Sock Love from the Peanut Gallery
Miss Cory decided to check in for this week's blog.
"So, I’m totally infatuated with sock yarn. Hand painted, self-patterning, self-striping, I love it all. I peruse sock patterns on a daily basis, both online and in the Shop. If I could have a stash of only sock yarn, I’d be in heaven. If I could claim all of my mother’s sock yarn as my very own, I would. I love the fine soft fiber that is the end result of a cute puffy sheep (oh yeah, I’m a fiber junkie all around but for right now, we’re talking socks).
I love the idea of such a tight knit garment on teeny tiny needles. There are so many sock patterns out there that can be knit in a day, okay, maybe not a pair unless you’re really fast but at least one. I can feel the yarn sliding through my fingers onto size 1s or 2s or better yet, ZEROs, have you SEEN Roza’s Socks in the Spring Interweave?
Lorna’s Laces on a zero in the Daffodil colorway – oh yeah, it’s SCREAMING my name! Be still my beating heart! So many knitters have caught the sock craze; it’s everywhere and folks are whipping them up left and right. Jaywalkers on Magknits have been popping up all over blog land and your bound to find a special sock by Cookie A. on Knitty.
So, where is my infatuation coming from? Socks are "it". They are the hip happenin’ thing to knit. So, where do I fall in the sock-knitting obsession? How many pairs of socks have I knitted you ask? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Yes, I, the daughter of the Knitter Extraordinairess, Knitting Shop Owner have not allowed a single solitary pair get off my collection of 0, 1, 2, 3, & 4 bamboo DPNs.
I’ve started several pairs, and by started I mean, I’ve cast on and knit a row or maybe 3 and ripped. I think my problem lies in what type of sock I want for my very first pair. Do I knit the socks toe up so I don’t waste any precious sock yarn? Do I knit top down so I don’t have to mess with a provisional cast on? I know, the provisional is easy and mindless, but I just don’t want to deal with it.
What pattern do I use? Do I use a basic pattern from The Book of Patterns or do I use Mountain Colors Banker’s Sock pattern, or do I start with Roza’s? Oh Roza! Yes, I’m leaning toward the Roza. Although beautiful, I’m certainly not going out on a limb and starting with the cover sock from Interweave’s new sock book Favorite Socks. I know I shouldn’t push myself and knit something too intricate because that will in itself be the demise of my sock knitting career.
The most important question is what yarn do I use? Do I go for the Lorna’s Laces in Daffodil, the Dream in Color in the magnificent aqua, Schaefer Anne in the lime, purple, and blue colorway, or Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Juniper? Do I use the new Peruvian Wool from Froebe Fibers or the famous Plymouth Sockotta? Do I take the easy way out and dye my own Cascade 220 and make a pair of hiking socks?
It’s my indecisiveness that is holding me back. It’s the insane number of options that lay in front of me that paralyzes me. Where do I begin? With all of my other projects, the answer on what pattern and just what yarn to use was always clear.
The one thing I know to be true and set in stone, is that when I finally decide, my first pair of socks will live their first month of newly knitted life proudly on display right smack dab in front for all to see at the Shop."
"So, I’m totally infatuated with sock yarn. Hand painted, self-patterning, self-striping, I love it all. I peruse sock patterns on a daily basis, both online and in the Shop. If I could have a stash of only sock yarn, I’d be in heaven. If I could claim all of my mother’s sock yarn as my very own, I would. I love the fine soft fiber that is the end result of a cute puffy sheep (oh yeah, I’m a fiber junkie all around but for right now, we’re talking socks).
I love the idea of such a tight knit garment on teeny tiny needles. There are so many sock patterns out there that can be knit in a day, okay, maybe not a pair unless you’re really fast but at least one. I can feel the yarn sliding through my fingers onto size 1s or 2s or better yet, ZEROs, have you SEEN Roza’s Socks in the Spring Interweave?
Lorna’s Laces on a zero in the Daffodil colorway – oh yeah, it’s SCREAMING my name! Be still my beating heart! So many knitters have caught the sock craze; it’s everywhere and folks are whipping them up left and right. Jaywalkers on Magknits have been popping up all over blog land and your bound to find a special sock by Cookie A. on Knitty.
So, where is my infatuation coming from? Socks are "it". They are the hip happenin’ thing to knit. So, where do I fall in the sock-knitting obsession? How many pairs of socks have I knitted you ask? Zero. Zilch. Nada. Yes, I, the daughter of the Knitter Extraordinairess, Knitting Shop Owner have not allowed a single solitary pair get off my collection of 0, 1, 2, 3, & 4 bamboo DPNs.
I’ve started several pairs, and by started I mean, I’ve cast on and knit a row or maybe 3 and ripped. I think my problem lies in what type of sock I want for my very first pair. Do I knit the socks toe up so I don’t waste any precious sock yarn? Do I knit top down so I don’t have to mess with a provisional cast on? I know, the provisional is easy and mindless, but I just don’t want to deal with it.
What pattern do I use? Do I use a basic pattern from The Book of Patterns or do I use Mountain Colors Banker’s Sock pattern, or do I start with Roza’s? Oh Roza! Yes, I’m leaning toward the Roza. Although beautiful, I’m certainly not going out on a limb and starting with the cover sock from Interweave’s new sock book Favorite Socks. I know I shouldn’t push myself and knit something too intricate because that will in itself be the demise of my sock knitting career.
The most important question is what yarn do I use? Do I go for the Lorna’s Laces in Daffodil, the Dream in Color in the magnificent aqua, Schaefer Anne in the lime, purple, and blue colorway, or Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Juniper? Do I use the new Peruvian Wool from Froebe Fibers or the famous Plymouth Sockotta? Do I take the easy way out and dye my own Cascade 220 and make a pair of hiking socks?
It’s my indecisiveness that is holding me back. It’s the insane number of options that lay in front of me that paralyzes me. Where do I begin? With all of my other projects, the answer on what pattern and just what yarn to use was always clear.
The one thing I know to be true and set in stone, is that when I finally decide, my first pair of socks will live their first month of newly knitted life proudly on display right smack dab in front for all to see at the Shop."
posted by Tricia | 12:14 PM
6 Comments:
Very funny! I also buy lots of sock yarn but spend more time thinking about which ones to knit than actually knitting them (although I have knitted 4 or 5 pairs). Right now I'm interested in Cat Bordhi's 2 circular needle method. I ordered the book and the needles yesterday, so we'll see where it goes from there!
Sock yarn is the best. But you really must start knitting with it. Just pick something and go!
Maybe you need to let a friend pick the yarn like I did. We didn't know if we'd master sock knitting so we each made the same yarn and if we only made one sock at least we'd have a pair. You could co-knit a pair, yeah, that's it. Why make a pair when you could make one and then move on to another pattern and yarn and if your friend keeps up you'll have pairs!! Sounds like a perfectly fun solution
I've got Cat Bhordi's book and circular needles and my first sock knitting project was the basic ribbed socks - I'm officially hooked.
Oh Miss Cory! You know all this sock talk is just to avoid doing your intarsia bag.;-) But I can understand your obsession with the sock yarn, it's gorgeous! Go with the Lorna's Lace.
Personally, I'd suggest going with the Froebe Fibers, but that's just me. ;)
Having knit probably 15 pairs of socks in the last year, I'd suggest starting with a very simple stockinette pattern. Toe up or down, your choice, but really neither is better than the other, it is all personal preference.
You know what's great about socks? They are fairly inexpensive (for knitting haha), so just start a pair up already. You've got nothing to lose, and they knit up super quick. Well, the first one does anyway.
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