I am sure I’m not the only knitter who starts off their day with a bit of knitting. I also have a coffee and I do this if I am working. I work long shifts and I know that when I get home that I will be far too tired to do anything creative. Usually it’s all I can do to feed the cat and jump in the shower before I head to bed. A quick game with the cat to tire her out is as inventive as I get. So getting up 30 minutes earlier so that I can have that coffee and do a little knitting lets me have the best of both worlds. Hands up who else does this.
My morning project has to be something that requires absolutely no thinking at all. I have memorised the windy scarf pattern so well that this is the perfect project. Continuing with my Brioche learning has to wait for a more reasonable hour of the day. Last week though I got up and all I wanted to do was knit some socks. Just for the sake of knitting them. I’m not used to spending so long on non-sock projects.
When I was looking at my stash I had this cake of yarn highlighted as my next sock project. As you can see it is a product of my talented friend Lisa of For the Love of Yarn. This was from one of her early box clubs. I’ve just looked back and discovered that it was part of her gradient box and came with two of these cakes and two skeins of a deep purple. I’m not sure that I still have those purple skeins. Possibly they have been knitted up already. I feel a little guilty as this would have been a perfect shawl with the solid colours. I wish I had looked out those purple skeins on the off chance that they are in my stash still before I started knitting with them. However, I wasn’t going to do that at that time of the morning and I only just looked up the box today. Sorry Lisa!
When I cast these on I wasn’t entirely sure that I had two cakes of the colourway never mind the purple skeins. The plan was that I would knit up some socks and use mini skeins as an afterthought heel. Firstly so that i could practice these and secondly so that I could use up some mini skeins (I have a bag for life FILLED with them). I decided that I wanted a simple slip stitch pattern. It’s a pattern I have long admired and have had in my queue for a long time. Or so I thought. I couldn’t find the pattern anywhere. I was so sure that I had it saved on my iPad or in my Ravelry library. Unable to find it I decided to go ahead and do it myself anyway. I have since found it so if you want to knit slip stitch socks you can find the pattern here by La Maison de Saba. It’s called Slip Stitch Lines and it’s a lovely pattern. Fantastic for beginners who want to do something a little more than a basic sock.
The afterthought heel went out the window when I saw how large the blocks of colour were. I felt that it would take away from the colourway. By this point I realised that I had two of these cakes. So I decided to knit another sock from the centre and then a third with the remains to see what I would get. I would then do the same with the second cake and it worked for the most part. There are slight differences but I think that’s okay and my sister has gotten three pairs of socks out of my experiment.
The second pair was knit from the centre as I mentioned. I love the transition from orange to pink. They are such bright colours and perfect for my sister who likes to wear all black but accessorise in brights. I did the slip stitch pattern again but this time I added bobbles. I love a bobble and I call these my Bad WOLF socks. I haven’t written up the pattern yet but I plan to with a few modifications. I also plan to match a cowl, fingerless mitts and hat. So watch this space.
The final pair was knit with the remains of both. Like the first pair I worked from the outside in. I went back to the slip stitch pattern but this time I continued it round the entire sock. In one cake of yarn the orange block is a bit shorter. You can see it a little with the first pair of socks but it really shows here with the second sock having a pink toe. I quite like the difference. It makes them unique. For some reason they didn’t initially fit my sister. I made them the same length as pair 1. Luckily I had her try them all on before I had actually started on the second sock of this pair. I unpicked the toe to before I had started reducing stitches and added a few extra rounds. I’m pleased to say that they now fit.
I’m a little sad that I didn’t realise this was part of a much bigger set. At the same time however, I am pleased with my little experiment and the results. I am now back to my scarf and shawl so hopefully I will finish one of those before I cast on another pair.
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