Hello, sock-knitters and other interested parties. How’re you? The sun is out today in London and it is glorious.
It is also that time of the month where I owe you all a sock update. Reporting on progress will be short but sweet because look! I have finished my latest helical socks. But oh! I only have this one picture…
Top-down, helical stripes, garter-edged slip-stitch heel and a short-row toe. Designed specifically to maximise the benefit of those two shades of Travelknitter yarn, and I am very happy with them indeed. So much so that I’ve almost finished writing up the pattern – I just need to get it tested and then hope to release it in May. Watch this space!
Straight after casting off the socks I cast on for an ombre textured cowl for Gareth. I am fascinated by the difference in the colours of this yarn set depending on whether you’re looking in daylight or artificial light. When I bought it at EYF I was convinced it was grey – however one of the few criticisms I have of EYF is that the marketplace has absolutely no natural light. And, photographing the cowl-in-progress in proper daylight shows that it is indeed clearly shades of blue – the darkest colour is very definitely a deep navy. Compare and contrast these two pictures – one taken one evening just after casting on, and the other taken about an hour ago in the lounge on a sunny day.
Bringing things back round to socks again (bear with me) – I was really struck with how mini-skein sets like this one were all over EYF. Everyone is selling them – and they’re very appealing. Which, eventually, got me to thinking of all the 20-30g sock leftovers I have, which then, finally, made me twig that I could, in fact, create my own mini-skein sets. So I did! I’m just playing around with colour combinations at the moment (and you might spot the same yarn in more than one set, plus the occasional cheat of a skein not yet used but which goes with the other colours) – which combo do you like best?
I’m not quite sure how I’m going to use these, but I definitely have some kind of gradient sock in mind (see? we’re back to socks!) and maybe I might have an update on that this time next month.
Excitingly we have lots of people getting involved with the monthly sockalong these days. I’ve listed everyone I know about below – I’ll update links to live posts when I know that they’re up, and if you’re joining us and I haven’t listed you (or I’ve inadvertently missed you), comment and let me know! Also Stef has created some ace new post headers for us this month – this one’s my favourite.
- Katherine from Fiber and Sustenance (post live)
- Paula from Spin a Yarn (post live)
- Stefanie from Stefanie Crafts with Wool Paper Fabric (post live)
- Steph from My Making Do Adventure (post live)
- Meg from Intergalactic (post live)
- Lynne from Minding My Own Stitches (post live)
- Liz from Knitting from the hip (post live)
- Reanna from Knit, Reanna, Knit! (post live)
- Kathy B from Compassionknit
- Tammy from Life and Yarn or Yarn and Life (post live)
felinity knits 
Helical socks hivemind, eh? Mine are definitely going to be yellow and black (as I have two 50g balls from Stockholm last year) so helical beeeeees, I think.
The colour difference with that cowl is astounding!
Very clever idea re: mini skeins! A lot of my leftovers are multicoloured, so are being saved for making Bubble and Squeak wristwarmers, I think. I like the yellow/red/orange set but then, anything sunny is extremely appealing right now!
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Yay helical socks! Enjoy 🙂 And the mini-skein thing felt like a stroke of inspiration – why purchase an new set when I can create a bunch of them from what I already have? Would love to see what other people come up with!
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That sock is gorgeous!!!! Wow what a difference in colors! I’m partial to green, so the green and teal sets are my favorites….I’ve bought several mini sets…they are a bit addictive….I have also decided to join…here is my live post link: https://graceysgoodies.blogspot.com/2018/04/once-upon-sock-april-edition.html
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Hi, lovely to have you join us! I will add you to the list 🙂
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I’ve literally just been looking at your blue Canada pair and made my mind up they were if not next, then next but one! They’re wonderful. Let me know when the pattern is ready! 🙂
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Aww yay! I will 100% be posting about it when the pattern’s live – I’ll definitely let you know.
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Brilliant! I was looking for patterns that would advance my skills a bit passed the beginner phase. They look like a good step up. Plus beautiful, which always helps!
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I think they would be really good for advanced beginner, yes – two colours at once but in a very non-intimidating way. You are encouraging me to get the pattern sorted asap!
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Exactly what I need. Well I’m more than happy to give a advanced beginner review for you. Excited now. I’ll have a rummage in my sock yarn box when I get home. Or maybe it’s that sort of thinking that gets me in trouble..
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The helical sock is great. I’m always on the lookout for sock patterns for using up minis. Not that I’ve bought minis – well other than that one set. Like you, I make up minis from my leftover sock yarns. The mini set I bought is very much like that first photo of yours, in a range of teal blues. I’m planning to knit Somewhere Socks by Lisa Ross.
Coincidentally Lisa also has a pattern in the latest issue of Knitty called “Escape Reality” that’s making me poke through my stash to make plans.
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Oh wow, Escape Reality is a beautiful pattern! Thank you for the tip. I am very much feeling the mini-skein love at the moment 🙂
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What a difference light makes! I love your helical socks. What colors did you use again? Two shades of purple and the blue?
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It’s just two skeins! The bright purple (by Travelknitter and called Electric Junkyards), which is on the toe/cuff/heel and makes up half the stripes, and then a darker maroon purple with occasional flashes of the same bright purple in it (which is called Hogmanay – though she’s not put it for sale online yet). Would work just as well with two more contrasting colours, though.
Isn’t light amazing? I can’t get over how it looks all charcoal greys in the evening and dark sea blues in the daytime.
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I love your helical striped socks! And your mini sets are so cute — I especially like the second one. I’ve been thinking about trying to make some of my sock leftovers into mini as well — I might get a little niddy noddy to help with it! I am hoping it’ll make my scrap yarn more attractive!
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It feels like a really satisfying way of looking at all the sock leftovers. The idea of making a blanket or something out of them has always slightly filled me with dread (how many squares would it take when you’re using fingering-weight yarn??) – but the concept of making more socks just cheers me right up!
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Those skeins look like two different sets! That is a pretty impressive difference. Of the minis, I like 3 (the reds and oranges) and the bottom one (the blues).
For reference, my blanket is going to be 280 squares – which I think is going to be big enough for a single bed. It’s not a quick knit, but there are some glorious memories being knit into the squares.
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Oh wow, 280 squares, that is dedication. It will be amazing when you’re finished though.
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Wow! I am amazed at the difference between colors of gray versus blues based just on the light! That’s kind of how I feel with my new pair. I can’t photograph the colors just right…Maybe I need to take it out into the sun and try again 🙂
I adore those helical striped socks and would love to have the pattern once it’s published. With how long it takes me to make one pair of socks, you definitely don’t want me testing your pattern if you want to get it out in May…LOL.
I am actually making a scrap sock yarn blanket; however I haven’t touched it in months. I have my next colors picked out and everything…it just hasn’t seen any love. I need to get back to it once I’m finished unpacking 🙂 I like all of your little combinations…and what an awesome idea to make fade socks! I will have to try that with my scraps too.
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I know, the light thing is crazy. It’s partly my cameraphone of course, but also it really does look different colours in different lights!
I need to get the pattern into testing! We have guests this weekend but my plan is to post it to a testing group tomorrow night. This might be my first paid-for pattern (but priced low) – which is a scary leap into the unknown!
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The sock is beautiful!
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I love that purple! One of my favorite colors! I plan to join in with y’all next month! I have a TON of socks in progress and need some motivation!
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Brilliant, Paula mentioned you might be joining us, it’ll be great to have you. And if you have a lot of sock yarn stash, take a look at my most recent post!
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Fantastic socks! I am a newish sock knitter and am not ready to try striping socks. I am green with envy you got to go to EYF-what a dream that is of mine. I think all of your colors of mini-skeins look great and all of them would make fantastic socks.
xoxo
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Thank you so much! Lovely to hear that you have joined the sock knitting world – even if you’re new to it now, I bet you will be hooked in a few years 🙂
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