2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

Cherryfudge

Oh I love those, @skogar! Are they DK? They look so cosy!

MrsCD

They look really nice and warm.

Laura_Elsewhere

Nice cosy work, @skogar!

mumtoomany

First spend of the year. Seven x 100gm balls of acrylic "wool". Going to knit a rainbow jumper for each of the DGDs. Not sure how many points that is. Will still have lots left! 

If you decide on the second pair of jeans, @Laura_Elsewhere, but are worried about the coupon spend, I could send you some. Now where did I put that tuppenny ha'penny stamp?

Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

PipneyJane

They look like lovely socks, @skogar.  I hope they keep your feet toasty.

MrsCD said:

Pip, I'm the one making the base cover for the amazing things my friend makes to go on the top! I'll post a photo when it's in place.

That's still very impressive @MrsCD.  Yes, please!

- Pip

skogar

Not double knit Cherryfudge - Drops Andes - Super chunky on 6mm needles. :-) So cozy lounging about socks - too chunky to wear with my shoes.

Some of the people on here keeping me on track with trying to use some of the stash rather than buying more wool were influential on the first sock finally being completed. You know who you are.

I realised I had 2 balls of this and started knitting ankle warmers, but when I tried them with the leggings I was going to wear them with the colour didn't seem quite right and I really fancied them to be cosy socks. Only snag is that so far I have got close but not completed 2 attempts at socks which have been pulled back many times. Short rows were fine but I kept getting a gap near the heel. It was gradually getting smaller with the subsequent attempts but I'd still not quite cracked it. I did however find a pattern that claimed to be very easy "If you can knit in the round, are comfortable with Double Pointed Needles, and can worked a SSK, K2tog, you can make these." So as it sounded simple enough I bought pattern and downloaded to find that it included my nemisis the heel turn. eeeeek!!! So set off anyway on the usual (well I can always pull it back) knowing I would also need to adapt the pattern if I wanted to include my original knitted ankle warmer part as the needle sizes were significantly different. Didn't really expect it to work to be honest. I think my issues with the heel turn were caused by poor technique for picking up the stitches. Other worry was that although I had another ball for the other sock I was getting very close to the end of the ball. Had I been following the pattern there would have been a much shorter cuff. Finished with 2m left! Currently I have one nice warm foot and one cool one.

The plan is to make a matching sock and then I will go back to the one I was knitting in double knit and see if I can complete the heel this time.

Liverpool_Anne

@skogar " Currently I have one nice warm foot and one cool one " so funny good luck with the second sock 

PollyWollyDoodle

So they are (will be) your first completed socks? Well done.  

 I've been meaning to come on here to ask about sock wool. I have only knitted a couple of pairs of socks so far. I used yarn that was sold as 'sock yarn' and they have turned out ok in terms of size and shape, one was a very clever self-striping Fair Isle effect. But they don't feel soft and comfy to wear, they feel slightly scratchy. (Don't ask me what the yarn was, the band has long disappeared!).  Any recommendations for  knitting that produces socks that are soft, but not too thick?  

PipneyJane

PollyWollyDoodle said:

So they are (will be) your first completed socks? Well done.  

 I've been meaning to come on here to ask about sock wool. I have only knitted a couple of pairs of socks so far. I used yarn that was sold as 'sock yarn' and they have turned out ok in terms of size and shape, one was a very clever self-striping Fair Isle effect. But they don't feel soft and comfy to wear, they feel slightly scratchy. (Don't ask me what the yarn was, the band has long disappeared!).  Any recommendations for  knitting that produces socks that are soft, but not too thick?  

@PollyWollyDoodle, I've used multiple different 4-ply sock yarns over the years: Regia, West Yorkshire Spinners, Lidl's Crelano Anika, KnitPicks Stroll, Opal, King Cole ZigZag etc.   The only one I wouldn't recommend is the latter: at 50% nylon, it was scratchy.  The others were all 75% wool: 25% nylon/polyamide.  

Although the cheapest, the Lidl yarn softened up quite nicely after a few washes.  I am most impressed.  Pity they don't sell it regularly.

My favourite sock yarn for softness would be Toft's Alpaca Sock, but it's no longer in production.  (They've wandered off in a different direction.)

HTH

- Pip  

Laura_Elsewhere

Lidl's Crelando Meli, a bulky weight, is great stuff - I managed to get some second-hand in cream and if ever they do it again I shall be buying more! 

@skogar, if it helps, I find sock patterns make the heel seem much more complex than it actually is! 
You knit the ankle on X stitches, let's call it 60 for ease of arithmetic. 
You use X/2, ie 30 stitches, for the heel flap, and knit roughly as many rows as stitches, ie 30 rows of 30 stitches. As a stitch is taller than its width that gives you a rectangle. Each row, slip the first stitch. 
To turn the heel, you knit to just past the middle of the 30, let's say til there are 10 stitches still on the left hand needle, 'bite' two stitches together, work one stitch to stabilise that 'bite' and turn; slip the stitch you just worked, and then purl your way back along to the same point, ie 10 stitches still on the left hand needle; you 'bite' two stitches together with a purl stitch, and work one more stitch to stabilise. Turn, slip the stitch you just worked and knit along again til one stitch before the gap where you turned before, and 'bite' the two stitches which are either side of that gap. Work one more and turn. Slip the first and purl along the back til you are almost at the gap... you get the idea. You just keep biting and turning, and it makes the rectangle bend to give the heel-cup shape. 
Then you pick up, and because you slipped the first stitch on every row of the original rectangle, it means you have an edge of big Vs, so I usually just pick up the outside leg of the big Vs. don't worry if you miss one up near the live stitches of the heel-turn. As for number, I usually pick up half the number of rows of the original rectangular heel-flap - in this case that was 30 rows, so I'd pick up 15 along each side - then the useful tip is to pick up an additional one near where the other 30 stitches of the ankle are hanging about waiting patiently - experiment and see how picking up different strands will make a bigger or smaller hole - there is one strand that looks temptingly obvious but will give a big gap, and another that will close up the gap neatly, but it's very hard to describe which - but just using a spare knitting needle to pick a strand up will give a good indication of which one it is - but in any case you can always run a strand of yarn round on the inside once the sock is finished to close it up. I've done that plenty of times! 
When you start knitting in the round again, k2tog on the first round where you picked up that extra stitch, and it should help reduce the gaping. 

Hope that helps... 

I use sock-yarn that has as high a proportion as possible of wool, if not 100% wool. People say you "must" have nylon added to make them hard-wearing but I don't find that to be the case. It's partly about the wools used by big commercial brands - merino is lovely and soft but not remotely hard-wearing so not suitable for socks except as a small percentage, ditto cashmere, etc. If you can find 4-ply that has long-staple wool from breeds known for hard-wearing then that helps, as does not washing them every time you wear them (wool is self-cleansing to a considerable extent so even worn against the skin pure wool can be aired and re-worn several times). 
I've used the brands others mention. Not a lot between them, tbh... 

And this is my friend Sally Pointer's brilliant video showing you how to reinforce a sock when it is new, so that it lasts and lasts and lasts!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKKLOUNOHU