Sock Sizes

I'm working on another pair of socks (shhhhh) and I've noticed that many patterns I've looked at say something like "knit until 2 inches less than foot length".

Well that doesn't make it much of a surprise if I go up to the giftee and ask to measure their foot!

In my searching I found this chart that gives you shoe size to average foot length.

These charts from My Jewel Thief Knits give even more information on sock sizes!

I'm so glad I found those!

Turkish Cast On

I used the Turkish Cast On in the baby socks I recently knit. It was really simple, just wrapping the yarn around both needles (or both ends of the needle).

Here is a good tutorial.

Here is a video tutorial.

I think it works better for casting on a larger number of stitches than only a few. The little socks I made started with 8 stitches, 4 on each needle. It kind of looks like I started knitting from a small circle rather than a line which is the usual for socks.

Wrapping Cloth

Maybe I'm weird, but I don't like having wrapping paper scattered about after opening presents only to be thrown out. I've been known to unwrap presents rather carefully despite not knowing what to do with all that pretty paper. I just find it so wasteful to throw it out. I tend to save and reuse gift bags, but the paper doesn't hold up well enough for that. I still want my presents to be neat and pretty!

Last year I wrapped presents in a combination of bought cloth bags, and gift bags. This year I took it a step further and bought some cute Christmas themed fabrics and sewed bags and big squares to wrap presents in. The big paper wrapped one was too big for my fabric and the little one is a gift to me.I got most of the bags back so next year's wrapping will go super fast!

These were really easy to make. I cut out rectangles two inches or so bigger than I wanted for the present, folded the edges neat and ironed and sewed. Ironing the seems down took longer than sewing them.

First Baby Socks Finished!

I wasn't really into knitting baby clothes before because I didn't know any babies, but now I have little kids to knit for and really like how quickly I can finish those projects. The sweater I knit for my niece a while back went pretty fast, and these, even on a size one needle went fast too!I knit this pattern http://dawnprickett.blogspot.com/2006/04/free-pattern-toe-up-heal-flap-magic.html . You know I like toe up and magic loop. The heel is a pretty normal heel flap which is different from my usual short row heel, but not hard.

The pattern says to keep knitting until the sock is 1 1/2 inches less than desired. I didn't know how long I wanted the socks to be so I had to look that up! I went with 4 inches from the toe to the heel. They're a bit bigger than I'd planned, so they'll just have to be grown into, but hopefully they'll get worn more that way.

These are knit with Pacca-Peds Superwash Alpaca Sock Yarn, the same yarn I knit my skew socks with, so we'll have matching socks!

Skew Socks: Finished!

Yay! I finished knitting my skew socks! They fit great with my minor modifications. They were interesting to knit with the unusual heel construction.

The heel starts with a few decreases, and then it is folded over and kitchener stitched together.

Dyed a Small Batch

The other day I dyed a small batch of yarn, 7 skeins. The ones in the picture are all worsted weight and 100% wool. I did 3 skeins the same in case someone wants to buy more for a larger project or easy relisting if they go one at a time. One skein is half brown and half light turquoise blue, one is a raspberry purple pink, and the other not pictured two are half orange and half pink. One of those is a fingering weight destined to be socks to show off my yarn in person or for sale if anyone feels like paying for hand knit socks. I'd like to have those done and there like now, but I still have to knit them.

Pattern Up on Knit Picks!

I'm super excited to announce that a pattern of mine is now availble for purchase on Knit Picks! It's my Lace Mobius Wrap pattern knit in Gloss Lace (merino wool and silk). It's really easy to adjust for different sizes, just keep knitting the pattern repeat until it's the desired length.

http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Lace_Mobius_Wrap__D10745220.html

On the Needles: Skew Socks

I haven't been doing much knitting for myself lately, but these socks are all mine.
I'm knitting the Skew socks on Knitty. The pattern is for size 8.5, which is waaaay too big for me. The pattern calls for 7.75 st/in and I went with 8 st/in for a touch smaller around the foot using a size 1 needle, and did 10 repeats in the foot section instead of the called for 14 which leaves out 3/4 an inch.
I love toe up socks because you can try them on as you go. So far, it fits great, and now I'm about to do the heel.