Clarisse's Sock Obsession

2011-02-17T15:43:00.000-08:00

I've been finishing up my "Doctor's Office" sock projects. I don't seem to find myself sitting around in waiting rooms anymore and really do want the finished socks so now I'm taking them on the road with me when ever I get in the car. I have 2 pairs on the needles right now, both with the second sock half way done so it won't be long before they are finished. The purple/blues are Lion Brand Magic Stripes, a gift from a knitting buddy in Texas and it's no longer being produced, and the bright Kool-Aid colors are a Wool Tencel blend I bought off of ebay a few years ago.

I also recently purchased the Knit Picks knitting needle sample kit.
http://www.knitpicks.com/needles/TRY_IT_Needle_Set__D90589.html?intmedid=NeedleHomeB-SubAd-TINS
It's 3 needle tips, one set Zepher acrylic clear, one set Harmony woods, and one set silver nickel plated metal (like Addi Turbo's) with the real flexible cords and stoppers to use them as circs or individual needles. Very cool and I'm anxious to test them out. I also bought a set of the Harmony wood circs in the real long length for Magic Loop sock knitting. I love Knit Picks, the prices are great and the quality is unsurpassed. And when my beloved kitty cats are being little demon children and get ahold of one and chew up the cord, it's much easier to replace one for $6 or so, rather than the $25-$30 to replace my Turbo's!!

Oh Gosh! I just scrolled down through this page and I started the Wool Tencel blend socks way back in September 2008. Talk about a UFO LOL!!!

2008-09-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

American Girl Cabled Knee High Socks. this scan is of the socks in progress, they are finished and I'll have to take a picture of the pair to post up. They did turn out really cute, even with all the mistakes I made in the cables. They are for a doll for heaven's sake, so I managed to let it go :)

Machine Knit sock/bootie from a Knittery punchcard for the short rows

A second pair of baby socks that look like they will better fit an American Girl Doll. I'm going to go down to Bullhead City, I've recently learned that they opened a Michael's "YIPPEE!" Good thing E.J. got a new job because I'm sure foaming at the bit to spend some moolah on some more yarns LOL!!!

These footie socks I knit up for my mom out of Tofutsies. She says she won't wear them, she doesn't wear socks, but I've seen her wear lace socks and I just think that since she ripped out all her carpet and replaced it with Travertine tiles, her feet will be colder and she will be glad of some light, super soft, feels really great agains the skin, coverings to wear inside her pink felted clogs I knit her a couple years ago :)

These are the Tofutsies along side a ball of some hand dyed yarn I picked up off of eBay. It's a wool tencel blend and I must say, I really like the feel of it so far :) I'm going to reknit the heel flap, I just think it's too short and I'm knitting them for my son's lady friend who wear's really large shoes. Maybe I'll knit them on the machine, now that I know how the yarn performs :)

2007-07-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, here they are.... the Match Be Damned Slipper Socks. It's funny but when I look at them laying out flat, they are only off a little bit and almost look like a match. I picked up the yarn right where the first one ended and cast on for the next sock, not attempt to start at the same place in the color pattern . But....
guess what? They are driving me crazy!!! Of all the stupid silly things to obsess over, it hurts my eyes to look at them. Good thing they are for sleeping in and I won't be looking at them. Maybe I'll get used to the imbalance of color and it won't bother me, but right now, as dumb as it is, they bother me :( Oh, well. Now I know. I'm a sock colorway matcher. I admit it. Hello, my name is Clarisse and I have a problem with miss matched socks. Hello, Clarisse :) Aren't the colors pretty together though? I like that kind of peachy pink with the cherry red. These are my new favorite colors.

2007-04-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

Oh My! I hadn't realized that I hadn't been putting up pictures of my slippers and socks on the sock page! Here's the latest Strata exfoliating bed socks. They work great at protecting the sheets from the goopy stuff rubbed onto horse hoof, cracked up heels :) If they look a little small, they are. They fit like a sock instead of looser like a slipper, but since I wanted them to stay on in bed, I thought this might be better.

2007-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

And we thought the Red Heart Strata saga was over!!! I just love these slippers. It's 4ply worsted weight so they are too thick for socks, but what great dorm slippers. These were hand knit from the Red Heart Dorm Slipper free pattern and a snap to make. The bristly yarn is perfect for these too, and don't you just love the bright colors? I'll be making more of these and will probably do some on the 8mm machine too. What fun!

2006-10-26T04:37:00.000-07:00

I finished the tractor guy's socks this last weekend. For some reason the green color is coming out sort of like dejon mustard. It's really more greenish and it's a really lovely color way. E.J. said that when he gave them to him, he was amazed at the color changes and was trying to figure out how it was done. Well, I can't say that he doesn't listen to me cuz he told him "the yarn is self stripping". I'm so proud of him for knowing the answer. Sure hope that doesn't mean I'm going to have to learn how to set an irrigation clock LOL!!!

2006-09-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

I not only have comfort food, I have comfort knitting. Socks. I'm having a hard time with a baby cardigan, so I knitted up a pair of infant socks today to include in the gift with the overalls. This is Opal Brazil. Have you ever had a yarn that you just loved so much that you couldn't bare to use it? This was mine, and now when I see it next to the Fortissima socks I made for my grandson, I see a pattern developing :) Well, at least I'm consistent with what I like!

2006-09-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

In progress, a little gift for the tractor guy that dug the hole for our pool this summer. He asked my husband for some "Hippie Socks" to return the favor. The yarn is Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt, I've used it before and it's a very nice yarn, not quite as cushy as the Fortissima, but still makes very nice socks. It reminds me alot of Opal in texture. I just fell in love with the colors! It's going to be hard to give this pair away.

2006-08-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

These are done in Fortissima Colori. I was very careful to match up my colors so they would be "identical twins" and was very proud of myself until I had to add in the second ball of yarn. Much to my dismay, and I really do know better, the second ball was a different dye lot. The colors were a little bit brighter, that was ok, but the yellow stripe is narrower than in the other ball of yarn and it threw the rest of the sock off. It's ok, that part will be under my grandson's shoes most of the time anyway, and besides, he's 6 years old. I don't think he cares, in fact, he loves them :)

2006-07-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Done! These are so very very comfortable and they fit me perfectly. I am a happy camper :) And Look! No swelling today!

2006-06-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

These are for me! I've gotten selfish in my old age and decided to make myself a pair of socks, just my size, just for me. Big ankles, puffy feet and all :) These are Knit Picks Simple Stripes knit on size 1 dpn's. They fit perfectly, and this time I'm writing it all down so I won't have any trouble making it's twin :) Oh, the speckles on my horribly dry skin are from the kittens. They think I'm a tree trunk, ouch!

2006-05-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Whew! Finally! And I think they are worth the hassle after all :) I learned that I need to write down every detail, exact measurements for any changes and keep the first sock by my side to compare to. What a lesson! If you've been to my blog before or read some of the earlier sock posts, this little quest for identical twins started from a wize crack from my husband on the last pair I made for him. This has really been fun though. I feel like I can conquer the world now!!! LOL!!

2006-05-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! I have finally found the perfect way for me to close the toe on a sock! I know alot of you prefer to knit your socks toe up and some do toe up because of the trickiness of grafting, but I found this awesome technique at http://www.sunshineknitdesigns.com/new_page_6.htm It's grafting using a knitting needle instead of a chibi or tapestry needle and it worked out great! This was soooo much easier for me to remember where I was at and what I was doing and the tension turned out perfect. Yay! I am a happy camper again!!! I've tried toe up and I just get too confused at the turn the heel part. I figure I will find a pattern I will try again some day, I like the concept and all and I figure it's like the 2 circular needle thing. One of these days I will get determined to do it and I'll give it another go and suddenly there will be a "Duh!" moment and I'll get it, but for now, this is perfect!

2006-05-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Eureka! I found my very first ever pair of socks. I made this on my ISM. It was made from a pattern called Mark's Birky Sock that I got from the Bond Knitting email list group. The website for this pattern is at http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/socks/marksbirkysocks.htm Wow, I had forgotten, the picture on the website is this sock, just not worn yet :) I feel proud now. They were made from Lion Brand Jiffy yarn and are actually more like a house slipper because of the thickness, but I wore them with my stretched out sandles for a long time. After this pair, I started using the Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight and although they were still thicker than the nice sock yarns, the socks worked great when worn with snow boots or Birks :)

2006-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

Ta-Da! Completed. Sorry about the quality of my photos. My grandson and I dropped my camera and it's in serious need of some repairs. As you can see, they are fraternal twins and I never really thought one way or another about it, after all, they are socks. What does my husband say when he puts them on? These are great, but how come they don't match? AAAHHHH!!! OK, so I guess the next pair of patterning yarn socks will be matched up. It's all about learning new things anyway, right? :)

2006-02-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

These socks are being knit from Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt. It's a bit finer weight than what I've used before but it's really coming along nicely. The color way is "different" but my husband likes it and he really likes the feel of the sock on his foot. It "forms" to his feet better is what he said. I think I'm going to expand myself and look for a lacy pattern next. My mom likes fancy trouser socks so maybe I can have something for her by her birthday. It's in September so I'm giving myself plenty of time :)

2006-02-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

The brown pair are my very first hand knit socks cir. 1999. They were made from 100% alpaca and are displayed to hide the holes in them :) I have since learned about sock yarns and the durability factors so I won't use the alpaca by itself again, but they sure are soft and toasty warm. Oh, my husbands favorite thing about the alpaca socks was that when they got wet out in the snow, they still held the heat in and didn't get his toes cold. The varigated yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease in the sport weight. Living in rural California my access to yarn was very limited and I would stock up when I went to town to Wal-Mart (the store I hate to love). Sometimes I would get a chance to stop at Michael's or Joann's on my way home from work in the "big city". Wool-Ease in both sport weight and worsted weight was all I used until I started shopping for yarn on Ebay and discovered Regia and the other sock yarns. Wow, what fun!

2006-02-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

These are the very first pair of socks I ever knit. They were knit up on my Bond ISM using Mark's Birkey Sock pattern, way back at the turn of the century :). What fun that was and I've knit many pairs since. What's kind of interesting and I hadn't noticed until know, this yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy (so I guess they are really more of a slipper than a sock since they are too thick for regular shoes) but look at the pattern, this is a varigated that almost stripped when used this way.