Thursday, December 03, 2009

Happy socks, sad socks, and some embroidery

Sad socks :(

I blew a hole in a pair of socks the other day.

holey socks

My first holey socks, I am sad.

It's especially sad, because I was just thinking that these were one of my favorite pairs, I love the colours, I loved the stitch pattern, and the yarn was so squishy and soft. Yeah, I guess that should have been the clue. Not only do I have this hole, but there are sever thin spots in both heels, and the other toe as well.

They are the leaf lace socks, I knit using Autumn House Farm Twist Strideaway.

I'm keeping these around for now because I haven't decided if I want to darn them or not. I feel so sad, because they were one of my favorite pairs.

And now I have another dilemma, because I have another skein of the same yarn in a different colorway. And I really like the colours, and the yarn is so soft and squishy, but I'm not sure if I trust it in socks again.

***

To makeup for the lost socks, (and to have something relatively simple on the needles) I have started another pair of socks!

purple bluebells start

It's kind of hard to see in the dark yarn (darn overcast conditions!) but this is the bluebell pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. It looks really nice, and is super easy to memorize. I'm using leftover Knit picks Palette from my woven and fulled scarf. I only had on ball of the darker, and about half a ball of the lighter, so I'm using the lighter purple in the toes and heels, (and possibly the top ribbing if I have enough when I run out of the dark)

I'm zipping right along on these guys, I'm only about an inch away from the heels already. The pattern is so easy, and lately I haven't really had the energy for brain intensive knitting. (Due date is a week from today!!!)

***

and finally some embroidery:

xmas redwork for mom

This is the Colonial Christmas Sampler, a First Friday Freebie from the painted quilt

I used two strands of DMC 321 for the main motifs, and a strand of 321 plus a strand of gold filament for the grid lines, all on unbleached muslin. It's kind of hard to see in the small picture, but if you click though to see the big, you can see how much it sparkles. I really love it!

I'm going to frame this up and give it to my mother for Christmas.
I'm also thinking about taking some of the individual motifs from this piece and making little tree ornaments to go along with it, but I haven't decided yet.

5 comments:

sheep#100 said...

Don't darn. Pick up the stitches before the hole and reknit a new toe with sturdy yarn you trust.

Lather, rinse, and repeat on sock the second.

Contrasting toes rock!

Abigail said...

that's a good idea, I'll have to dig through the stash to see if i have any coordinating yarn.

Me, Myself, and I said...

I haven't done it, but I've got a friend who holds a second thread (I forget what kind) while knitting the toes and heels to reinforce them. One of the yarns that they sell at my LYS even comes with a second thread to hold while doing that.

Abigail said...

i have a bunch of Wooly Nylon that i sometimes use if i don't think the socks will hold up, but i didn't use it on these because i thought it was good sock yarn. although it is good idea, i could use it for the other skein.

the only problem with it is that it doesn't really keep the yarn from wearing away, it just makes sure that there is a framework left when it does to make darning easier.

Walden said...

I agree with "trek", darning seems too annoying. Keep the socks, but reknit the toe with another yarn.

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