Sock Challenge: August 2006 Archives
It's time for another round up of what's going on for the Family Sock Challenge. Summer is always a quiet knitting time, but there have been a few new pairs of socks since my last post.
Annie finished a second pair of socks for her daughter (no pictures that I'm aware of) out of Opal Flamingo and got a pair started for her husband using Regia Jaquard. Maggie just finished a pair for her brother (or Brotherman as she likes to call him) and has gotten started on another pair for a special person. I also finished a pair of socks for my brother and just today I got started on my final pair. So that's three new pairs of socks that have entered the lives of our friends and family. I've also started another pair for myself --- I had to do some "research" for my aunt's socks. I'll be posting more about both pairs in one of my regular blog posts soon.
As always, here's the current score card. And should you want to join, there's still room for more. With the winter holidays coming up, I'm betting a bunch of you will be knitting socks for your family and friends anyways...
We had a lovely weekend in Michigan. And there will be Michigan Fiber Festival pictures coming soon -- from a very unique perspective. But first, a pair of finished socks.
I finished my brother's socks this morning while giving a sock making lesson to my mom -- her first sock outing with double pointed needles, and she took to them much better than I did the first time I tried them out. They are a bit loose in the toe (my dad and John modelled them for me so I could check fit) but both my Dad and John didn't seem all that bothered by it. So they will be on their way to Houston soon and if they are a bit too loose, I'll have my brother bring them back for Christmas and I'll custom fit them then. Since they are a very simple and straightforward pair of socks, and it's getting late here in Chicago, I think I'll leave the discussion at that.
So now I've got all but one pair of socks for my Family Sock Challenge complete. My aunt's are next. And working on Joe's socks first was exactly the right thing to do. Giving myself some extra time to think, I now know exactly how my "Feline Feet" socks are going to be from a design perspective, and I got a chance to figure out a gauge I like using Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock, medium weight in addition to testing out a new-to-me cuff technique. So more interesting socks will be on their way, soon.
Actually, it was a very good weekend for design ideas as well. Once I get my aunt's socks finished, I have another idea that I am just burning to try.
Speaking of a little burning... John and I got to see the tail end of a lovely sunset over Lake Michigan at Warren Dunes State Park on Sunday evening..
It was the perfect ending to a lovely day that involved doing nothing in particular except being with my family and getting some knitting done.
Top of the week to everyone!
Sometimes looking at a sock is like looking at the rings in a tree: you can see what's been going on in the past over the period of time the sock was being knitted. Case in point: the first of two socks for my brother as part of my Family Sock Challenge.
Amazing how much stuff gets caught up in one size 11 man-sized sock.
What stories do your socks have to tell? I'd love to see other people's sock-life diagrams!
For the record, the sock was knit top down using Regia Linien Color # 5281, on US size 1 needles, at approximately 8 stitches/inch. There's an inch and a half of K2P2 ribbing at the top,5 and a half inches of straight stockinetted, a short-row heel a la Patricia Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, and a 4 point toe after 9" of straight knitting. It took darned near all the yarn in the skein. It's a simple sock, but given that it's recipient is male, I think that is a good thing.
It's been far too long since I've updated the Family Sock Challenge. Thank you to the participants who have kept sending me updates! I really didn't mean to go without posting about it for so long. Hopefully, with the fall approaching and with major medical issues behind us, I'll be better at getting back to a regular schedule on this.
Since I last posted, there has been a bit of activity. It seems like summer is a sleepy time for knitting, even sock knitting. I'm pretty much there myself! So thank you to Michelle, who finished a lovely pair of socks for her Mother-in-Law at the end of June, and sent along a picture that I could share with everyone.
Carole has also been busy on socks. She ">finished a pair for her sister-in-law from some very nice hand-dyed yarn. (For the spinenrs amongst you, Carole's blog is always full of spinning eye-candy an I recommend that you trip on over there and take a look if you have a moment.). She's also started a new pair of socks for her stepdaughter.
Meanwhile, Wendy's finished up a lovely pair of socks for her stepmom, Mary Jo. These socks got some lovely photographic treatment at a pier. Surely they are happy socks indeed!
I've been puttering away at my own projects. I finsihed up the Broadripple socks for myself (leaving me with two more pairs of family socks before I can go on to new projects for me) and I've just gotten started on a simple pair of sock for my brother. I've found with guys, simple is best, so a well marinaded pair of Regia skeins came out of my sock yarn stash for the project. The Broadripples were the subject of my last post, so I won't provide an additional pictures.
So, here's the scorecard as of today... as always, you can click on the links to see all the socks being made out there for friends and family!
