I need more boring sock ideas

I have been doing online trivia with friends on Saturdays since sometime in 2020, who knows exactly when as time has no meaning anymore. The important thing is trivia and friends and Saturday, because that combination requires brainless knitting.

Which is why I think most of my recent sock projects have been started on a Saturday afternoon. It reminds me of the days when I hand-wound yarn in the car prior to seeing a movie in a movie theater. (I knit a two color striped scarf in a movie, once. I am sure I made mistakes, but worth it.)

Most recent is a pair of what I call boring man socks, as they must be neutral colors and nothing too fancy pattern-wise.  And while there are many variations to ribbing, eventually, they all blend together.

See? Boring. Marbled Black and white yarn, with a mix of cotton and nylon and wool. Perfect boot socks with a k3p1 ribbing.

I find it highly entertaining that I used to hate knitting socks toe up and now I convert patterns into being toe up. It allows me to try socks on and to use my sock ruler, which I am slowly figuring out. And it means I can use alllllll the yarn.

It also allows me to do things like change the increases on each and slightly shift the ribbing from one side to another. For this sock, the ribbing starts with p1 and ends with k2 across the top of the foot. For the second sock, I will reverse it. I am fairly certain that the recipient will never notice but it pleases me as I knit. 

But even now, with a large number of toe up socks completed, I find starting toes fiddly. I like a round, star toe, so starting with only 6 stitches means things are fiddly and DPNs often fall out. But with only 6 stitches to start, it doesn't frustrate me as much to rip it all out and try again when I have issues.

I expect to start the second sock on or before Saturday, so the cycle shall repeat itself.

3 months is about 12 weeks, so I will need at least yarn for 6 pairs of socks. Just in case. 

Advanced Planning Is My Forte and Yet..

 I am prepping for a transatlantic move this summer and that means being separated from my household goods for about 3 (or more) months.

Which requires careful planning, so that I have plenty of knitting to occupy me for those 3 months.  This is a tall order!  I've been avoiding (mostly) buying yarn because I have so much good stuff that I want to use.  So sticking to my goal of cold sheeping and carefully plotting knitting seems required.

I have my standard yearly knitting obligations - socks for my mother and for the Weirder Half's parents.  I often try for socks for his sister and brother-in-law as well. Unfortunately, I've already finished socks for his father (and sister).  

I pulled out two yarns for socks for me that I'm super excited about.  Must Stash Yarns Stripping Sock in Martian Rainbow, because some days you need some color in your life. 

 

And what is happier than a bright rainbow, I ask you?

I've also a skein of Katia Sock Seta Tweed II, which I used last year for GiftMoose socks and rather liked.  So the Weirder Half is getting a pair of socks in that in the very excited color of .. dull red.  It is improvement over neutrals, so I am still looking forward to it.  Men's 10.5 socks tend to take a little longer.

I also have a sock blank from the amazingly talented dyer Alexandra the Art of Yarn in a gray gradient that I am looking forward to playing with.  I just need to figure out how to wind the yarn, since it is two strands knit together for the blank.  That one is gonna be for me.

Way in the before times, I started the Mary, Queen of Socks from RedScot.  I knew I didn't have time to finish them by the test knitting deadline, but I made it to the heel of the first sock.  They are intended for my mother.  I started them in some Socks that Rock lightweight and having picked them back up again, I don't think it is a good match of pattern and yarn.  So I started again in some West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-Ply and it is much better.  Unfortunately, the size large is too big in that yarn, so I need to frog and re-knit from the toe.  And since there's a lot of cables and the like, I am not looking forward to it.  However, those socks should take a while due to the cables and patterning.

Which leaves me with a sweater.  For me.  I think I have it narrowed down, but I am not 100% certain yet.

I am also debating a black, grey, and white hat from some of the left-overs from the Star Wars hat from last GiftMoose.  Must ponder.

I have a month or so before the stash is all packed up, so I just need to make decisions and be sure to wind the relevant yarn by that point.

FO: Boring Man Socks, 2021 Edition

First 2021 giftmoose present is completed!

Pattern: random ribbing with garter

Yarn: Alexandria the Art of Yarn's Diamond Lake in Chocolate.

Needles: US 1.5

Size: mens 10.5

Started: Feb 18, 2021

Finished: Feb 28, 2021

Yardage: 386, or 103g

I used the vast majority of the skein. Not a huge fan of the color, but I know the indended recipient will like them! Love the yarn - soft and squishy, and the resulting fabric is nice too. 

They knit up pretty quickly, for men's 10.5, at least. 

Things Renting Have Taught Me

Drawers, rather than just cabinets with doors, are immensely useful in a bathroom.

Being able to control water pressure/volume separately from water temperature in the bathroom shower/tub is also greatly useful.  

Paint on walls ought to be washable, rather than water-soluble.

Butcher block countertops near a sink are a Terrible Idea in a rental.

No floor vents for HVAC.

Long hallway for toddlers to run. 

Insert Theme Song Here

 I have been watching old seasons of the Great British Bake Off because this is 2020 and the warm, comfy, fuzzy feels that Mary Berry and Mel and Sue provides is just about perfect.  I am on Collection 2 as Netflix  orders in a completely odd and random way (and as they call it the Great British Baking Show), which is the season that Frances The Overachiever was on, with her jam sandwich cake in the shape of a sandwich and her hidden squirrel tree trunk cake.  She gets called out for style over substance a lot over the season, if memory serves me correctly.

Which is why I am thinking "stupid substance over style anyway, Paul" as I work on a Bob's Burgers Louise Hat for an infant.

I knit the ears rather tightly, hoping that a stiffer and thicker fabric wouldn't have quite enough drape to droop.  But I couldn't think of safe way to ensure that rabbit ears on an infant hat would be both Upright and Safe.

They seem to stay up, if held Just So.  Knees make reasonable head-shaped objects when needed, because this hat certainly doesn't fit my giant head or the dog's head.

Since infants tend to grow and I am me, I am making additional hat(s).  We shall see how many hats I can get from three balls of superwash wool.  (Baby stuff = superwash.  Most of the time.)

For the large toddler/small adult hat, I used US 6s (4mm) needles and 90 stitches.  Provisional cast on, knit 10-ish rounds, then knit the ear flaps with waste yarn while purling the rest of the round, then another 10-ish rounds before I knit the provisional cast on with the current round, to create a nice folded brim.  Standard swirl decreases for the top of the hat, and I just finished the ear flaps.  Because picking out the waste yarn also results in one extra stitch on one side, one decrease, then basic ear flap to decreases, with the last four stitches becoming the icord cordy thing that Louise has on her hat.

My original idea (from LSG, actually) for the ears was the plastic canvas for needlepoint, cut to shape.  Unfortunately, it seems that the extra plastic - which weighs about half a gram - is too much weight for the narrow base.  Sewing the ears as wide as I could, with a bend in the bottom as well, worked best, but lacking a good way to attach the plastic canvas to the main part of the hat, it just didn't quite work.  And I am not sure how well that would stand up to a kid chewing on the hat they have ripped off their head, as kids tend to do.

I'm working on the ears now for the second hat and again have dropped a needle size to US 5s (3.75mm) needles to hope that they stand up on their own.  I think laundry starch might help.

I am Annoyed because normally, I put all this shit in Rav but Ravelry TPTB are being assholes about their site redesign and I don't like adding to their database.  But that means I'm still struggling to find a good place to put yarn and needles and notes of how many rounds to knit before starting decreases on an ear flap.  

And hence this post.

I am also annoyed because I have a google photos album of knitting and yet, I cannot find it when Blogger (a google product) is looking at my google photos albums and thus, I have to dig through dog pictures to find the knitting pictures.

Clearly the solution is to make sure the dog is in all the knitting pictures and vice versa, yes?

FO: Fire Truck Scarf

 The Specs:

Pattern: Frugal Haus Knitting Fire Truck Neck Scarf
Yarn: Berocco Vintage
Amount: 1 skein
Needles: whatever the ball band recommended
For: nephew!
Notes:  Ugh. This was the project that never ended.  Too fiddly to be fun without being fiddly enough to be pleased with progress. 

I do not like how it is knit in garter stitch, as that makes it one-sided.  And it is a scarf.  I believe I have complained about this before, but time has not lessened my grump factor in this regard.

If I made this again, it would be a stockinette tube.  Still would lay flat, but would be easier to add the adornments and the like.

I cheated and used large black buttons for the wheels.  I could not bring myself to seam a wheel that was knit flat.

I ended up making an icord tube for the cab partition for the back part of the scarf.

To make it reversible, I attached a ladder to both sides, as well as truck window, headlight, emergency light, and wheels. The garter stitch part meant that the ladder rungs had to be afterthought, rather than knit into the scarf itself.  I ended up crocheting a chain up at certain parts.  I could carry the yarn across the bottom, and make both chains run up the side, so I could get two rungs with only two ends to weave in.  The icord makes for a good place to hide ends, so I was very grateful for that.

I am not super pleased with it.  It looks a bit wonky and not very polished.  Attaching the ladder sides was difficult because of the double-sided aspect and the garter stitch and not wanting to make things too lose or too taut. 

But it is for a kid who loves fire trucks, so I don't think he will much care.  Better pictures to come when I can bare to face it.  I am terrified to give it a bath and have the red yarn bleed onto the white.  Should have swatched, but I was on vacation!

Georgia On My Mind

 I have been slowly plugging away on a fire truck scarf.  I am not enjoying the process, so I have to force myself to work on it.  It is the last of the Required GiftMoose presents, so I want it DONE.  I want to mail most of my GiftMoose presents back to friends and family in the states in the next week or so, which gives me a dead line.

Fire truck scarf is knit flat, garter stitch.  Color changes to denote the cab vs the rest of the truck, and small strips of white for the rungs of the ladder.

I think, if I ever knit a fire truck scarf again, I will knit a stockinette tube.  As written, the pattern has a VERY clear wrong side and right side and that bothers me because it is a scarf.  A fire truck scarf, so most likely for children.  Which means the wrong side is going to be seen just as often as the right side.

I have figured out how to manage the ladder for both sides, but the color change for the cab is bothering me.  It is two rows of grey in a sea of red and looks great on the one side, because that ridge of garter is grey.  Not so nice on the other side.  I might do an icord tube and sew it in place. 

I am about 75% done the ladder.  So close.  And yet...

I also started a sock for a friend a few weeks ago and then got measurements and realized the sock would not fit the intended foot for said foot is giant.  So the sock has been in timeout while I brain and math and accept that I will have to frog.

Today was a Good News Day and that seemed to require happy knitting, not a project I resentfully peck away at, so happy rainbow socks came back out of time out. 

I measured our Soda Stream bottles and they are about an inch shy of the intended's foot, so I figure if I can get the sock on the water bottle and get about an inch of stretch, they ought to fit.  Since the feet are across an ocean, I don't want to knit two socks and then have to start all over.  I also don't want to knit one and ship it over and then have them ship it back so I can make sure they match perfectly.

FO: Underwater Leaves Socks

 The Specs:

Pattern: Woodland Walk Socks by This Handmade Life
Yarn: Teton Yarn Company Handdyed Sock in Mermaid

Amount: 0.75 of a skein, or about 74gm, or about 324 yards
Needles: US 1, 2.25mm circular with magic loop
Size: Women's 8.5ish
For: me!

Start to Finish: Sept 20, 2020 to Oct 13, 2020
Notes: I started these on the drive to Scotland for our anniversary/my birthday trip.  They made excellent car knitting once I had memorized the leave pattern, which didn't take too long.

I, of course, knit toe-up, so the leaves fall up my socks instead of down, as the pattern is written for cuff-down.  Standard star toe with increases on right of first stitch on one sock and to the left of the first stitch on the other sock.  I admit that I have to look really closely to determine that there is a difference between the toes, but I still try to do that with every pair of socks.

I also either reversed the chart or I started halfway up the chart for the second sock.  

I had 66 stitches on the needles for these.  No idea what the pattern called for, but that's the beauty of socks with a decorative pattern up only part of the front - extra stitches do not need to be accounted for.  Standard shadow wrapped short row heel, 10 rounds of ribbing for the cuff before I used JSSBO.

If I were to knit these again, I'd add 4-6 stitches of plain stockinette between the pattern and the heel turn, to push the decorative part more to the top of the foot and not the side.  They are perfectly fine as they are, but it would make for a slightly more polished sock.

These knit up fast - I knit the first sock on the drive to/from Scotland, while finishing the cuff during a Zoom baby shower for a friend.  Second sock was started on Saturday the 10 and I just had to finish the last repeat and the cuff today, as well as weaving in ends. 

I really love the colors of this yarn and it knit up beautifully.  Super glad I like the yarn as I am fairly certain I have another 5 skeins of different colors in the stash...

I've got a bad feeling about this*

 We're gonna need a bigger hat.  I think.

I followed instructions for the adult sized hat.  I thing I got gauge-ish.  (No, I didn't swatch.  It is a hat.  Hats are swatches in and of themselves.)

But this seems to be about the right size for a toddler and not an adult. It kinda sorta can be shoved onto my giant head, but it doesn't stay - it pops back off.

I am also not super pleased with my floats.  They need to be loser, I think.  The stretches of 7+ stitches is not helpful.

So, while I think 11pm is a little late to start a second hat... I think I will wind yarn tomorrow to be able to hold two strands double for the hat.  And maybe only go up one needle size.  This fabric seems a little looser than I'd like. 

I am also debating knitting a double-knit hat.  But I am not sure how I feel about a black stormtrooper helmet.  Would it look weird?

Digging through other project notes, I've knit a sock-yarn hat that fits my giant head with only 4 more stitches.  And I used a size 2 needle for that - not a size 4.  So floats are definitely an issue, me thinks. 

I also think it is too short.  So a few more rounds of plain between the colorwork sections, and maybe a second repeat of small spaceships above the stormtroopers?

*Han Solo, of course

What's the point in ignoring the plan

 ... if you don't bother to make one in the first place?

Let's talk knitting goals, shall we?  (Or rather, let me write them down so I have a fighting chance at figuring out what the knitting plan was supposed to be, the better to ignore it.)

First up, GiftMoose.  I have one firetruck scarf for an 7/8 year old, one Paw Patrol sweater for a toddler, and one Star Wars hat for a nearish to 9 year old.  T

he firetruck scarf is going wellish.  Icord for the sides of the ladder and I figured out how to attach them so that both sides of the firetruck have a ladder without showing signs of sewing stuff on.  I need to figure out how to do the rungs.  I fear a lot of seaming in my future.  The wheels and cab window should be easy enough to do, even if fiddly. 

I think, ideally, the firetruck scarf should be knit in the round.  Garter is squishy and nice, but double layer is also nice and warm and easier to make things line up.  Having a nice, neat color change on one side of garter stitch means the other side is less pretty and I am not so pleased with that. 

The Star Wars hat will be fingering weight yarn and three colors, but I think it will go pretty fast.  I have two of the three colors and I think I have the third as well.  If not, that should be fairly easy to get some of the correct color.

Paw Patrol sweater should go fairly quickly as well.  I have yarn for it, at least.   Again, toddler size.

There's also a chance for a Hufflepup sweater for a large black lab.  That one might be a bit late, not sure I can get it done by GiftMoose

Friends have been busy reproducing, so I have one baby hat, one baby sweater, and one baby pair of jeans planned.  Due dates vary from Thanksgiving to late January, so I foresee some post GiftMoose knitting happening.   There are a few other things I'd like to knit as well, but time might be an issue. 

While in Scotland, I got some West Yorkshire Spinning Croft yarn to make an Aran sweater for the Weirder Half.  That ought to be on the list as well, as he seemed pretty excited about it.  That is scheduled for next year already and I am not expecting to be super fast. 

A friend recently cleared out her stash by shipping it to me, so eventually, I shall need to make her a cardigan.  But there's a lot of other yarn in the to-knit list right now.  Because I would be shocked if a few socks didn't end up showing up between now and then.

And I have a lot of sock yarn to make into garter bias squares for a leftovers blanket...