The last two of my favorite self-stripers hold their own with creative color combos that always look good to me.

Sknitches

Photo courtesy of flickr user Wannabeknittin’

Take sknitches for example. Yes, I am clearly a fan of blue and brown, but don’t these socks look so good? Sknitches also has a wide array of non-striping yarn in beautiful colorways, so if you order from her site, you can get a great mix of sock yarns in fabulous colors.

Ravelry Yarn page

Knitterly things

Photo by Flickr user Wooly interlude

Some of the first handmade self-striping yarn that I ever heard about was Vesper sock yarn. As a spinner, the shop’s curator also has a beautiful assortment of hand-dyed roving. It can still be kind of a challenge to snag the sock yarn, but it seems like there are shop updates many Wednesdays, and the Ravelry Group can a be a useful guide to shop stalking.

Ravelry Yarn page

Speaking of ravelry groups…. a long time ago I started a Ravelry group for those that love stripes – Better with stripes. Pop on over and say ‘Hi’ if self-striping yarn is your sort of thing.

Through the wonders of the internet, an intrepid knitter has at his/her needletips an amazing selection of sock yarns. The indie dyeing community is expanding everyday with beautiful new color combinations and dyeing techniques. I do a little dyeing myself, and I am usually on a tight budget. This makes justifying yarn purchase a difficult task. If I spring for a $20 pair of socks (that might spend a very long time as yarn) it has to be something good. I have two favorites that I can justify purchasing at almost any time: Socks that Rock and indie-dyed self-striping yarn. You have probably already heard about Socks that rock, so let’s talk about some of my favorite indie-stripers.

Lovesticks

Lovestick’s yarn makes an awesome striping pattern using three colors… Two colors make wide stripes separated by a thin stripe of a third color. Here – just look:

Photo from Flickr user Sock-a-holic

And my favorite thing about her shop… she has Sport-weight yarn. Perfect for a quick pair of socks.
Ravelry Yarn Page

Twisted

I first found Twisted on etsy, but she has since graduated to her own site. There is always a wide variety of base yarns available from sport weight SW merino to merino/bamboo or merino/tencel blends. I like nearly every colorway that Meg has produced, and I don’t think there is anything else like her subtle striping effect. Now she even has coordinating mini-skeins of heel and toe yarn available with come of her colorways.

Photo from flickr user Meg of Twisted

I use the Twisted Ravelry group to stay in the loop about shop updates and fiber clubs.
Ravelry Yarn Page

i have too many favorites for one post, so stay tuned for one more installment

Well, Socktober came and went, and I barely did a thing about it. Not too cool for a knit-blogger… I wanted to finish my Cupcake socks not only for Socktober, but also to be eligible for a prize in the Ravelry Sock Knitter’s Anonymous group. But alas. Not finished.

In the wake of Socktober, I will point out two sock-related blog posts that caught my eye:

• Maia’s toe-up gusseted heel Just the thing I was looking for – and in just the right amount of nerdy detail.
• B’s Toe-up two needle cast on I have seen her work this magic at our knitting group, but I have never been the recipient of the tutorial. Now I can learn any time – Thanks B.

Pride

The thing that sucked up all of my crafty-time in October was the Halloween costume for my Blythe doll. It got a pretty good reception at the Blythe Meet that I went to, but I was a little shocked that it got picked up by both the Craft blog, and Boing Boing. yeah Boing Boing. wow. And they classified it as ‘Art.’ Though I thought my friends were web-nerds, B was the only one that I think even really knew about boing boing. Make sure to scroll down and check out the comments there – I actually really enjoyed some negative feedback, but that may be because I like to cause trouble….

And as if that amount of web traffic wasn’t enough to make me happy, Not Martha posted a link to my monster finger chapstick holder pattern.

Thanks for the love Internets! It makes me feel better about being a Socktober slacker.

On a final note, I will generously point out that you can now advertise on Ravelry for a tiny sum. And I think it pays off… Indie shop owners, make sure you check it out.

Ravelry-induced weekend orders

I am lucky because this weekend I thrifted two of the cutest aprons ever.

(that second one doesn’t have a stain, I just got it a little wet)

I am lucky because i got a Mr. Juiceman Jr. at the el cerrito garage sale for $3 and now I can use it to grind up cheap delicious apples for my enjoyment.

I know – you are probably wondering when I am going to quit mention Mr. Juiceman Jr. Well, it’s going to be a while. I love him.

And finally, I feel lucky because I finally got my issue of Craft magazine. i am rationing its goodness.

oops. I am already on page 112. I’ll just start over after that. you should head over there and subscribe! At the very least you should check out the Craft blog. It’s as addictive as crack. And while you’re there you might find the final reason I feel lucky…. i was mentioned on their blog. cool. totally cool.

I made a rather timid attempt at a second pair of socks using my leftover yarn…

A baby sock! So far i only have 1.5 baby socks finished, so maybe I will get the rest done at knitting tonight. to reiterate some of my knitting philosophy for any new readers

Babies: Not so much.
Knitting for Babies: awesome.

Baby projects are tiny and always cute (well, almost always) and usually pretty quick. I am a huge fan of baby socks because it lets you try out different sock knitting techniques (toes, heels, bind-offs) rather quickly since they are pretty small. I am writing up this pattern as I go and hopefully people will be able to use it to try out knitting a toe-up sock. stay tuned.

Here are a couple of socktober highlights that I want to link to for future reference.

• Stretchy Bind-off by Grumperina – This is fantastic for toe-up socks. It is by far the best thing i have found so far. and easy to memorize. B- you have to try it.
• Short row heels with wrapped stitches – Buried in this tutorial is the reason why the left and right side sides of short row heels with wrapped stitches look different. and how to fix it. when i understand, you’ll see it in action here
• Picot Edging for toe-up socks – Completely tested and verified with math, the best way to put a picot edging on a pair of toe up socks.

i am off to spend the last hours of Socktober in a bar with my knitting friends and others. I might get that second baby sock done, but probably I will just ruin it while knitting under the influence. Happy Halloween!

And much more in the spirit of Socktober than ripping out socks, I finished a pair of socks!

Pattern: my own; toe up; short row heel; 3×1 rib
Yarn: Socks that rock mediumweight in Carbon.

i think…. i guess it could actually be carbon dating. i can’t remember and i lost the ball band immediately. probably when i first brought it home and started rolling around in the big pile of new yarn. i lOVE knitting in the medium weight. The socks knit up quickly, and i don’t mind that the socks are a little thick. it is actually very useful since most of my shoes are too big and i need big socks to keep them on. and i know this probably isn’t new information to you, but man that yarn is nice. I have been coveting the new haul over at januaryone. Go look at it. I mean, does it get any better than that?

Here we have Chuck’s socks (pattern here, story of the lunch box here). Briefly mentioned when I first started them, and then faded into the background. They are designed for a foot that is 8.5 inches around, and mine is only about 7 inches, so i sized down the needles and went at it. The result…. they didn’t fit. too small. Everyone that i told that they fit and were just a little small…. I lied. I mean, I could after about 3 minutes of wiggling and wrestling, force them onto my feet. but that isn’t really fitting. And if you know me you know i hate ripping things out, so i have been in a state of denial.
So I am ripping them out. Liberated by socktober!

Incidentally, if you are currently making forward progress on Chuck’s socks, you should join the knit-along.

I am in a bit of a state of denial about something else… stay tuned…. there will be prizes involved.

I thought I might answer some of the questions posed for socktoberfest, but was afraid they might be a bit boring so be warned!

• When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

I made my first pair probably about 3 years ago. it was with yarn that I bought at stitches west. How cute and naive it was of me to not even understand how self-stiping yarn worked!

• What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

They were made from a Lana grossa self-striping yarn, and have help up well!


• What would you have done differently?

They are knit too loosely. I would use smaller needles. My awareness of gauge is much greater nowadays

• What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

The ‘Socks that Rock” that I am using on the current WIP socks is by far my favorite. Louet gems is nice too, but that is some tiny stuff. Oh! And blauband Maxiringel is fabulous.  I love the matching reinforcing thread.


• Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

Knit them on two circs

• Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

My current favorite is short row, and afterthought is a close second. I LOVE toe-up socks. I cannot imagine doing them any other way.

• How many pairs have you made?

i currently have one sock abandoned due to second sock syndrome, but i have 4 pairs.

Probably the best representation of my sock history reveals itself if you choose Socks from my tag cloud in the sidebar… Now back to work on those Socks that Rock….

I am also comfortable enough to declare that I have figured out how to do short-row heels for toe up socks…. EXACTLY the SAME way as for top down socks. Took me long enough to realize they were symmetric so it doesn’t matter what type of sock you use them on.

I also joined the Fall Cable Knit along. i did this because I thought the next thing I would start on would be the ‘Central Park Hoodie’ from the Fall Knitscene magazine.

I know that I swore off hoods after the rogue… they take too much yarn, they make it seem like you should be done with the sweater, but you’re not… But i can’t resist. And now I can;t say for sure that his will be my next sweater project… Problem is, Knitpicks knows I am a sucker. If you have ever bought something from them, they send you almost weekly emails advertising a new pattern or yarn. Being a sucker, I open them. And this time I love the pattern and the yarn. go take a look at Emma. Inticing because it has it all: steeking, knitting in the round ( no purling!), suggested yarn in colors i like, and an awesomely huge collar.

Whoa! I just had an awesome idea – I think this yarn would also work for the central park hoodie!! Ahhhh, a green cabled sweater, and a brownish jacket… wouldn’t that be nice.

Finally, shamelessly, since I have yarn lust and no yarn budget I have to pimp my etsy shop

I’ll give you free First class shipping (priority if you order more than one) on yarn if you comment when you purchase that you read about the yarn on my blog. WAIT for an invoice from me before submitting payment!

In addition to a bunch of sock yarn, I made a set of stitch markers that I think would be pretty handy for sock knitters. Recycling the text I used for the item description… Every time I finish I sock, I have to drag out a book or a computer to look up how to do the stinking toe graft. I am incapable of memorizing the kitchener stitch. So I have put it in a form that will stick with my socks – Stitch markers!

I usually have a few stitch markers involved in my sock knitting so I made 4 markers, each displaying brief instructions for the 4 steps of the kitchener stitch. Now I will have the directions on my sock by the time I get to the toe! The stitch marker holder has a tag reminding me of the set-up for the beginning of the graft, and now as long as i keep them in order I am set.

Courtesy of Flagrant Disregard, here is a mosaic of some of the items I added to my shop.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and it has the best holiday color scheme, so it seemed appropriate to make some Halloween-inspired sock yarns. get them now and in the spirit of socktober fest you can have them done by the end of the month!