Two-at-a-Time Sock Progress

My "seven-needle" socks are coming along. I've started down the foot and have maybe another inch or less to go before starting the toe decreases. It's been kind of slow going, but this is fast becoming my new favorite way to do socks. As I said before, it might have been easier to use separate balls of yarn, but then you would have had to divide your original skein exactly in half. So in the long run, this way might be simpler after all.

Did you remember this is sport weight yarn? I'm kind of liking it, too. I have kind of narrow feet anyway, so thicker socks might help some shoes to fit a little better. And besides, winters can get pretty cold here sometimes. A few more evenings of knitting, and the "seven-needle" socks should be ready for color!

Two Socks at a Time on...How Many Needles?!

Seven!!? Yes, seven. I'm not a very fast knitter, and by the time I get one sock done, sometimes I have a hard time getting motivated to do the second one. I've seen the directions for two socks at a time on two circular needles, and two socks at a time on one long cable needle, but I'm awfully bad about getting things tangled up, and both of those just seem too complicated for me. I get along pretty well with double-pointed needles and decided to try something different. I ordered two sets of size 3 DPN's. My sock book calls for #3 needles and sport weight yarn, so I thought I'd give it a try. (Less stitches per round, too. I'm kind of a lazy knitter, you see.) Anyway, after winding the yarn into a ball, I cast on one sock pulling the yarn from the center, and the other from the outside of the ball. I thought I'd do maybe five rows on one and then five on the other, and so on. But then I have to keep track of those (see? lazy knitter) and decided to just do a row on one and then switch over and do a row on the other. It goes a little slowly that way, but then both socks will be done at about the same time, and without too much concentrating! I haven't dyed this yarn yet. The pattern called for a 270 yard ball, and the one I'm using has 274 yards. Since this is the first time using this pattern with sport weight and that might be cutting it close, I thought I'd wait and dye the socks after they were finished.

It seems to be working pretty well so far, though it would probably be easier if the yarn was in two separate balls. May have to try that next time!

Here I am...

I haven't been getting much blogging done lately, but here I am. We had some out-of-state company the other evening, and of course to get ready, I was doing lots of cleaning that I should have been doing all along. I remember on the show "Everybody Loves Raymond," Debra was cleaning up for company, and Raymond said it was going to be the "fake house." Sounds like around here...

I finally finished the first sock of a pair I started a while back. (I'm not a very fast knitter.) Here it is:

Now, to cast on the next one...

I listed a hand painted sock yarn in the shop called "Brunettes Are Fun Too." It goes from really dark brown to a reddish brown. It should make some dark tweedy fall socks. I enjoy doing the sock yarns. There are about four more in the order I received the other day. I'll have to do some experimenting...maybe some brighter fall colors.

Sock Report

I've been working on the socks I'm knitting with the sock yarn I ordered. I forgot to mention when I posted about dyeing the yarn that I used the solar dyeing method this time. I had tried it before with some roving I think it was, but it wasn't a sunny enough or hot enough day, and there was still a lot of dye left when I rinsed it. This time, though, we'd had some 90 degree sunny days. I put it outside in the late morning and brought it in in the late afternoon. When I rinsed it, the water was practically clear right off the bat. I'm working on the gusset now. Here's a picture:

I'm not by any means a very experienced knitter. I learned to crochet years ago, but didn't really seriously try knitting till the past two or three years. And then I've mostly done small things like caps or mittens. Last year I was in a yarn shop and saw a book about learning to knit socks and thought it looked interesting, so I've done a few pairs and found I really enjoyed it. I've so far just done simple patterns...ribbed cuffs and stockinette foot. I kind of like not having to concentrate too hard or do much counting when I'm sitting there watching TV. Lazy, I guess:) Maybe one of these days, I'll give one of those fancy patterns a whirl. I don't know, though, I kind of like having a really variegated color yarn and just letting the color do the work!