nancy

Polly
Twin Jaywalkers for her Twin Boys finished!

Tish

Socks for 3rd daughter finished!

Traci

Wendy DG

Welcome to Carole, Caryn, Maud, both Nancys, Polly and Wendy! I'm glad to have you all knitting along with me. Quite a few new pairs of socks entered the picture, too! Heatherly finished socks for her baby, Maud finished some gorgeous socks for her son out of Regia Silk (click on the link above to check them out), Michelle K finished some Jacquard socks for her daughter Lindsey and Polly just polished off two pairs of Jaywalkers for her twin boys. That's definitely a lot of socks!

Michelle K also finished a pair of blue socks for her daughter Kathryn last week and she sent me some pictures to show off both her daughters and their new socks. I particularly liked this one:

Happy New Blue Daughter Socks

Clearly this woman is happy about her new socks. It's hard for me not to smile when I look at this photo.

As to me, I'm making little bits of progress here and there. The green Dragon Scale sock has passed the heel and I've got my Dad's UMich socks a bit past the ribbed cuff.

And there's always room for one more! So if you want to knit along, let me know. I'm beginning to think that I should come up with a button for this... just to give y'all a little more flash for your efforts.