All posts in category Socks

My Second Pair of Socks

Hello everyone,

It’s about time I showed you what I’ve been up to recently. I’ve just finished my second pair of knitted socks. I knitted the first of this pair ages ago and then got side-tracked on knitted squares for a blanket. I wish I had more spare time to knit socks. I love knitting on four needles because there is minimal stitching up to do at the end.

I used this wool that my sister bought me as a gift. She bought two balls and there’s still a lot left. Three balls would easily make two pairs like the ones I made. I altered a pattern called Jeck which is free on Ravelry.com by missing out the pattern stitches and knitting in rib and stocking stich only. I did start to knit the pattern but it was totally lost in all the colour changes of the wool so I pulled it out and knitted plain.

I enjoyed knitting with this wool so much that I’ve now treated myself to some purple as well Smile

I hope you’ve had a very crafty time this weekend!

Avis x

18 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on May 25, 2014 • Permalink

Posted in Knitting, Socks

Tagged craft, double pointed, handmade, knitting, knitting needles, knitting pins, needles, pattern, socks, wool, yarn

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on May 25, 2014

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/my-second-pair-of-socks/

A productive surprise!

Good evening everyone,

A few weeks ago, it was about time a dear friend of mine received a surprise gift. I’d been to my local yarn shop that day and couldn’t resist this sock yarn. Firstly, because the socks on the label looked lovely and secondly because my friend had already showed me socks that she had made with wool that has some very short colour changes.

Look what she made!!! Aren’t they gorgeous? I love the way this wool makes the socks look as though they are made with a very complicated pattern using lots of different colours. Starting to knit the second sock at the same point in the colour repeat as the first sock has produced two identical socks as if by magic!

My friend has told me that she really enjoyed knitting them 🙂 Thanks to her for the photos and for inspiring me to get my double pointed needles back out again! There’s another ball of sock wool waiting in my stash.

I hope you like them as much as I do 🙂

Avis x

35 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on January 9, 2014 • Permalink

Posted in Knitting, Socks

Tagged craft, double pointed, handmade, knitting, knitting needles, knitting pins, needles, socks, wool, yarn

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on January 9, 2014

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/a-productive-surprise/

Happy dancing!

Hello to all the lovely crafters around the world. Today, I have a finish to show you.

I have now finished both socks, the first pair I have ever knitted, and I’m so pleased with them. I ummed and aaahed and asked lots of questions about knitting socks on my other blog about a year ago and then never got around to knitting them. Some of you had great suggestions. I signed up for a Craftsy class for knitting toe-up socks (which I still haven’t looked at) and then found this free pattern on Ravelry called Jeck for a cuff-down version. The yarn is Opal brand and it’s made in Germany but mine was purchased in the UK by my daughter at a craft fair. The label says “Pullover & Sockenwolle 100g”.

As a complete coincidence, my daughter was buying me wool at a craft fair while I was visiting the Isle of Skye buying more wool. We visited a wonderful shop called Shilasdair. It could actually be described as a small visitor centre as there is a video set-up showing all of the different processes of hand-dyeing the wool they sell and I found it very interesting. Shilasdair uses lots of lovely natural dyes and the colours are stunning. How could I leave without buying some?

This is what I bought. Isn’t it similar to the wool my daughter bought for me?

The lady in the shop explained that the blues are dyed with indigo but the shades are just like the blaeberries on the label.

My Shilasdair wool is a mix of cashmere, baby camel, angora and merino lambswool so it is very soft. It is labelled as a luxury double knit weight.

Now all I have to decide is, will I be knitting socks or a scarf with this new wool? I’m drawn towards a scarf this time due to the heavier weight of this yarn, maybe something quite lacy……but then I enjoyed knitting the socks so much on four needles. I could always shop for other sock yarn….decisions, decisions.

Happy crafting!

Avis x

25 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in 2013, Finished!, Knitting, Socks

Tagged blue, craft, double pointed, knitting, knitting needles, knitting pins, needles, opal, purple, socks, wool, yarn

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on October 13, 2013

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/happy-dancing/

It’s time to knit socks!

Hi everyone,

Here’s what I’ve decided to knit with my lovely gift of wool. I haven’t knit anything on four needles before so it is a new challenge for me. I had to restart several times due to making mistakes but once I had a few rounds on the needles it became much less fiddly. I had expected the wool to continue changing colour. However, as you can see, there are longer lengths of blues between groups of mixed colours which have resulted in stripes 🙂

Here is my progress so far….

The free pattern I am following can be downloaded on Ravelry here. So far I’m managing to follow it but I’ll soon be up to the heel and I haven’t done one of those on two needles before so it could be interesting to say the least.

I hope you all have a wonderful crafty weekend ahead!

Avis x

19 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on September 13, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Knitting, Socks

Tagged blue, craft, double pointed, gift, knitting, knitting needles, knitting pins, purple, wool, yarn

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on September 13, 2013

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/time-to-knit-socks/

I know exactly what I’m going to do with this!

Happy Sunday everyone!

An enormous welcome is extended to all of my new followers and also to those of you who have skipped across from Oh Sew Tempting. It’s always so good to meet up with you again in our virtual crafty world 🙂

I couldn’t resist popping in today to show you my very unexpected gift. My daughter came to stay last week and she saw this yarn in her local craft market a while ago. She thought I would like it (well it is predominantly blue and purple) and she also bought the needles for a project that she knows I’ve been wanting to try for ages.

Any guesses what I’m going to make?

Also, I have a Linky Party to share with all of you thread and yarn fanatics. If you haven’t been there already, hop across to Woolhogs and enter this month’s Made it Challenge. I’ve actually entered a patchwork quilt from my other blog and the blackwork house from over here but you have until almost the end of September to add your own links. It’s just a bit of fun and we all like that, don’t we?

Here’s wishing you all a super crafty time this week!

Avis x

13 Comments

by Sewing Beside the Sea on September 8, 2013 • Permalink

Posted in Knitting, Socks

Tagged blue, craft, double pointed, gift, knitting, knitting needles, knitting pins, purple

Posted by Sewing Beside the Sea on September 8, 2013

https://sewingbesidethesea.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/i-know-exactly-what-im-going-to-do-with-this/