Friday, January 13, 2006

The Joy of Knitting... Socks


One day about seven months ago I decided to teach myself to knit socks. I went out & bought this ball of Lion Brand Magic Stripes sock yarn & some frighteningly skinny # 2's. I was already totally comfortable using double points, that wasn't the issue. The needles were so teeny tiny thin, the yarn was so skinny... I didn't get 3 rounds into the ribbing before I put it all away and worked on something else. A couple of weeks later I took a sock class, using worsted weight yarn, & as I have said before, it was disappointingly easy, turning the heel and all of that, a sleep walk. So anyway...
Seven months later, which is now, I decided to pull out that ball of sock yarn & knit some socks that I could actually wear with shoes. EASY PEASY! I am using size 2 needles and loving it. Go figure. I have already bought another ball of sock yarn (pictured below). I think that I just might become one of THOSE people, yes you know who I am talking about, THEM... "Sock knitters".

My new ball of sock yarn, Lana Grossa Multiringel, in the most delectable colors (#5122). I have a second ball of this on hold at the shop, I want to knit knee highs with this yarn, am I crazy? Is that a reasonable dream? I know that the 100gram ball is supposed to make one pair of socks, but how tall, just how much sock can I expect to get out of one ball? I know that a pair of knee highs will certainly need more than one. Any ideas from you "sock knitters" out there?
The other two heart breakers in the photo are Rowanspun Aran in # 972 Hardy. It is discontinued, it's beautiful, & it's mine all mine! Don't know what I am going to do with it, I would love to find more. In the meantime, I will just gaze upon it!

12 comments:

  1. Depends on how big your feet are. :) The shorter and narrower your feet, the further the yarn will go.

    Just measured a pair of Meilenweit Cotton Stripes socks - the socks are 72 stitches around, 10 inches long in the foot, and 8 inches tall.

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  2. I've seen some Rowanspun Aran on ebay - and yeah, I think you'll need two balls for knee highs! Don't forget to knit elastic into the cuffs so they'll stay up! :)

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  4. For Dad's socks, which ran out of yarn for the toes, the pattern calls for three balls at 150 meters (or 50 grams.) Another thing to consider is the pattern you use. The ribbing on the socks I made extended the entire length of the sock and took up lots of yarn.

    For knee-highs? I'd want a 3rd ball on reserve...just in case. I really, really hated running out of yarn!

    Isn't it funny how the little needles grow on ya? I love the feel of them now. They were very scary before.

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  5. I think I'd need a class for this! Looks super complicated. Well done

    Edie Mcredie x

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  6. I'm glad you asked this because it's going through my mind too. Most websites where I've bought my sock yarn says once sock = one skein. I need to figure out knitting toe up then I can keep knitting up the leg if I want to. I'm afraid that I will knit cuff down and then get to the toe and not have enough yarn to finish.

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  7. I rilly rilly want to knit knee socks too. My yarn store wasn't of much help, so I bought 3 balls of yarn. I need to find a pattern too!

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  8. You might try going toe-up. That way you knit until you hit your knee, or you run out of yarn in the first ball. Knitty had a good tutorial a while back. I have found it is pretty easy, plus you can try them on as you go.

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  9. Well..... if you really want to make sure to get the tallest socks you can get, you could do toe-ups, two at once and then knit until you run out of yarn. That's what I tend to do since I have big feet (size 9).

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  10. toe up is definitely the way to go! I have never done toe up, nor two at once. two at once is on two circs right? it would have to be... right? also never done the two circ method, I am wierd & like using dpns. weeeee, time to learn something new.

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  11. Toe-ups are definitely the way to go, but I'm sure that one ball of Meilenweit, while it's not going to get you just as far as that ("Meilen" is German for miles, "weit" means far), I'm sure you can make one knee high sock with one ball.
    BTW, I'm knitting Jaywalkers with the same yarn&colorway right now.

    And you have SUCH a COOL blog name! LOVE IT!

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