Sock blow out

It's happened. I had my first sock blow out. It wasn't my sock, but little D. He woke me up this morning saying that he had a hole in his sock. I thought it would be a little hole, but it was huge. I darned it anyways and we'll see how comfortable that it for him. While I was working on that sock, I went ahead and reinforced the heel on the other. What yarn were those socks made out of? Fiesta Boomerang. As of now, I'm not going to knit socks for D out of the soft, squishy sock yarns. He constantly runs around all day and really puts the sock yarn to the test. This one failed. It lasted two months of being worn weekly. He has other socks made out of wool/nylon blends like Knit Picks Parade (discontinued) and Regia sport weight. Those show no signs of wear or thinning.

This has been a great week. Dwight has been home all week! We had a fun Christmas. There were plenty of presents, yummy food, and lots of time spent together. I think that Dwight is ready to go back to work. ;-) I've had a lot of time to photograph a few things that have been finished for a while now.

On the left is my Montego Bay scarf knit out of Fleece Artist's Sea Wool. I cast on 35 instead of the original 43 and knit until I ran out of yarn. This is one really long scarf, but I like it. It's thin enough that I can wrap it around my neck twice with out feeling suffocated. On the right is my Wollmeise sock yarn scarf knit in the sea foam stitch pattern. I also knit that one until I ran out of yarn. That scarf is wider, but shorter. I like both of them and it's about time that I've knit a scarf for myself.

Yes, I have knit another pair of socks for me. When I first started knitting socks, I thought that I wouldn't want the fussiness of doing the contrasting heels and toes. But after doing my pirate socks, I liked the look of it and wanted to try it again. These socks are made out of Duet sock yarn in the original weight. It's been so cold here that I haven't worn my fingering weight socks at all. So, these are a welcome pair into my sock drawer.

After I got past the heel on these socks, I realized that the yarn would go pretty far if I went beyond my usual sock height. I decided to try calf shaping again. My shaping method was pretty simple. I started increasing two stitches in the back when the leg was around 4 inches tall. After that, I increased another two stitches every inch or so. I tried the socks on a lot to make sure that they still fit correctly. I didn't know how much further my yarn would go, so I started the ribbing early and just did a wide band of it at the top of the sock. I think that helps the sock stay up. I haven't worn these around all day, so we'll see if it really works.

I have new knits waiting to be photographed. I finished D's sweater vest out of sKitches sock yarn. It's so cute! I need to get him to stand still and that might be a challenge. I've also finished a pair of mittens for E. Those are knit out of sock yarn and in a tight gauge. I hope they're warm.

For works in progress, I've started the Honeybee Stole for my mom. She's requested red and I have quite a bit of red leftover from my Chrysopolis stole. I'm about to start a pair of fingerless mitts for D. He really likes his old pair, but I want to make some with a little more covering on his fingers and out of a yarn with more wool content.