The average pair of socks requires 100 grams of yarn, give or take a bit. If you want to knit striped socks that will skew how much yarn you need. If you want to stick to the 100 grams, you can obtain two 50 gram balls, each a different color and work stripes of equal size for the entire sock (think rugby shirt). In this manner the two colors will be used evenly. However, if you want to be creative and do a sock mostly one color with narrow stripes, that will skew the amount of yarn needed. You will require a larger percentage of the 100 grams to be in the main color and a smaller amount in the contrast color. This is where one says, “no problem, I will just use that bit left over from the last pair of socks for the stripes”. But, are you sure you will have enough yarn for all the stripes on both socks?
Enter the fraternal twin. When I want stripes but I want to use the two colors that I have and not worry about playing chicken with “leftovers”, I knit the pair of socks as “fraternal twins”.
The stripe pattern is the same. All the blocks of color are the same size. I just reverse the colors. In the photo, the finished sock has Rapscallion Jelly as the main color and Adventure Sprinkles as the contrast color. The sock in progress uses Adventure Sprinkles for the main color and Rapscallion Jelly for the contrast. Two 50 gram balls of yarn used equally for a very fun pair of socks.
Who said socks had to be identical?
Knitting details:
Gauge is 8 stitches to the inch on 1.5mm needles. (I am using ChiaoGoo circulars and a 40 inch cable, my personal favorite). Sock Bandit has a tight twist and is a bouncy sock yarn.
Pattern is my own recipe for perfectly fitting socks.
This is a year of events. Some good, some bad, most I prefer not to dwell on. It has all gotten to be a bit too much. Then Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died. Everything just seemed darker. RBG fought for equality between the sexes. If you have not seen the movie “On the Basis of Sex”, I highly recommend it.
WIP in progress
I heard about the move to knit Empowerment kerchiefs, as usual, I am late to any trend. I decided to knit a scarf in purple and I wanted to add an essence of the collars worn by RBG when gowned as a Supreme Court Justice.
The yarn, 100% Cormo works up beautifully on US7 (4.5mm) needles. I kettle dyed the skein for a variegated purple. The white is a skein of undyed wool from deep in the stash, no label.
I charted the collar by looking at photos and graphics of RBG. The collar is not exact, it is representational. As the scarf continues the collar motif will evolve.
Summertime is for savoring. It is a time to step out side of ones self and be attentive to the experience as it happens. Savor the sensation of the warmth of the sun on your skin, the cool grass under foot, the feel of the cotton as it slides through your fingers.
Yarn is the original Peaches n Cream
For me, summer is a time for light knitting. When June hit, I had an irrepressible urge to knit dishcloths. I dived in the stash for the last of the authentic Peaches and Cream cotton (from the original mill on the east coast) and immediately whipped out a dishcloth in the Grandmother’s Favorite Dishcloth pattern. When I was questioned by the daughter, I told her I was getting a jump on Christmas presents. Everyone can use a four inch square of absorbent cotton. I quickly did two more. Then I did a fourth of all the tiny bits of cotton that were tangling in the bottom of the summer knitting bag. As some of the yarn was short, I joined the yarn with square knots and just kept knitting. I love things that are vibrant and contrasting. That less then four inch square is a coaster. I used it the same evening I finished it; did not even bother to weave in the ends.
Yarn is 100% cotton from Katia, deep stash.
I pulled a multi-colored skein of super soft cotton from the stash. The yarn that is just so soft and pretty I had been just keeping it around to look at, but know I have cast on. I decided to make a dish towel, a large rectangle. I began with the Jacquard stitch. This is a stitch where the design is created by slipping stitches on each row. It looks particularly cool when one uses a yarn with longer color changes.
Now, back to savoring the sensation of the cool grass under my feet.
Life becomes busy. It happens slowly. Dishes stack up. The vacuuming has not been done in a week or more. Then a day passes when there has been no time to sit down and knit. Then suddenly one is told to stay home. One catches up on all the delinquent cleaning. One looks at the knitting sitting in piles in every room. It was time to take control of the WIPs. I made a list of all the WIPs, Walking through rooms, looking through baskets, into re-useable canvas shopping bags, even a plastic storage bin. I found 19 WIPs in various stages. Even I was a bit surprised.
before the ends were woven in
Yes, I will start projects and then lay it aside to knit something that catches my eye. Look at the Toph hat I have been wearing all winter. I knit that hat in a few evenings. Then I remembered the Orfeo Hat. That hat was going to be my winter hat. (see post from November 1, 2019). The Orfeo Hat was easily found, nicely gathered in a lovely zippered project bag and the bag was sitting on top of the color chart, all nicely labeled on a magnetic pattern holder. And that was the problem, the color chart. I love knitting corrugated rib. It is fun and easy to knit. But you can only do so much corrugated ribbing. The color pattern began and my interest dropped in direct proportion. The project bag with the Orfeo Hat was neatly placed on a shelf and I knit Toph with gusto. Toph is also color knitting but it is a totally different type of color knitting.
Toph, designed by Woolly Wormhead is knit flat in segments and is all about short rows. I love short rows. I like short rows so much that I teach classes about knitting with short rows. Short rows are fun and fascinating and Toph fit into my idea of fun knitting. The fact that it also used two colors did not even faze me. I used Bohemian Gothic in Jekyll and Dorian. Technically, the pattern calls for DK wool but my gauge using the worsted weight Bohemian Gothic was not that wide from the required gauge. I adapted by knitting the smaller size. I also adjusted the fit by knitting one less wedge then called for in the pattern. This is my favorite hat ever. It is warm and stylish and I wear it everywhere.
progress on April 10
Ah, the Orfeo Hat? In this time of “safer at home”, I have made an effort. I am becoming more adept at color knitting. I am discovering the fun of seeing the pattern gradually appear. While I am progressing, let’s be honest, I won’t be wearing this hat until next winter.
Wires and pins and a considerable amount of time, but the result is worth it
The famous red and white striped sweater has been blocked. When knitting sweaters the instructions will usually say seam and then block to measurements in schematic. If I think blocking will make it easier to seam, I block first. This sweater was a combination of knitting in pieces (front and back were knit flat) but the sleeve stitches were picked up from the seamed front and back. Once both of the sleeves were knit I could lay the sweater out flat and block it easily. Blocking made it much easier to seam the sleeves and the sides. Once all the seams are done and ends woven in, all that remains is to pick up the stitches at the neck and work a few rows to polish the neckline. Why have I not yet finsihed the neckline? Because this new yarn arrived. Bright colors, machine washable baby yarn and I just had to try it out. It was almost a compulsion. What better way to test a new baby yarn then to knit a Baby Surprize Jacket (BSJ)? Soft yarn, intriguing pattern, OK, I have knit the BSJ previously, but the result always amazes me. Stay tuned.
BSJ in Baby Bandit, color is Frolic, a bright green, the computer monitor does not due it justice
The Orfeo Hat, beginning stage, before winter arrives.
There was snow on Halloween in Wisconsin. That blew me away. OK, so maybe I am in denial about being on the cusp of winter. I am still in autumn. Halloween is supposed to be crisp cold air and crisp, crackling leaves under foot. Halloween is not supposed to be four inches of wet snow. I had to shovel a path for the perspective trick or treaters. My jack o’ lanterns were not scarily lurking in the grass. The jack o’ lanterns were plopped in the snow. I had to brush snow off the jack o’ lanterns, scoop the snow away from the eye sockets and toothy grins. The only advantage was one did not have to worry about the candles being too hot and burning the pumpkin, pumpkin isolated in snow. Like I said, snow on Halloween was just too much for me.
I have been knitting myself a new hat for winter. And of course, winter cannot arrive before the hat is finished. The hat is way cool, a color work design that begins with corrugated ribbing and flows into curls and twists. The Orfeo Hat is the perfect design (link to pattern) for Bohemia Sport, which cries out to be used in color work. There are 24 colors of Bohemia Sport, do not let the pattern decide your color choices. Be bold. I chose Arsenic for the background and Tiffin for the fancy work. It is bold. However, I only have the ribbing and nine rows complete. So clearly the snow on Halloween is an aberration. It will take me at least two weeks to finish this hat.
