Socks

Earlier this fall I was so busy with other projects that I started to miss making socks, fantasizing about buying a colourful sock yarn and just knitting simple stockinette stitch. So when I finally had some more time to make what I wanted, I cast on a couple of pairs, and when I finished them, I started new ones. This has reminded me how much I love making socks, either from a pattern or just starting something random and going with that.

I'll start with the ones where I used a pattern.

These ones I mentioned in my very short christmas present post. I finished them in time and the person who got them was very happy. The pattern is Rhombus by Cookie A.

This is also Cookie A's pattern, called Wanida. The yarn is Finnish wool, called Kirjo-Pirkka. It took me a bit long to finish these, since I'm not a big fan of weaving the ends in, but now that they are done I'm happy with them.

For these next ones I didn't use patterns, so they might not be as fancy looking but they were still fun to make.

This is a second edition (I think) of the Arne & Carlos sock yarn. A toe-up pattern. I tried to make the socks as similar as possible (= matching the colours), so that they would look more like actual fair isle socks. The heel looks a bit wonky and weird, but it fits my foot well enough. I still need some practice with these toe-up socks.

These I made for my mom. The yarn is Novita 7 Veljestä, and I used two different multi-coloured balls, one has bright rainbow colours and the other has shades of brown and grey. With these ones I didn't even think about matching the colours, I just started the second sock right where I finished the first one, but as you can see, the colours accidentally matched almost perfectly.

Another pair for my mom which I just started. The first sock is now finished but I don't have a picture. These pics look funny when put side by side, because the light in them is so different that it almost looks like two different projects, sorry about that.

  

Now these are a perfect example of me just starting a project without having any idea and just doing what comes to mind. I like them even though they look weird. The yarn is three shades of 7 Veljestä, a multi-coloured one plus dark grey and light blue. 

Some blankets

I went to visit my mom and wanted to take pictures of the blankets I have made that she has there. Currently there are three. I also have three blankets here at my apartment, but I have yet to take proper pics of them, so there will be another post about blankets sometime in the future.

First is the very first blanket I've ever made. I had (and still have) this huge box full of old yarns and left-overs from years ago. So I just randomly took yarn from the box, making sure there was enough of it to make two rows and just went with a simple ripple pattern. This took well over a year to finish, but I was, and still am, very proud with how it turned out. I also made a border with light pink.

Next is this one, the pattern is from a booklet that came with Simply Crochet -magazine issue 33. I absolutely fell in love with the colours when I got the magazine and I immediately ordered the yarn, it's Stylecraft Special DK, making sure I had all the same colours. The booklet has four other blanket patterns and I'm so tempted to make them all.

The last one is the most recent blanket I've finished. This is Persian Tile Crochet Blanket designed by Jane Crowfoot. I ordered the blanket kit from her website. 

Here I am joining the pieces after blocking. 

And this is the finished blanket. I made this for my mom and she absolutely loves it, as do I. It really turned out very nice. 

This last picture is not of a blanket, it's just a project I recently started. It's going to be a scarf.

A very short list of christmas makes

And by short I mean short, because it's only two things (and only one of them is finished at the moment).

The first one is a set for a baby: a jumpsuit, hat, socks and mittens. I was very excited when I was asked to make this, because there are no babies in my family and I've always wanted to make something for a baby.

Here's the set. The yarn is Drops Baby Merino and the pattern is this one from Drops Design, except for the mittens, which I just made up. I also made a string to connect the mittens to one another but it's not yet in this picture.

This is the back with the buttons.

A picture from the beginning of the project. I made the legs and sleeves with dpns and then used a circular needle for the body

I also made this little "card" for the washing labels and the extra buttons. The quality is not very good, I smudged the ink a bit... But it's fine I guess. Here you can also see string connecting the mittens.

This is the second christmas gift, as you can see it's still in an early stage but I'm sure it'll be finished in time. It's going to be a pair of socks, the pattern is Rhombus by Cookie A. 

Not a lot of gifts this year. I'll probably make something for my mom too, but I'll let her choose the pattern first. I've been busy this fall with other projects, so I'm glad I didn't have a huge list of christmas gifts on the side. 

My first post

So I decided a good subject for my first post would be some socks I've made recently (well, "recently", some of them are a year old maybe, but these are socks I've made for myself and that doesn't happen very often).

These I've been using quite a lot lately, the yarn is thin so they fit nicely in my shoes with all the other socks I have on (my feet get cold easily so I usually wear at least two pairs of socks).

The pattern is Gothic Spire by Cookie A and the yarn is Novita Pikkusisko.

Here is a close-up of the pattern. I really liked it, it was simple and easy but still interesting and a bit different.

These I use when I'm at home. They are super warm because of the alpaca in the yarn.

The pattern is from Novita Sukkalehti 2015 and the yarn is Novita Alpaca Wool.

(Novita is a Finnish company, they make yarn and magazines, which are easily available in almost every store so I like to use them.)

This one is my own pattern, I came up with that cable-thing for another project and I wanted to use it in socks. Yarn is Novita Nalle.

This is also my own pattern, the yarn is leftovers from a blanket. I like these, they fit my feet well. I should make more socks like these.

These were fun to make, the pattern was simple enough because I hadn't done fair isle in a while before making these. The pattern is from a book called Country Weekend Socks by Madeline Weston and yarn is Novita 7 Veljestä. In the original pattern the fair isle pattern continued all the way to the end of the toes, but I remember getting tired of doing it....

This is the yarn designed by Arne & Carlos from Regia. The pattern is just a simple toe-up version.

These I made over two years ago, but I've been using them a lot so I put them here. These socks also tell me how much I have improved, I can see that the quality of my work is much better now( it's not really visible in the picture but still). I remember thinking it was a fun idea to reverse the colours for the other sock, but now it doesn't look so good to me any more. Maybe I should make a matching one for both of these. Yarn is Novita Nalle. Also this was one of the first times I made a pair of socks without using any patterns at all, even as a reference.

I wanted to put a picture of both sides because the yarn is so pretty. Unfortunately I have lost the label and I can't remember the name or the brand of this yarn. It might have been a German brand. I will try to look for it and if I find it, I'll edit it here. I made these when I was practicing the toe-up method.