Sunday, August 06, 2006

Show Me the Knitting!

There's been some hot and heavy knitting going on here the past couple of weeks, and since I'm updating the shop with yarn this week, (Wednesday) I thought it was high time I showed you my hand dyed socks.

When I started thinking about dyeing yarn and selling it, I knew I would have to have some self control. I am one serious sock-yarn-stasher, and I have no business skimming from the "for sale" stuff, when the sock yarn wing of the house is already full.

But there comes a time when I just have to grab one of those skeins, for, you know, research.

This was from a practice batch I dyed up in May.

I know those fancy schmantsy variegated yarns look so pretty in the skein, and they're glamorous to knit, but I really do have those days when I just want to wear a more solid color sock.

Here is another solid-ish combination that I love, pale periwinkle and light blue. I am using the remainder of this same yarn for the Flower Basket Shawl--progress is being made--I'll show you it later this week.


I dyed this one around the Fourth of July. I called it Picnic Basket.


Kinda festive, if I do say so myself.


This colorway was from the very first batch I sold to the public: "Iris Garden". It was a leftover 1/2 skein, not quite 50 gms, hence the shortie socks. I usually make the legs fairly long, 7 or 8 inches, and these were really just an experiment to see what the yarn looked like, I didn't expect to love them so much and I wear them all the time.

I used a scrap of "Glade" for the heel and toes.

I don't like yarns that pool or stripe, and I try very hard to dye the yarn so it won't pool. That means very small areas of color, and it takes a lot longer to do it that way, but I love the result. If it does start to pool on me, I change one of my needles (size 1) to a size 0. That usually redistributes the color enough to take care of the problem.


This one wasn't research exactly, more of a quality control issue. (Yeah, that's it.) I found a small white areas on this yarn when I was skeining it up. I didn't want to sell it, so it found its way into my knitting bag.


After knitting it up, I realized that--what I thought looked white, was really pale blue, and looked it great in the sock. So there's a skein left and its going in the shop on Wednesday. It doesn't have a name yet--anyone have suggestions?


And lastly, this was a small leftover ball of "Summer Romance". I confiscated it to make a little pair for our mascot.


And here is the Sophie's Toes mascot herself, Miss Sophie, quite happy to have her first hand-knit sock.

"Ok, Mom, when are you going to finish the second one?"

11 Comments:

Blogger I need orange said...

Your yet-to-be-named yarn makes me think of water lilies. Green floating on blue, with the lighter flowers here and there.....

Beautiful.

10:06 PM  
Blogger Dave said...

Lovely socks, all of them. I'll have to set my alarm clock for Wednesday :-)

10:16 PM  
Blogger Melody Johnson said...

My mouth, she waters.
Must make shortie sox. TODAY!

6:48 AM  
Blogger Maryann said...

That is the cutest mascot ever! Love your yarn. Someday! I have a small stash, and I try not to stash, so I need to get knitting before I buy more ;)

6:59 AM  
Blogger FemiKnitMafia said...

Lovely socks, lovely colors, lovely mascot. As a pooling-hater, I loudly applaud your willingness to dye your sock yarn to avoid it. Thanks!
Drive going into the mail today.
Took a photo at the Lowell Quilt Show for you. Stuck in camera. Will send tomorrow.

7:56 AM  
Blogger Katy said...

What a lot of great socks! Your needles must be clicking awfully fast lately. And I'm glad that your new yarns are selling well.

8:34 AM  
Blogger FunkyC said...

No one on this planet can ever have too much sock yarn, stashed or knitted.

Names?: Kentucky Bluegrass, Clear Pond, Lily Pad, Shady Hosta Garden

Yikes! They're getting worse. Better shutup now.

9:55 AM  
Blogger laura west kong said...

I never thought I would use the word "amazing" to describe socks! Glade is especially yummy. Your daughter is adorable as can be. It won't be long now until she wants to start knitting.

10:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a sweetie little girl. I quite enjoyed this posting. I am not a knitter 'yet', hope to get there though, seeing as I have been collecting sock yarn for years.

OK, down to business. How about "Orchard Berries" for that colour.

Will you be selling socks soon?

11:03 AM  
Blogger Earl3d said...

What a cute niece I have!

9:59 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

they all look so lovely. Knitting up a little swatch is the first thing i wanted to do with all the sock yarn I dyed. I found that I am drawn to the subtler color varigations lately and want less stripeyness. the periwinkle color yarn is wonderful.

how about "tidepool" for that blue green yarn.

12:00 AM  

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