Category: Socks

When the Mind Needs a Rest, Hand Crafting to the Rescue

I was knitting a super lovely sock named “Sheperdess” designed by one half of the podcasters “Grocery Girls,” Tracie Millar.

I was knitting them in Schachenmayer, merino yak, 4 ply, in colorway: 07516. I envision that color as spring green turned fall green for lack of light.

This is an easy and well written pattern. I loved the yarn and the color. It’s so perfect for dark November days and nights.

In the first photo, there lies a book containing a collection of essays titled “Vodou,” written by my mentor Dr. Donald Cosentino, a world expert on Haitian vodou. And there lay the socks sprinkled with my beloved candy corn.

In the 2nd photo is a yule card by a Swedish artist, who’s name escapes me, old photos of my grandma and grandpa, Eduardo Galeano’s book, “Memory of Fire”, Alice Staremore’s book, “Glamourie” and a notebook of my writings. And there are the beautiful socks in progress

I love an assemblage photograph.

Knitting calms me in the midst of the chaos that is our world… our reality. I hope that handcrafting does that for you, too.

PS: This was written maybe three or four years ago, but it’s still pertinent for today.

What Knitting Can Do When the World is Dark.

I’m knitting a super lovely “Sheperdess Sock” designed by one half of the Grocery Girls, Tracie Millar.

I’m knitting them in Schachenmayer, merino yak, 4 ply, in colorway: 07516.

This is an easy and well written pattern. I’m loving the yarn and the color. It’s so perfect for dark November days and nights.

In the photo is a yule card by a Swedish artist, who’s name escapes me, old photos of my grandma and grandpa, Eduardo Galeano’s book, “Memory of Fire”, Alice Staremore’s book, “Glamourie” and a notebook of my writings. I love an assemblage photograph.

Bad Sheep Addiction

Wild Blueberry

Okay, shut up. I just finished my last pair of socks of which, I haven’t even posted the final photo yet… but I couldn’t resist this yarn from Bad Sheep Yarn.

This is the most beautiful shade of blue I’ve ever seen. It’s called Wild Blueberry and with its shades of blue and pink and dark purple, it replicates perfectly the blueberries in my garden. When I laid sight on it on their website, I couldn’t resist even though I couldn’t really afford to buy another skein of yarn when my shelves are overflowing. *sigh*

But it’s hot summer and I’m much less tolerant of the heat than I used to be. I want to finish my Magnolia sweater before winter but just thinking of working with wool and kid silk mohair makes me start to sweat.

Oh, I won’t be able to resist the sweater but don’t you think that knitting more socks is a great idea in midsummer when the temperatures climb, climb, climb from mid 80°s to near 100°?

Now, I have 2 pairs of socks on my needles. When I start itching to work on the sweater, these can easily be laid aside momentarily.

Oh, Bad Sheep… You are so bad. You and your yarn are so tempting that I can’t resist. You feed my addiction, you bad bad sheep.

But Bad Sheep, keep it coming. I’ve already spotted another skein for another pair of socks.

Knitting Wool Socks

I’m coming close to the toe on the first sock of a pair. Haven’t I showed these to you already? I can’t remember.

They’re “DK Vanilla Socks” by Kay at Crazy Sock Lady Designs.

The design is simple and unadorned but not necessarily an easy knit. I’m using Spun Right Round’s Squish DK, which is a 100% superwash merino (wool). I prefer not using super wash or anything with synthetic material added to the yarn, but when giving a gift one never knows how the recipient will wash the item. As they say, “Better safe than sorry”. Right?

The colorway is called, “Quake”.
It’s really beautiful with a solid but subtle grey background with shades of browns and blacks and darker greys interspersed throughout.

The yarn is sourced from South America and is dyed in small batches so every skein is unique in it’s speckling and saturation. It’s then rinsed in a lavender wash before it’s ready for us crafters.

If I have underestimated the amount I need to complete a pair of socks, I will not be able to find the exact same yarn. But I’ve never found that to be that important. I kind of like the variations.

Now I remember why this seems familiar to me. I used this very same yarn to knit a pair of socks some years ago. But those had a variation of yarn colors for the toes and the heels. You may remember.

Sock knitting is not my favorite kind of knitting but I was pleasantly surprised when pressured by my daughter to knit her socks that it was something I actually could do. I don’t know how many I’ve knit since that 1st pair.

Since I started knitting late in life, I’ve since surprised myself now that I can knit sweaters and scarves and shawls and hats and mittens and gloves and all kinds of things. I knit lace work, stranded color work, cables and all kinds of designs and patterns.

Nothing I knit is perfect but it just goes to show that you CAN teach an old dog new tricks.