And yet another May Day...

I made it in time for once! And with a day to spare. So happy! And I really like the socks! The pattern is great and relatively easy.


I knit the larger size of the pattern with Mascot, the first shipment from the All Raveled Up sock club. And yes, it's rather busy but I love it. Defenitly no boring sock! ;) Knit on 2.5mm for the leg and heel and then I switched to 2.0mm needles for the foot. And they fit really, really well.
I'm a very happy bunny right now!
Thanks for all the great patterns this month, Anni, it was really hard to pick!

Finished pair!

Here is my completed pair for May. I used the new Silkie Socks That Rock yarn from Blue Moon. There are just a couple (and very small) modifications to suit my size and preferences. More pictures and details are available here. Thanks Anni. : )

Finally Cast On!

Am I the last one to cast on? I think so!

In the end, I decided to not make this pair for my boyfriend. For one thing, I am soooo late casting on and he has BIG feet! With a huge work project and a move to a new apartment at the end of the month, there's no way I would have finished in time. Secondly, he has been out of town for 3 weeks and when he got back on Saturday, I asked him if he would like a pair of socks out of the Trekking pro natura. He said socks seemed like a lot of work and he'd prefer a cuff/bracelet-type thing. Okay, he'll get socks later.

He had a presentation at a conference that night, so I went and knit on the socks - now for me. Several colleagues asked why I wasn't knitting socks for him, so I told the story of how he had turned down my offer and he exclaimed, "Well, I didn't know you were going to make the socks anyway - you can make the next pair for me! But, I'll take the bracelet first." Sheesh - boys!

Thanks for your advice anyway. And to Paula, whose son thought these socks are "too lacy for dudes"? What would he think of Anne's manlace series????

On to my May Day socks, which I will. finish. in. time. I recently received a skein of Trekking XXL in color 105 in the mail from sticksnstring for winning a contest on her blog. (Thanks Lori!) I thought this would be a nicer choice with the pattern than the Trekking pro natura. I have small ankles and feet so I'm doing the smaller size (also, because of the deadline) and have made it halfway through the heel flap. Here's my progress so far:


It is a little snug to get over my heel, but hopefully, blocking will help? I've never blocked socks before, so I really don't know. But, I'm liking them anyway and will just be happy to get a pair done. They can always go to my niece if they're too small for me!

Off the Needles!

Here you go! I'm amazed at how quickly these knitted up once I got going. Then again, I've been having trouble sleeping this last week, so I've been spending a lot more time with the needles than usual.

After my disaster with the first sock I was going to restart with a different yarn, but after going through my stash, I wasn't able to come up with anything else that I was happy with. So, I stuck with my original choice, and I'm really pleased I did. :)

The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Tuscany. The photo seems to have come out really dull here, but there's a better one on my blog for anyone not familiar with the colourway.

The pattern was great to knit, and worked wonders at curing my previous aversion to purling through the back loop. :) All those instructions to Mp forced me to think about what I was doing, and before I knew it, I was pulling them off with aplomb, and feeling quite pleased with myself!

I used a tubular cast-on, working 13 rounds for the rib, and substituted a rounder toe for the one written.

Thanks for the fab pattern, Anni!

Put a Sock in it

Back to Square One

First, I want to congratulate everyone on their May Day socks! They're all beauties. :) I love seeing all the different yarns, and how they knit up.

Second, I don't know that I'll get mine finished before the end of the month. They currently rank as a WIR (work in regress) rather than a WIP.

I had cast on for the smaller pair using a 2.5mm circular (magic loop), and merrily knit away. All the while, I had a sneaking suspicion it was working up too large, but because I'm a twit, I carried on with the hope it would be okay. Duh! Now that I'm almost to the toe of my first one, I've come out of denial, and decided to rip it out and start over on smaller needles.

Here's where it was at when I started having serious doubts. Even at that point, I still managed to knit quite a few more rounds than this before finally accepting the inevitable.

I haven't yet made up my mind whether to use the same yarn, or choose something else instead. I do like knitting with Shepherd Sock though, and this is the only colourway I have left. I'll have a look through my meagre stash to see if there's anything else appropriate, stop procrastinating, and start again. :)

Put a Sock in it

Trip to the frog pond and new beginnings

Cross posted from my blog.

After knitting 2 repeats of the Sockamania May pattern I had to stop and think. Did I like it or did I not?

This is what the sock looked like. I wasn't sure if the yarn/pattern really worked together and I almost liked better how the stockinette portion of the sole looked. Also, the knitted up sock didn't quite look like the others I'd seen knitted up here. Something about the stockinette portions looking more like chevrons than the diamonds I've been seeing on everyone else's socks. Would it have something to do with the way I do my Mp? So I just decided to rip back to the toe and start over, in plain stockinette.

I think I like it better. The pink and the neon green spiral around the sock and that looks kinda cool!. The yarn I am using is Perchance to Knit in color Flash. It will be available as yarn4socks' June Artist of the Month starting June 1.

So after frogging the Sockamania May Day pattern I needed to find another yarn that I would think worked better. And this is what I came up with:

The yarn is Scout's Swag in color Run Like Hell. I think that the semi-solid color will work better with the pattern. Even if I can't figure out why my sock didn't look like the others.

Pondering

No, not frog pondering yet! I still haven't even cast on as I've been working on some socks I'd already started for my mother for Mother's Day.

BUT, I anticipate casting on sometime this week. I'd like some feedback from all of you, if possible. Here's the story: when I told my boyfriend that I had committed to knitting a pair of socks a month for the next few months, he scoffed! He insinuated that I wouldn't finish any of them on time. (He's not really being that much of a jerk; there had been an "incident" involving a pair of socks I started as a Christmas gift which weren't delivered until February. *sigh*) Still. I intend to prove. him. wrong. He's hinted before that he'd like a pair of socks, so I plan to make one of these Sockamania pairs of socks for him.

So, my question is, should I do this pair for him? Anni, will there be any masculine patterns later on? I thought this one might be nice because it doesn't look too overtly feminine to me, especially if I knit it in some gender-neutral colors. I have a skein of Trekking pro natura in browns and olive greens. I think it's the color shown here. Does anyone have any thoughts? Do you think this pattern would make a nice pair of boy socks? Or should I wait for a different pattern later on? Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

May Day, in cheery colors

(if this is a duplicate post, my appologies. I am working off a computer not at home and it is a challenge.)

They are knit in STR. This particular colorway is Lemon Grass. As is common for many of my sock pairs, these are fraternal rather than identical. The leg and instep were knit on 2,75mm needles, the heel, sole and foot after the first repeat on 2,5mm needles.
I was thinking about keeping them, but my 14 year old has been watching them closely.
It was a great pattern and a fun knit. Just waiting for June!
-Holly

Do-Ovah

I cast on for the first sock on May 1. I did one row of ribbing, then started slipping stitches to other needles for my first attempt at a)making a sock and b) DPN's.

I didn't have enough stitches. Let's hope my knitting skills are better then my math skills!

Then I had the right number of stitches, joined in the round on three needles. I started knitting and ended up with two needles. A quick trip to YouTube set me straight.

Now, I've finished the ribbing on one sock and I'm going to have to write the chart out on some paper since I still can't get my printer to work! (sigh)

The Chosen Yarn

Gorgeous pattern, Anni! Many thanks. I'm looking forward to starting them, and have decided to use my LL Shepherd Sock in Tuscany.

So, I need to get out the old ball-winder, and wind those skeins into something from which I can knit! I'm going to go with the smaller one on a 2.5mm Magic Loop, and see how that goes size-wise.

Purely because it gives a nice neat edge, I'd like to start the rib with a tubular cast-on. Is that okay, or would you rather we follow the pattern exactly as written? Just shout!

I guess this means there'll be even less progress on my other WIPs. LOL.

Put a Sock in it

Beauty!

How gorgeous! I've spent the past hour trying to figure out why my printer won't print. It's been a problem for about a week but now I have real incentive to fix it! I'm going to double check that the yarn I'm using has the right amount of yardage/guage, then I'm casting on!

Alright, I just went to the Bright Dyes website and I can't seem to find our how many yards per skein? Anyone know?

GO!!!!

ANOTHER UPDATE - LOOKS LIKE THE 2ND E-MAIL HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT TOO. i THINK IT'S TO DO WITH SENDING OUT A GROUP E-MAIL SO i'M GOING TO HAVE TO DO IT INDIVIDUALLY i THINK WHICH IS GOING TO TAKE ME MUCH LONGER. PLEASE BEAR WITH ME. i'VE GOT TO HAVE A BREAK NOW - still feeling quite ill - BUT I'LL GET ON WITH THIS THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON. please be patient! Thank you!!!

UPDATE - No idea what went wrong. But there seems to be a problem with the attachment. I'm sending it through to everyone again as a MS word document. Hopefully that'll sort it out. Wish me luck.

The first Sockamania pattern has been e-mailed out!!!




If you don't get it, check your junk folder then e-mail me. I e-mailed myself a copy too (to my other e-mail account and it's not come through to me yet so give it a little while before e-mailing me).



I just hope I've not missed anyone off the list. I've checked and double checked the list so fingers crossed.



The socks are called 'May Day' which as today is May Day and all the talk on the local news this mornign was about May Day celebrations I thought why not?! Well, actually it was the only name I could come up with. My recent illness has left me with no imagination at all.



I'm feeling a little better today. I'm managing to eat and not feeling sick. However, I'm suffering from the side effects of too much antibiotics - severe stomach pains and an upset tummy. And I'm still tired and feeling week. Another lazy day for me.



Hope you all like the socks. It's a texturised patten using knit and purl stitches and 's2kpo' (slip 2 st together, k1, pass slipped st over knitted st) decreases to add a directional dimention and it comes in two sizes. I hope you all have fun knitting it and that the pattern doesn't cause you any problems.



Any questions or mistakes please e-mail me.



Happy knitting! Can't wait to see all your progress pics!



Almost forgot - The yarn for the socks and the prizes were donated by Chrissy of Bright Dyes. Thank you Chrissy.