I Am Now a Sock Knitter. . .

One thing I didn't expect out of lockdown was that it would turn me into a sock knitter.

While I've always enjoyed wearing handknit socks, particularly a lovely pair that a friend knit for me, I've always dismissed them as items that will be irritatingly prone to constant darning.

But then I won some sock yarn in an instagram contest.

Aren't these skeins gorgeous?  Katla is a new sock yarn created by Hélène Magnússon out of 99% Icelandic lambswool and 1% silk.  It feels really strong and sturdy.  I also won her new Mosi sock pattern and so while I was waiting for the yarn to arrive, I thought I would get my sock knitting skills up to scratch.

I had always admired the Konoko socks by Mary Jane Mucklestone and doing a bit of simple colourwork on the leg would help me gauge the stitch count and needle size that would work best for a good fit. I have to say, this pattern is wonderfully simple and well written, and I absolutely love the fit and feel of these socks. I used some Madeline Tosh fingering for the blue, with some remnant leftover ball for the white.  In previous pairs I've knitted, I've always done an afterthought heel, but the heel flap and gusset in this construction, I find to be much more comfortable.

It gave me the confidence and also the drive to dig out two four year old sock wips - just simple vanilla socks using self-striping yarn (Cascade Heritage Print for the first and Regia Sock Yarn for the second) - and using the same stitch counts and needles from my Konoko socks, I finished them up.

I finally get why knitters love vanilla socks. I have the recipe now ingrained in my head and I don't need a pattern any more. It's the perfect portable project for commuting (at least in the past) and for queuing (of which I anticipate a lot of in the future).  And they do feel lovely on the feet. And I suppose if I knit enough of them (no shortage of sock yarn in the stash), they can be in constant rotation without, hopefully, too many holes, too quickly although  I definitely am going to experiment with different types of yarn to gauge their durability.

As for the Mosi socks, I've started them, but they are feeling a bit tight, so I may have to go up a needle size. These should be great for hiking though.  Whenever that happens again.

Knitting in Lockdown. . .

We've now been in lockdown for nearly two months. How is everyone doing?

When it was first anticipated and especially when I started working at home, the staying-in bit didn't bother me at all. I knew I'd miss my long hikes, but on the plus side, I thought I'd have oodles of time to crack down and finish all my knitting wips and even get out the sewing machine. I had visions of tackling a really big, time-consuming project, maybe finishing a fair isle cardigan or my intarsia jumper, or even making huge headway with my Tarantella millefiore quilt (nope, that's never going to be completed - I admit defeat now).

In the end, most of my sweater wips have remained in their lonesome project bags and I've been drawn to easier and smaller projects. And despite a goal to really crack down on all my wips from the last decade (my challenge is to finish 20 by the end of the year),  all I've felt like doing is casting on the new. And so I have.

I started with hats:

The top two -  Foglie Nascoste and the Gradient Mesh  - are from the new book of accessories, Colour Moves by Claudia Fiochetti.  It's the first book in Kate Davies' new venture Make/Mark in which she is helping to mentor and publish new designers and writers.  In look and execution, it is very much in line with the quality of Kate's own books, but the designs are very much Claudia's and it's a lovely collection of mittens, hats and cowls, many with a strong graphic sensibility.  I will be knitting more from this book in the future - my Gradient Mesh hat, which uses a Crazy Zauberball for the colour changes, is one of the best fitting hats I've ever knitted.

I also knit Kate's Brilliant Corners hat because it was fun to play with the colours and textures.

And I needed a hat to go with the very first pair of gloves I knitted back in February. These were a really fun project and the fingers much easier than I thought they would be.  After fiddling around with dpns that were too long and magic loop which was difficult with such small circumferences, I tried some Addi Crasy Trios and they worked a charm. The pattern is Blue Interference by the aforementioned talented Claudia Fiochetti but from the new book Warm Hands, edited by Kate Davies and Jeanette Sloan.

The book has some really beautiful colourwork mittens and some fun patterns with new-to-me techniques, such as the calliper cables in Jeanette Sloan's Toasty Cosy mitts that I knit to match a previous cowl.

And because I enjoyed the gloves so much, I knit a pair for a birthday gift - the pattern is Nancy's Gloves by Donna Smith.  I really like the simple but elegant lace pattern.  I think I might need to cast on a pair for myself.

Heads and hands out of my system, I drifted towards shawls.  Now I DO NOT need another shawl, but I just can't seem to stop knitting them. They are probably my favourite type of project because they grow quickly (mostly), are the perfect stashbuster, especially for single skeins, the gauge is usually not an issue, and they are a great canvas for trying out some new techniques.

I used the rest of my Crazy Zauberball to knit a Moonraker shawl by Melanie Berg.  This was lots of soothing garter stitch followed by some rows of colourful clusters.

And then I cast on Gudrun Johnston's beautiful Loren shawl. I had always wanted to try the Shetland Bird's Eye lace pattern (which involves knitting lace on both sides, but is quite intuitive once you get into the rhythm of it), and I'm really happy with the result.  The yarn is merino laceweight dyed by Canadian Riverside Knits,  from very old stash. I do like a light lace shawl for summer.

And my final shawl (I do seem to be knitting things in threes these days), is still in progress. It's a Mystery Knit-A-Long shawl designed by Kieran Foley who is a master of colour, although his patterns use a lot of intarsia. I had a pile of mini balls of Shetland yarn in stash from Wee County Yarns (very convenient as ready-made bobbins), and some gorgeous, rustic Donegal yarn that I picked up from Rosa Pomar's Retrosaria last year in Lisbon so thought I would give this a go.

The pattern is inspired by Moroccan embroideries and while my colours don't have as much contrast as I would normally like,  I think they give an over-all effect of a faded carpet or sun-bleached blanket which I find quite pleasing.  I still have two more clues to complete but have worked out a system of knitting this on my bed, with all the bobbins spread out so that they are easily untangled after every row. It's very slow and steady knitting but I'm pleased after admiring his patterns for so long to be actually tackling one.  And I think his Bloomsbury Swirl  is definitely destined for my future queue.

Ahem. . . and lockdown has apparently turned me into a sock knitter!  Who knew?  But maybe that's a post for later.

I hope you are all finding comfort in your knitting or other crafty projects.   The Liverpud, not known for spending time in creative endeavours,  has already finished putting together a model airplane and is talking about taking a sketchbook out to the garden.

Sock Yarn Test. . .

I love testing new yarns, so when The Knitting Goddess posted that she had dyed a new base called Britsilk and was looking for feedback, I was very eager to give it a go.  Britsilk is made up of 40% Blue-Faced Leicester, 20% Wensleydale, 20% Alpaca ad 20% silk.  All the wool is British and it's spun and processed in the UK and then dyed by Joy.  She sent me a mini-skein of this bright rainbow colourway - very smooth and soft to the touch.

This blend is very similar to her Britsock range where the breed percentage is the same but instead of the silk, there is 20% nylon. While I would never use pure silk for socks, I am interested in non-nylon substitutes for typical sock yarn ( if you are too, check out Mrs M's Curiosity Cabinet blog and podcast here as Meg's embarked on a much more extensive experiment with non-nylon yarns) and so was curious to see how these would work for socks.  I didn't have enough for a full sock, but since holes first tend to appear around the toes, I knit this little toe cap.  It's a lovely yarn to knit with - runs very smoothly through your fingers and this photo doesn't really do justice to the  intense colour and shine of it. 

For my first test, I wore it inside another sock for a week and went about my daily life which involved several walks into work ( about three miles each).  At the end of the week, there was some agitation of the fibres where they had rubbed against each other, but no distinctive pills and more importantly no holes. On the left is the top part and the right, the sole, which has felted slightly.

Next, I tested it in my hiking boots, tucking it inside on the last two walks I did with my rambling group.  In total that was about 25 miles over two separate days, occasionally over some rough terrain and definitely in hot conditions.  My feet were certainly sweating and this toe cap got a good workout.  I then popped it into the washer and dryer. Here's how the top and sole looked when it came out. 

And the inside - as expected this has felted quite a bit, but again, no discernible signs of pilling on the outside and no holes at all.  I'm pretty impressed.

In conclusion, while most knitters I suspect will use this yarn for shawls and garments that need the lovely drape and luxury that silk brings, I do think it could also be used for socks as it seems to be as strong as any yarn with nylon in it.  It certainly felt wonderful on my foot and given the testing I've put it through, I think it's a credit to the wool fibres in this yarn that have given it the strength and stability that a sock needs.   One word of caution though - I made the silly mistake of not hand-washing this sample first before chucking it in the washer. As with many hand-dyed yarns, the dye can bleed on that first washing, so I've foolishly ruined three grey t-shirts.