Sock Names

I have a list of names for socks. With some I've just changed the name of an already available sock pattern. With others, I've found a stitch pattern which reminds me of something and I incorporate it into a generic 64-stitch sock pattern. Sometimes the sock is named after the name of the yarn. I have a list of possible sock names and ideas for the entire year.

I try to focus on the month or season which why this month the sock names are mainly about hearts and valentines. Next month there will be Pineapple Express (I'll explain that name when I get there) and Daffodils. In April there's Lilacs and Spring Fern, in May Leaf Lace and Spring Ahead, and in June, there's Cherry Ripe and Fly Away Home. I don't try to get too far ahead and some months seem to get a longer list than others and, then of course, I keep re-naming them and moving them from one month to another too.

New Year's Day Socks

This is the last pair of socks for January,although I suppose they should have been the first. I'm glad I have a few extra days to work on February's socks as it's an ambitious list and February is a short month to begin with.

Details:
Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 100gm, 420 yds of 70/20/10 blend of superwash merino, cashmere and nylon from StrickenSmitten on Etsy in Nighwing colorway
Pattern: Free pattern found here.

Needles Are Flying!

I'm working on the second New Year's Day sock now and it's going fast. I love the pattern and the yarn is yummy; I almost don't want to finish these because I'm enjoying it so much!

I'm working today so they won't be finished until tomorrow and it's unlikely I'll get a photograph up until Saturday. (Alert readers may have noticed that I removed Silver Bells from my January list because I knew I wouldn't have time to do them. I've renamed it Wedding Bells and put it on June's list.)

Flickering Flames Socks

Flickering Flames
Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 435 yd skein of 70% merino wool/30% silk, colorway Ruby Lips, by March Hare (Meg Warren) on Etsy
Pattern: Flickering Flames, a free pattern found here

I liked knitting this pattern, especially the picot cuff.

Orange Sherbet Baby Socks

Most of my baby socks are made of yarn left-over from making adult socks, but sometimes I want to make baby socks in colors I wouldn't use to make adult socks. Lucky for me, CraftsMeow on Etsy sells mini skeins of about 100 yards of beautiful sock yarn and I've bought several of these. This is one.

This is the stitch pattern I used:
Rnd 1: *P3, K1. Repeat from * around
Rnd 2: * P1, YO, P2tog, K1. Repeat from *
Rnds 3, 4, and 5: Knit around

Deep Winter Socks

Deep Winter
Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 420 yd skein of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Select merino fingering weight yarn, kettle dyed by AlaskanNancy on Etsy
Stitch pattern:
Rnd 1: yo,ssk,k1, k2tog, yo, k1-b
Rnd 2: purl
Rnd 3: k1, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k1, k1-b
Rnd 4: purl

I wasn't pleased with my choice of stitch pattern, called Little Arrowhead Lace, for this yarn as it effectively hides the zig-zag. I hope to use this stitch again, but this time using a plain colored yarn.

Winter Violets Baby Socks

Stitch pattern:
Rnds 1 and 2: k2,p2
Rnds 3 and 4: p

Dreaming of Hawaii Socks

Dreaming of Hawaii
Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 435 yards 70% merino wool and 30% silk in Glacier Bay colorway from The March Hare on Etsy
Pattern: Jigsaw Socks, free pattern on Ravelry

Two Pairs of December Socks

The first is Oh, Christmas Tree!


Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 420 yard skein of Cherry Tree Hill merino fingering weight yarn from Alaskan Nancy on Etsy in Black Spruce colorway
Stitch Pattern:
Rnd 1: k2,p2
Rnd 2: ssk, yo, p2
Rnd 3: k2,p2
Rnd 4: yo,k2tog, p2


The second is Sugar Plum


Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 3.5 oz/100g approximately 460 yards 75% Merino wool, 25% nylon from Wool Candy on Etsy in Sugared Violet Marzipan colorway
Stitch Pattern:
Rnd 1: k7,p2
Rnd 2: k1,, k2tog,yo,k1,yo,ssk,k1,p2
Rnd 3: k7,p2
Rnd 4: k2tog,yo,k3,yo,ssk,p2

Too Ambitious

Ah..I thought that, because I had two weeks off work, I would have plenty of time for knitting socks and so I listed a long list of socks I was going to knit this month.

Well, that didn't work out as planned. I finished one pair and one sock each of two other pairs, and I'll be lucky to have three pairs done before the New Year. My plan now is to do a "Christmas in July" and knit the others (or perhaps just some of the others) then. A few which don't have names related to Christmas can be squeezed into other months. We'll see how that goes.

Book Reviews

These are not sock books, but they do have patterns in them, including some for socks.

The Knitter's Book of Wool by Clara Parks



This book begins with an entire chapter titled "What is Wool?" In it the author discusses skirting and shorting, scouring fleece, how wool is spun into yarn, and dying yarn. Further in the book she describes difference sheep breeds and how that determines how the yarn will look, feel, and behave. This chapter is extremely detailed and fascinating

She further describes how wool "plays well with others"; in other words, how it can be blended with other fibers for different effects. Following these chapters she presents many beautiful patterns.

One was this scarf which I hope to find time to make this winter.




And, of course,socks.



A companion book by the same author is The Knitters Book of Yarn.



It begins with a chapter on fiber foundations (protein, cellulose, cellulosic, and synthetic) following by one detailing how yarn is made including yarn production by mills and microspinneries, farm yarns and fiber festivals, how yarn is colored, and how wool is prepared for spinning. The next chapter describes single ply, two-ply, three-ply, and four-ply and more and what projects they are each best suited for.

The rest of the book offers many patterns. These were some of my favorites:

These mittens are just gorgeous and another project I'd love to do this winter.



And more socks!





NOTE: Errata for The Knitters Book of Yarn can be found here.

Lollipop Socks

Needles: 2.25 dpn
Yarn: self-striping 420 yards of fingering weight Cherry Tree Hill Select 100% merino yarn from AlaskanNancy on Etsy

Blackberry Bramble Socks

Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Colorway 75% wool and 25% polyamide 100grs
Pattern: Blackberry Bramble by Irish Girlie Knits; available through Ravelry

Blackberries are prolific plants in Oregon. Many consider them a weed and resort to burning the bushes to get rid of them, although that doesn't always work. They can grow high, serving as fences, and remind me of the brambles that surrounded castles in fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty. The fruit, however, is delicious when ripe and sweet and I especially like them in pies. Always, we have blackberry pie in late August, when they are at their peak. It's lovely, too, to have blackberry pie in bleak mid-winter, to remind us that summer will indeed come again.

Psychotic Pumpkin Socks

Needles: 2.25 mm dpn
Yarn: 100% Superwash Merino 2-ply 110grams/3.9ounce and 440 yards
Colorway: psychotic pumpkin from SeeJaneKnit Yarns on Etsy which she describes as

In-your-face with a manic orange glow, but its guts are mellow-yellow/squash-yellow. Socks knitted with this yarn just might help you survive another Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

Yes, indeed!