socks | AuburnChick's Adventures

Kai-Mei Socks

Posted on June 16, 2010 by auburnchick

If I were Catholic, I might find myself needing to go to confession:

“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned (against my blog). It’s been three days since my last post, but I had a very good reason. You see, I was working on a new pair of socks…”

These are called Kai-Mei, and the pattern is from Cookie A’s book, Sock Innovation.

The yarn was a gift from a dear online friend, Susan. It’s called Socks that Rock, and the color is Jade.

She sent me the yarn for my birthday, and when I saw the label, I was psyched! I’ve always seen patterns that used this yarn, so to actually get to knit with it…ahhhhh…sweet happiness!

Susan asked if I would be interested in knitting a Cookie A pattern together, and I happily jumped at the chance. Susan is a wonderful sock knitter, so I thought it would fun. I figured if we had any problems, we could bounce ideas off of each other.

I began this project on June 8th, and finished around 12:30am on June 16th. Yeah, I know, but once I got going, I couldn’t seem to stop! But see, the second sock was the fastest one I’ve ever knit…finished in just two days!!!!

I had to play around with the needle sizes a bit. I originally started out with 2.5mm, but I freaked a little after trying on the sock after only eight rounds. It looked way too large. So, I frogged and started over on size 0 (2.00mm) needles. I think this was perfect because my knitting is very loose.

So, let’s talk about the pattern. Cookie’s patterns can seem intimidating, if you’re only looking at the finished product and not reading the pattern line-by-line. This was a pretty easy one. It’s true that the panel of lace stitches runs down the side of each foot, but once I understood this construction, I literally flew through those rounds.

Pattern Notes: I completed 60 rounds of the leg, 20 rounds of the heel flap, and picked up 12 stitches on each side of the heel. I finished by knitting seven rounds of the lace panel. I used 115 grams of yarn.

The finished pair is very warm, thanks to a deceptive thick yarn. These are going to join the other pairs of hand knit socks…perfect for cold winter days.

A shout-out goes to Chicky who endured flying, biting bugs in 90+ heat and humidity with a minimal amount of complaining to take these photos. She did a great job!

Oh, and Susan, I can’t wait to see your finished pair!!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: Cookie A, kai-mei, Knitting, socks, socks that rock | 6 Comments »

Bex Finds Her Soul Mate

Posted on March 8, 2010 by auburnchick

When last we saw Bex, she was sailing the high seas, in search of her soul, or should I say “sole,” mate…

Super Sis even tried her on and made no secret about wanting Bex all for herself…

Dream on, Sista!

Anyhoo, last night, the great search ended when, lo and behold, her mate appeared!

At last, I don’t have to stare into Bex’s lovelorn stitches peeking through the plastic baggie I’d stored her in. She’d been giving me the What For ever since I cast on last August, and I’d put her away in the extra bedroom to spare myself the guilt trip.

“You’re weak,” she would say, “Allowing your heart to be swayed by this or that project and, thus, sharing…no GIVING your one-on-one attention to another.”

Yeah, yeah. Whatever.

I’m cold, what can I say.

I knew that Bex would ultimately be residing with me and thus gave her the lowest priority.

But FINALLY! I was ready to resume work on her. I actually think I heard Bex laughing at my early struggle to pick up where I’d left off.

A little background…

This is Cookie A’s design from her book Sock Innovation.

She’s one of my favorite sock designers. Her patterns are always so intricate-looking.

I used a wonderful and inexpensive yarn for this project…Berroco Comfort Sock, Color 1702, and knit on size 1 1/2 (2.5 mm) needles. It required every single bit of one skein plus about a yard of another skein (to finish the last two rounds and the bindoff).

The pattern really wasn’t that hard, except for the top of the heel. The directions did not mention this, but you have to knit the cables in reverse on the wrong side.

Um, yeah. At least the front of the book gives you information on how to do this, but if you plod right through the chart and don’t think about it first, you’ll find yourself tinking. This was one time when I was smart and figured it out beforehand. It was easier said than done, though. Cabling in reverse will not be something I do very often.

Regardless, the end product is DIVINE! The yarn is soft, and the cables make the socks thick and smooshy. They are fabo and will stay in my dresser drawer because, as most of us know, only yarnies truly appreciate socks like these!

Now…what to cast on next…

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: Berroco Comfort Sock, Bex, Cookie A, Knitting, socks | 2 Comments »

Time to Bring Out the Socks

Posted on October 17, 2009 by auburnchick

Chicky and I are on the road again.

This weekend, we’re in Atlanta, which cannot go by the nickname “Hotlanta” cause it’s FREEZING!

When we left home (i.e. Florida) at 6:30am, it was 50 degrees. My phone has a weather application, and I checked it as we traveled.

When we hit Dothan an hour and a half later, it was 47 degrees. Say what? Isn’t it supposed to warm up as the day progresses?

We hit Eufaula awhile later, and it was still hovering around 49 degrees.

Lovely.

We got out to eat in Columbus, Georgia, and the wind was blowing. And it was COLD. We didn’t dawdle.

We arrived in Atlanta around 1pm, and I’m telling you…it felt colder than an hour before. Chicky lives for cool weather, but she commented that while yesterday’s weather was nice (the temperature was just starting to fall), today was plain old cold.

Brrr…

Now, let’s talk about the hotel.

It’s the Courtyard Marriot in East Point, GA (Atlanta Airport West), and it’s FABULOUS! Oh my gosh! When we walked into our room, here’s what we saw…

The little details, such as plants, lighting, and TV/desk areas change a hotel room from passable to uber-comfy…

A nice bathroom is bonus…

Look at the shower! I LOVE the little seat area. It’s great for setting your shampoo bottles on!

Before we headed out to the field, we saw that we had time to relax, so I kicked off my shoes.

Notice anything?

Yep…a hand-knit pair of sock…of course…

These are the Hawaiian Leis Socks I finished in February. I blogged about the details here.

The little bit of lace makes the socks just a little thicker than your ordinary vanilla pattern socks, adding a warmth that I wanted for today. The yarn is super-soft.

When people see me knitting socks, they usually say one of two things:

1) Why are you making socks, when you could buy them cheaper? Well, because this way they fit ME perfectly, and they are much nicer than regular socks. Plus, they are different from any you can buy.

2) Do you really think you’re going to use all the socks you make? You live in Florida. Um, we get cold in Florida too. In fact, Floridians get cold when the temperature drops to 75 degrees.

For tomorrow, I’ll be wearing my Pippi Longstockings socks.

Good thing too. We have to be at the soccer field at 8am. Brrr…

I’m ready for Spring.

Filed under: Knitting, soccer | Tagged: atlanta, hawaiian leis socks, Knitting, Pippi Longstockings Socks, soccer, socks, travel | 8 Comments »

Traffic Jams, Soccer, and Knitting

Posted on August 29, 2009 by auburnchick

It’s another weekend, and guess what I’m doing?

Sitting in a hotel after a day spent on the soccer fields.

We drove to Jacksonville after school on Friday. We moved right along until a few miles outside of town, where we hit a major traffic snafu…

Ugh…what a mess! We checked the GPS and saw that there were actually two areas of congestion…at 9:30 at night! I like my roads to be in good shape, but this was the second weekend in a row of encountering heavy traffic!

After sitting in a near-motionless state for an hour, we finally managed to creep our way to the next exit, where we mercifully got off. The GPS decided not to play jokes on me (unlike last weekend) and got us around this traffic via a neat little detour.

My favorite part of the trip is going over the bridge and seeing the lights on the buildings and other bridges…

We were relieved to reach our hotel and crawled wearily into bed.

Of course, now that soccer season has officially begun, sleeping in on weekends has gone by the wayside. I was up at the crack of dawn to hit Target for some items I had forgotten to pack.

Don’t ask.

Just remember that I am AuburnChick. There is no Easy Button for me.

Chicky’s team was scheduled to play at 9, and I thought it would be a pleasant morning. I mean, I had my knitting…

That’s my latest mini-project…a baby hat for charity. I’ll post more information about it after I finish.

The temperatures quickly climbed, and it didn’t take long until I had to put the yarn away. Have you ever tried to knit when your hands were sweaty? Not a pretty thing, let me tell you.

We cheered hard, and Chicky’s team won.

One downer was that one of Chicky’s teammate went down with an injury. We are concerned that she tore her ACL. The worst part about this incident is that the same girl tore her other ACL a year and a half ago and was just getting back into prime form.

Please say a prayer for her.

Between games, I ran to KnitWitz, a wonderful store located about ten miles from the hotel we were staying at.

I was crunched for time, so when I ran in, I blabbed quickly, looked around even faster, and grabbed up these delicious skeins of yarn…

The Berroco is identical to the skein I’m using for my current sock project. I am growing concerned about yardage since the pattern I’m using has mega cabling in it.

I also picked out this…

As soon as I saw the colors, I fell in love with it. The thing that pushed me over the edge with it was the softness. Oh my gosh! I cannot wait for this stuff to be on my feet!!

I made it back to the hotel just in time to take Chicky back to the fields for game #2. Her team lost. It was a scorcher, and the girls’ legs were done after the first game. The opponent was playing its first game and looked much fresher.

At least we didn’t have any injuries this game.

After a delicious dinner at Carrabbas, we’ve settled back into our room. We’re about to hit the sack and rest up for tomorrow’s game.

Filed under: Knitting, soccer | Tagged: berroco, crystal palace, Knitting, knitwitz, mini mochi, soccer, socks, yarn | Leave a comment »

Star Struck

Posted on August 18, 2009 by auburnchick

Ok…so I didn’t get to go to Sock Summit.

If you’re not a knitter, let me explain what Sock Summit was.

It was probably one of the most fantastic knitting get-togethers ever. Think of it like a Woodstock for knitters.

You know how much I love knitting socks…so I would have loved to have attended.

But I had a couple of problems…

1) No money

2) No job to make money

So, I stayed home, turned a bit green every time I read about someone else’s brush with this or that famous designer, and knit my own pair of socks all by my lonely self.

I also consoled myself by reading the blogs of some of these designers.

I even posted a couple of comments. I tend to be a little shy, but when I see something that strikes my fancy, I like to say a little something.

And you know what?

Two of the ladies emailed me after I commented!

The first person was Anne, who writes KnitSpot.

And she didn’t send me just one email. I think she sent me three!!

Take a look at her blog and join me in ooohhhing and aaaahhhhing over her incredible shawls. Her photography is incredible.

The next shock came tonight.

I was doing my “mom” thing…

No…not cooking dinner…

I was at the high school, handing out schedules at the Freshmen Orientation.

During a lull in the action, my phone vibrated. I had an email.

Upon opening it, I discovered the sender’s name…

Are you ready?

It was…

Cookie A

I almost fell out of my chair.

Remember the red socks I just finished?

That was Cookie’s pattern!

And I’ve got a little something new “cooking” on my needles, if you get my drift.

I tried to explain to the volunteer sitting beside me why I was picking up my jaw from the table.

I’m not sure if she got it.

If you’re into fibery crafts, you understand.

Both of these ladies’ responses were personal and very sweet. It was cool to find out that they do really pay attention to the people who comment on their blogs.

It was probably a good thing that I didn’t make it to Sock Summit. I would have returned home with a serious case of dry eye syndrome from not being able to blink…afraid to miss a glimpse of a famous knitter.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: anne hanson, Cookie A, knitspot, Knitting, sock summit, socks | 3 Comments »

Socks and Tires

Posted on August 15, 2009 by auburnchick

I had a little wrench thrown into my plans this morning.

The grand plan was for me to get up, finish a pair of socks, and take Rooster to the beach to ride go-carts.

Instead, I spent an hour and a half here…

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Yeah…I had to go to the auto place to fix this…

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I ran over a screw yesterday. I even heard a pop when I did it but thought something had fallen off of the back of the car. I looked in my rearview mirror, didn’t see anything, and drove on…thinking I’d take a look when I stopped at the grocery store. Well, I was so preoccupied with the horrible smell of my hair, that I forgot to look.

The Mr. got up this morning to take Chicky across state to her practice and discovered this…

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He didn’t have time to take the car in before leaving (praise God for having more than one vehicle), so the task of getting it repaired fell into my lap.

Now, let me tell you…I will gladly fix things around the house. You know this. You’ve read about my home-repair adventures. However, I draw the line at car repairs. Tell me to take the car in for an oil change, and I’m all over it. But please, do not make me get a new tire. I don’t understand the speak and am forced to act as the intermediary between the Mr. and the salesman.

Not fun.

The technician could not patch the tire, so a replacement was in order…as was a brake fluid flush. Ugh.

Fortunately, I am a knitter. Knitters come to such situations prepared.

I had the good sense to pack my knitting bag, so all was not lost.

I used my sitting time wisely and finished knitting sock #2 of my latest pair of socks. I snuck in the following picture while the technicians were occupied elsewhere…

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The pattern is Rick, from Cookie A’s new book Sock Innovation. You can find corrections to the book here. Make sure you print them out before starting this pattern, because there were a couple of slight corrections in the instructions for this pattern.

The yarn is Cascade Heritage, colorway 5607. It’s more of a cranberry red. It took 75 grams to make this pair. Because it’s 75% merino, the socks are soft and warm.

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I began this project on August 4th and finished today, August 15.

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I used size 1 1/2 needles and, fortunately, the socks fit! There is a Sock Innovation group on Ravelry, and my research made me a little concerned. People who knit this pattern found it ran a little small.

I’ve gotta tell you that I LOVE Cookie A’s patterns. The directions in this pattern were very easy to follow. It’s amazing how simply arranging a few stitches this way or that can create such a beautiful effect!

One thing I did with this pattern was scan the charts for the feet. Yes…I said feet. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the “striping” on each sock goes in different directions, so each leg and foot has different charts. After scanning them, I used a highlighter to mark through each round I completed. This enabled me to see where I was at a glance.

The pattern looks like it would be difficult, but it really wasn’t! This is a pattern where you definitely can “read” your knitting and know instantly (with few exceptions) if you’re knitting the wrong stitch.

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I think that this is one of my favorite pair of socks. It’s vibrant and has a lacy look that is very feminine.

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: cascade heritage, Cookie A, kntiting, merino wool, rick socks, socks | 4 Comments »

AuburnChick Finishes Her 14th Pair of Socks

Posted on July 20, 2009 by auburnchick

Hot off the needles…my 14th pair of socks!!

These are my Hanging Vines Socks.

The free pattern can be found here.

I originally cast on using green Koigu KPM, but, as you can see in the picture below, the yarn was knobby and hid the cable work. As you know, being a good knitter begins with the marriage of a yarn to a pattern. If they don’t pair up well, they have to find new mates. We’ll just say mine were dating and decided to break things off before the relationship got too complicated.

The Koigu KPM was not a good match for this pattern.

I wanted these socks to be green, so I pulled out my skein of Sockotta (color #816). I used 85 grams of the 100-gram skein.

I started the socks on July 4 and finished last night, July 19. I would have finished sooner, but I had a few days when I didn’t knit at all.

The socks look complicated, but the pattern really was fairly easy once I figured out a few little things. My google search for clarity in a couple of the instructions led me to a knit-a-long on Ravelry. The ladies on the forum were very patient as I posted several requests for help. It didn’t take me long to figure out that, simply put, I’m a dummy. Don’t over-think this pattern. It’s not that hard.

The only part of the pattern that really drove me bonkers was the heel, where the pattern is continued on the first half of it.

Because you are working back and forth on one needle (the one that holds your heel stitches), you have to remember to reverse the stitches as they are written on the even rows. Additionally, you work your way from left to right on those rows and then go back to right to left on the odd rows. After knitting in the round and reading your stitches right to left for most of the sock, it can be a bit disconcerting.

The other issue I had with the heel chart is Row 7, which I believe has an error. Instead of the kfb, I did a M where the kfb’s occur on the chart.

The payoff is worth it though. The heel is lovely!

Although I’ve knit quite a few pairs of socks, I usually have the problem of my socks running a smidge too large. I know that I need to go down one needle size (most of my socks are knit using 1 1/2 needles), but I don’t own a pair of 1’s. The Mr. told me I can order a pair so my socks will fit better.

To get a better fit, I only completed 2 1/2 pattern repeats after the heel turn. By starting the toes earlier, I shortened the foot, making for a snugger fit.

Rooster took such fantastic pictures that I had to post them all.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: Knitting, Koigu KPM, sockotta, socks | 3 Comments »

Extreme Sock Knitting

Posted on July 18, 2009 by auburnchick

Check out this video.

My addiction pales to this man’s!

Wow!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: Knitting, seven at a time, socks | 1 Comment »

Sock Addiction

Posted on July 16, 2009 by auburnchick

A few days ago I needed to move my dresser. I was doing a tiny bit of rearranging, but nobody was home to help me. So, I removed the drawers to make it lighter.

While doing so, I caught sight of my sock drawer.

Folks, I think I have a problem.

I’m addicted to socks.

And not just ordinary socks but hand-knit ones.

There are 11 pairs in the picture above. Not pictured is the pair I made for Chicky’s teammate, and the pair that Molly chewed up. That takes the total to 13.

Last night, I cast of sock #1 of my 14th pair.

Does a person really need so many pairs of socks? Why continue to buy sock yarn?

Non-yarnies don’t understand the trance that comes over a fiber artist when entering a yarn store. Everyone has a favorite brand, weight, or fiber. Some are drawn by a particular color. My friend, Rabbitrescuer, loves green, and her stash on Ravelry reflects that.

For me, it’s sock yarn. It beckons me like a siren. The yarn lures me with its beautiful colors and promises of smooshiness. The soft textures soothe my nerves and invoke a feeling of safety.

Wearing hand-knit socks is an indulgence, I’ll admit. To have a pair of socks tailored specifically to my long feet is simply divine. The fun patterns become centerpieces for interesting conversations with coworkers, friends, and even complete strangers.

I considered taking a picture of the sock yarn in my stash, but the Mr. recently started reading my blog, and I fear that he would not be too happy to see all of my stash in one place. In his case, ignorance is bliss.

Now, don’t be thinking that I need intervention, because I won’t go. This is not an addiction I want to be cured off. Once you knit your first pair, you’re hooked. It’s fairly harmless, cheaper than cigarettes, and serves a purpose.

Look out needles…here I come. I’m casting on sock #2 of my newest and wildest pair.

Stay tuned!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: addiction, Knitting, socks, yarn | Leave a comment »

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