Just in time

I managed to finish this afternoon. I only knit one repeat of the blue bell because there isn't enough contrast in my yarn. I used Knitpicks Bare Essentials the I dyed with Kool Aid. Warning: Dying is very fun and addictive- can't wait to try it again. I am really looking forward to May's pattern. Thanks for another great month Anni.

Wasn't going to knit this pattern

as I 'm never too pleased with my colourwork knitting for socks, but on the 24th I decided to give it a go, but only do one repeat on the leg. However, I loved the way the heel looked and wanted it for my soles too! So...

...here they are. Sirdar Town and Country 4ply in black and Cygnet 4 ply in denim mix, knitted on 2,25mm circs.

April Socks are Done!!!

Woooo Hooo, Life has been crazy so I was begining to wonder if I was going to be able to finish. I had to modify for our hot weather here so I only did one repeat of the blue bells and decided the ones hanging down would work best. This was fun and chalenging. I thought I was doing ok with the tension on the first one, it was snug but I was able to get it on. The second one I thought I was doing it looser but alas when I went to finish the toe I couldn't get it on. I believe I pulled it too tight at the begining of the guesset. We then started trying it on each child to see who would get the socks, 15yr old has same size feet as me so that didn't work, 13 yr old could get it on either, 7 yr old loves her new socks lol. After washing them they seemed to loosen up so I may try them again when they are dry. The colors are what was sent for the April Sockamania Plus, I love them, the green is so vibrant I can alsmost see the grass, the colors are so wonderful together. My May sock yarn and pattern arrived last night(US post) and I can hardly wait till tomorrow to cast on.

Just not going to happen right now

This is as far as I got just before our trip to England. I was trying the 2 circs method for the first time. When we got back, I picked it up again. Two rounds in I realized that where the joins between the two circs are it was puckering horribly. No way to fix it. So I ripped it out. But I really need to make this pattern for my daughter, Vicky, who is now living in England.

These are Bluebells from her garden in West Sussex. Very pretty flower. But the socks are not going to be finished anytime soon. And I didn't really like my yarn choices, so I will find new yarn as well. Great job to all who finished this month!

Sylvia in Ephraim

finished but...

i finished and like them but im not 100% happy with them. i need to work on the tension more, i think i need someone to assist me! i did them in sport weight since my feet are a size 10 and 64 stitches are too small for me. the pattern is beautiful and i cant wait to practice my fair isle again.

My bluebells are done!

I finished them tonight, and now I'm off to bed. My oldest daughter fancied these, so I guess they will be her's.
Funny pattern to knit, thanks a lot for making it for us, Anni.And now i really look forward to what May has to show.

Blue Blobs Frogged

I hate these socks! The variegated had too much of the bluebell color in it, so the bluebells looked like they'd been through a hurricane, all torn up. Same with the checkerboards. The only part I liked was the sole! I got 3/4 through the first sock and knew I was going to HATE making a second one. They weren't nice enough to gift, and I wasn't going to wear them, so I again have two nice balls of yarn. I will make them some other time in better colors. Meanwhile, I'll wait for May.

Bluebell Socks

I wasn't going to even attempt these socks. I am deathly afraid of any color work, but since Anni said we could do just the leg part, I figured that the worst that would happen was that I'd be doing a bit of frogging. Since no one in my family has ever actually seen a bluebell, these are know as the "chicken socks" at my house.

These were a lot of fun to knit, and I am no longer afraid of color work (although since it is hot here for most of the year, I will probably never make a full sock of colorwork - the double thickness would make them virtually unwearable). I can't believe how quick they were to knit. I didn't start until the 10th, and they were finished by the 20th. They are lovely, and I am really wishing that I hadn't knit them in a main color that I don't love.

Also, I am very impressed with how tidy the inside of my socks looks, so I had to include a picture of that too.

Thank you for another wonderful pattern Anni, I'm looking forward to next month.

I learned something new!

Here is the progress I've made since my last post. My socks are being done 2 at a time on a 40" circular so the second looks just like this one. I'm on row 40 of the fair isle chart so I'm really excited at how fast this is going. I am only doing the color work on the leg and continuing the rest of the sock in the marina yarn (same blue as the cuff). I don't think I could handle all of the switching for the foot. This was complicated enough for me. :)

...not exactly BLUE bells...

...but the socks are done!

For some reason I thought I would not knit these, at least not in time, because of other stuff on my needles,the green and blue yarn I had looked awful together, and a confirmation coming up, but then I've spent the better part of the last two days in bed with a back that is not cooperative, so- here they are: Bluebells...I've used Sisu colour 3525 for the solid, and Opal Euel for the multicoloured. I started doing two at a time with magic loop, but got only halfway down the leg before separating...I spent more time untangling than knitting-LOL-so I finished one on 4 DPN's and one using magic loop. Both 2.5mm. Turns out I knit better and prettier on 4DPN's, so I guess that will be my choice for stranded knitting in the future. Oh well, it's a learning experience:-)

They're not big enough for me( I didn't have enough Opal left to continue the pattern), so they go straight into the gift basket. Nice to have something that's ready;-)

Enjoy spring!

March is done

I did March in Trekking XXL, color 66, on KP Harmony size 1 (2.5 MM), done toe up. I did 2 repeats of the pattern plus the first 6 rows since I did them upside down. They are on my feet as I sit here writing this.

These became known as the "dratted socks" as I don't like doing cables on socks but I wanted to do this pattern. They are done, thank goodness.

Nice pattern, Anni.

Judy

My first attempt

This is my first month as a Sockamania club member and my very first fair isle project. I was a bit intimidated by stranded knitting, but I relaxed and decided to go for it. Here is the beginning of the fair isle pattern emerging. I'm feeling more confident that this may actually work!

I'm using Knit Pick's Essential Tweed in Marina (discontinued) and Knit Pick's Essential in Grass. I love the feel of the yarn, it's very soft. Oh, I'm knitting these 2 at a time on one size 2 40" circular.

Simply cables socks done

I finally finished the simply cables sock, way after the deadline but now they are done, I made them for my DH.
I suspect that I miss read the pattern, but I am quit happy with the result.

I won’t make the bluebell socks, knitting with more than one colour just doesn’t work with me, sadly, tried making them in knit and purls, but that let me tell you aren’t pretty.

Way behind, as always!

I've been meaning to post this for a couple weeks now. In April I knit one sock of the Simply Cables pattern by Anni. It came out beautifully and was looking forward to knit the second sock. Sadly I got distracted and knit other socks instead.

Before I get to the second Simply Cables I decided to finish my New Years socks from back in January. I've almost got a full foot done already.

I loved how the first sock came out and was looking forward to seeing it happen on the second sock. It was going well all through the first third of the foot until there was a big knot in the skein. I sadly found out that I was now knitting with a totally different dye lot. So I've come to the sad conclusion that my finished socks wont match each other at all!

Valerie

(Not) Knitting the Bluebell Socks

Oooh wonderful, I thought, two colour knitting, in some of my favourite colours.

I'd done some two-colour knitting recently & realised I needed the practise - it's been a long time. Oh, the finished legwarmers looked ok, & worked (so our daughter tells me), I just wasn't that happy with they way they'd knitted up.

So I found a wonderful blue woollen yarn, & a ball of Opal Planete in lots of shades of green, plus some leftover turquoise & some pale green. Go for the "full bluebell woods in the spring with all the other leaves coming out & blue sky" look, I thought.

Then I started knitting. & came up with the idea I'd seen blogged about of knitting with one colour in each hand. Which is where things began to go pear shaped.

• Step 1 - try knitting the sock that way. Oh dear, the needles, which are metal, keep slipping out, & I'm wondering how to cope with holding the dpns & the yarn in my left hand (I knit English style).
• Step 2 - get two needles & some more yarn. Try teaching myself to knit Continental style. How do you hold the yarn in your left hand so it runs evenly?
  
• Step 3 - get on with knitting other projects. One really is winter knitting & now that Spring has sprung . . .
• Step 4 - go visit some bluebell woods locally cos they're coming out right now. Yup, colours are a good likeness.
• Step 5 - decide these socks are very nice but I'm not going to make the April deadline. Not this year anyhow.
• Step 6 - visit our local DIY shop to see whether they sell 2.75mm diameter dowelling.
• Step 7 - make a set of 2.75mm dpns or, if answer to Step 6 was "No"
• Step 7(alternative) - traipse off to LYS & buy some wooden 2.75mm dpns.
• Step 8 - wonder if it's really all worth it for a pair of socks.
  

Of course it is. Come the hot weather, cos we might get hot weather this year, they'll be ideal knitting, & the aran cardigan won't be.

So they're currently in the wip pile. I shall return to them, honest! Once I've mistressed knitting Continental style on two needles, then on (wooden) dpns & at a decent speed!

Newbie

Hi, I just got my invite and had no problems signing in. I am a new sock knitter (working on my first pair) Well actually I have 2 sock projects. I've had problems figuring out the gussets but found a great video on youtube that helped a great deal.
Hope to have completed socks to show soon.

Hello and test message

Hi Pam,

Thanks for inviting me to join this group. Everyone's socks are so beautiful. Hope I'll do your patterns justice too! I had trouble with the invite. that's why this is part test message. I can't wait to be able to post some socks too. thanks again! Wendy

Simply Cable Socks...

A bit late, but I just didn't have much knitting time recently... Here's my version of them:



I used the Fyberspates Merino/Tencel blend in the "Storm" colourway and knitted them on 2.5mm needles. The only thing I changed was to shorten the leg a little bit, don't like very long legs for socks... ;)
I'll take a Sockamania break for April (too much other stuff to do) and join the knitting fun again in May. That doesn't mean that I'll never knit the Bluebell Socks (they are cute!), just not now.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

progress on my april socks

I wanted to show some progress on my april socks. I'm enjoying the pattern, I love stranded knitting, so this is the perfect sockpattern for me. I hope I'll have enough yarn, 50 gram of both colors. I know the pattern asks for more, but I've made the leg shorter. Hopefully that'll be enough. This is how my sock looks at the moment:

March done and April started

I finally finished Simply Cables over the weekend. They were delayed because I also was working on birthday socks for my husband. I did them two at a time toe up, used the twisted rib from Simply Love and did a picot bind off. Yarn is Sassy Stripes.
My Bluebell yarn is Knitpicks Essential in Riverbend and Marina Tweed.
I'm doing them toe up but not my usual 2 at a time--too many balls of yarn to keep track of!

April Bluebells Completed

Completed the April Bluebell socks this evening. For this pair of socks I chose Schachenmayr Micro Bamboo Spray in shades of OrangeRose and GoldBeige.

Even though there was a lot of twisting of yarn I still dropped down to a size 1 dpn when I reached the heel and continued with the no.1's to the finish. The socks are a perfect fit.

March winners

..... are

 Not Just A Mom 

Silegose

Please e-mail me on sockamania@hotmail.co.uk with your address and choice of yarn. You can choose one skein of yarn each from my Etsy shop.

I hope everythings gone okay while I've been away for a week. A huge thank you to my helpers, Pam, Barb & Pixie for all their help in sorting out the Google group. Not very good timing of me to go away first week of the month especially with hte new group starting up. I'm so grateful to Pam, Barb and Pixie for all their hard work this week.

Next month I've got a very special sock pattern (can't give any hints yet as Ive not actually designed it yet, although I have a few ideas) and lots of other surprises and competitions and giveaways planned. Why? Because Sockamania is a year old!!!!

Hope everyone's enjoying the April socks. If you find fair isle too challenging you don't have to do the 2 colour pattern all the way down the socks. YOu can do it only on the leg or something and still be included in the draw. Only condition for inclusion in the April draw is that your finished socks must have at least one band of Bluebells on them.

Happy knitting,

Anni

Sockamania Google Group

If you are still having problems signing into the Sockamania Google group please be sure to let us know by sending a messages to this email address: sockamaniabloghelp@googlemail.com. Be sure to include your ID and email information.

April's bluebell socks

When I look out of my windows right now it is nothing that reminds me about spring. It is snowing .....again, but knitting socks with bluebells on is really a comfort.
Bluebells is one of my favorite flowers, and I'm really looking forward to see them outside too.
But I have started knitting and here is a little look on my first sock.

Not quite there....

I am just turning the heel (toe up) so I did not quite make it this month either. I didn't start them until last Wednesday so with a full time job and a hubby who likes to run around it is no wonder.
I should be able to get April's done as I am going in for some surgery and will be at home for any where from 2 weeks to who knows. I will still be working, but not as many hours and will be doing my work from home, so more time to knit.
Need to order some yarn for the April socks as all I have is hand dyed and I just don't see what I have in these socks. (Really just an excuse to order more yarn, LOL.)
Lovely patterns, Anni, thanks.
I'll post a pic of my Mar socks when they are done.

Judy

April/March yarn and pattern

Woooo Hooooo both my Arpil and March yarn and pattern arrived today. Oh they are so lovely. I can hardly wait to get started!!! I think I will have to cast on April first. My daughter is also doing this KAL so it will be fun to be sitting on the couch at night with our socks. :) She is almost to her first heel flap so I had better get a move on LOL Thank you Anni, this is so much fun. It is catching on in this house, maybe we will add an other daughter to this by the end of the year.

question on invites

I had my invite soon after Annie mentioned she would opened a google group for the pattern. I signed up. I just want to make sure i wont be taken off the list of members. I was wondering if we were supposed to receive another invite. I guess once we are registered as a member on that google group , it means that we are safe ? thanks to anyone who can help me with this :)

March Socks Completed

I was so proud of myself for finishing my socks early this month but then I got bronchitis and my posting was delayed. So, here I am once again posting at the last minute! I really loved knitting these socks. I have already started another pair. I used the Sockamania Plus yarn to complete them. Thanks to Anni for another enjoyable knit.