Yes, the shape of that sock looks strange

But only because the slip stitch ribbing pulls in so very nicely. In action, it will be a good snug, but not tight, fit. At least that's the plan.



I'm working with a stash yarn called Sisu from Sandnesgarn. Fingering weight 80 % wool and 20 % nylon. Nice elasticity, a bit loftier than some. More loosely spun than the Lorna's, and as a result I've split a few more stitches than usual. But I like it. The thing that appealed to me was the relatively wide range of solid colors. I adore using self patterning/hand painted sock yarns. But sometimes a girl likes to make her own color and pattern choices. I bought this online a couple of years ago from a company in Canada whose name I can no longer remember. A quick Goggle search doesn't turn up a lot of suppliers, and most don't carry the full color range. But it looks as though perhaps Bea Ellis Knitwear does. (No affiliation, no experience ordering, just passing along the results of my search).

Grasshopper, not Ant

Well, I finally got the last of the tulip bulbs in on Saturday afternoon. The first bunch went in about a month ago, when the days were still warm and I felt that I had lots of time even though it was October already. Funny how fast it got to be November. Scraping frost off the back window of the car on Friday I realized the ground is going to be frozen soon. So I got that last bunch in. Took longer to clear away the grass that had crept into the beds than to actually plant (we're not talking hundreds of bulbs here, just about a dozen). In the process, I inadvertently dug up some crocus from past years. Endearingly, they were already putting out roots. I tucked them back in and hoped for the best.

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The socks in Elann Esprit are done, (though I haven't been able to get a picture that's entirely to my liking yet.) So at least in that area I have managed to work ahead - come spring I'll have new socks to wear among the tulips.

Hubba Hubba

I'm excited. I've joined the design team at The Garter Belt, "your clean, well-lit source for knitwear." Several of my current patterns will find a new home there, plus a new sock pattern for sale and a little freebie. I'm honored to be joining a great group of designers. Everyone's new patterns will be going up very soon. If you want a preview of the big event, just hop over and sign up for the newsletter: it will have the lowdown on new patterns from all the designers, plus Rebecca Hatcher's fibery article that is very good but I won't say more because you have to sign up to get it (hint,hint, hint).

In the meantime, here's a tiny sneak peek of my new stuff.

Go on, sign up now, it's right here, only takes a minute, and while you're there you can browse the very nice patterns already available. Tell 'em Cindy sent ya.

Sock Maintenace Schedule

Magnusmog asked: "How much after care is there in darning the socks? I've still got my first socks ( ok, sock ) on it' needles and I know that as well as fear of heel turning, one thing that puts me off is the idea of making something only to see it develop holes......"

Well as with so many things, that depends. Everything following is just my experience, so if y'all have additional input or alternate ideas, please chip in.

I get about a year to a year and a half of frequent wear out of socks before they start to go. This includes much walking around the house with no shoes, and a couple of holes happened when I snagged the socks on something.

I find that yarn with some nylon content wears particularly well and tightly plied yarn wears better than loosely plied. A tight gauge also contributes to wear.

Even though my store socks used to wear out first at the toes, I've never had a hand knit pair go there. I attribute this to the store kind being too short. When the size reads "8-10" you know they are under some tension to fit my 10.

I've never had socks wear out at the back of the heel, because I always wear clogs, so there is no rubbing against the back of a shoe. If I did wear them in regular shoes, and had yarn with no nylon, I would probably use woolly nylon to reinforce the heel flap.

The place my socks always go first is under the heel. I am starting to think this is partly because my knitting is a bit looser where I work back and forth for the heel turn. Logic would indicate that I should switch to a smaller needle for that area.

"A stitch in time..." Personally, I find it easier to reinforce a worn area with duplicate stitch/Swiss darning, than to work a woven darn on an actual, gaping hole. So if I'm paying enough attention to catch it in time, that's what I do. If I were very conscientious I would probably reinforce this way as soon as I finished knitting them.

In the case of actual gaping holes, I have been known to resort to applying knitted patches.

All that said, I like wearing hand knit socks so much (and enjoy knitting them so much), that the maintenance issues aren't a big factor for me.

Other tips or insights, anyone?

The Ghosts of Socks Past

Actually, these are my old sock blockers, picked up at various garage sales. They clearly date from the days when women* washed their husbands' socks by hand and hung them on the clothesline to dry (there is a handy hanging hook at the top of each). The ones on the left have the added feature of being adjustable in length, though I find in practice that the adjustment thingummies have a tendency to snag the inside of a damp sock being pulled onto it.

They are clearly sized for men's socks. It would be a very tight fit to get anything smaller than a Woman's size 10 onto them. Fortunately (!), I wear a 10. So I have put them to use. It's not as though I feel socks need blocking with every wash. The blockers just speed up the drying time on "hand wash only" numbers. The routine used to be: wash in the sink, put in the salad spinner to remove excess moisture, stretch on the sock blockers and hang to dry.

I say "used to be", because these days I work mostly with superwash yarn. I wear hand knit socks every day. Putting seven pair a week through the routine got to be a drag.

*Yes, it's perfectly possible that men washed and blocked their own socks. I'm betting that the married ones had their wives do it 99.9% of the time. And I'm betting that most women dumped the sock blockers as soon as automatic dryers and synthetic socks became available.

Liking Lorna's Laces

This really is very nice yarn.



It's nice and smooth with a good firm twist and the Sherbet colors are yummy. Generally speaking, I wear rather subdued (dull) colors, but I love hot, bright combinations (think Mexico and India). Socks are where I sometimes indulge that fancy.

What? Launching into a new sock before that green pair is finished? Well, I'm trying to write up my hen-scratch notes into a usable pattern first. Then I can proofread the pattern by knitting the second sock from it. But for me the writing/formatting is slower going than the knitting, so it will be a while.