socks, strawberries

Summer is officially kicking my butt. But the socks progress! Actually I knitted so much more than I darned this week, in part because I needed to catch up to the season finale of Game of Thrones, and sometimes I just need to focus on my knitting instead of the tv. So I turned a heel. Even though I can turn a heel while watching, let's just say I watched this heel turn.

I also got out my skein of Modeknit sock yarn

(in "no Spoilers--Merry Maids") and tried to imagine what it would look like knit up as Neldoreth. And sigh. While I could easily imagine the green ("no spoilers Sherlock's kitchen") in this pattern, I'm feeling that this isn't quite right for me in this colorway. And I hate to even say anything like this at all because I LOVE this yarn, and would love to have about 6 other colorways in my "collection" (ie stash) Merry maids is not quite the color I thought it would be. I looks pinker and muddier than I had thought it would be. I'm sure I'll find the perfect pattern for it, but Neldoreth isn't it. hmmm I may have to buy Lyanna blue and/or Daenerys Eyes if they become available in the sock yarn. Red wedding would probably also be good on Neldoreth. And I can not say enough about how lovely this yarn is to work with.
So, I guess the quest continues to find a yarn to go with that pattern, or a pattern to go with my modesock....
Meanwhile, the darning project continues.

So many of the socks in my darning pile are from Knit Picks. Either I knit them too loosely or the yarn is weak, but man they get thin fast, although according to ravelry I finished these in Feb 2012. At any rate, both socks needed heel and foot work. Because summer is kicking me you know where, I have only 1.5 of this repair complete at the end of the "week."
Looking at my to do list shows that while the list was long there are still three items on it--only two I'll try to finish today (as I start next week's list). And in case you are wondering--Change the little frogs' water and darn the socks get the attention while cut off capri's does not. Although to be fair, I did one pair of the 2 pairs of capris I promised to make into shorts for my daughter. After weeks of the "how short do you want them?" question, answered by a shrug, I cut measured a pair of shorts I knew she liked, asked if that was the right length and hemmed them to a 7.5 inch inseam. This is evidently too short. So second pair is on hold.
One item I did not put on the list but should have is: make Strawberry jam. Because boy did I ever. I made 4 batches of freezer jam this week--and 2 last week so 6 total. I'm done with (strawberry) jam (will make cherry and peach and have been asked for blueberry --yuck), and now moving on to strawberry lemonade concentrate this week. Maybe strawberry marshmallows. We keep eating them (the strawberries) though. And I can't imagine a scenario where we eat a whole pan of strawberry marshmallows. I may just freeze the puree needed for them and make them at Christmas when I can give a bunch away.

leftover bright socks

Because of the way that feedly and facebook show thumbnails, I'm going to lead off with the progress on socks I'm making. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I must finish these plain boring socks before I can start something complex. A smarter person would start the complex socks and have two sets going, one for traveling and places where a simple sock is best and one for times when you need complex knitting. I suspect I feel I must finish these, because I only have the one set of size 0 dpns. Ok that's not true, I think I have 2 or 3 sets of US ) but I LOVE these.

Ok the socks!

As you can see they are going to be more fraternal than identical. That is by design. This yarn not only has large color repeats, but I'm using leftovers of two colorways. The second sock is actually coming out more like how I envisioned both socks. No matter--these are fun and playful. And I take them places because they are just a simple toe up pattern, that I swear I could do in my sleep.

Sigh, I really should at least swatch for a complex sock.

Onto the darning project. This week's sock to darn are these:

Which I went to look on ravelry for when I made these, and I NEVER documented them. I tried looking for them on this blog and I can't find them. When did I make these? I have no idea. I know the yarn is Lorna's laces and so the fact that they are wearing thin on my heels surprises me, because I think of them as relatively new. Oh hey wait--found the entry from May 2013 so two years. Hmm, why did I not put them in ravelry? At any rate, I have one sock darned, and need to start the other.

I also went through ALL my socks and have a pile of those that need repair. Sigh. It is large. It will take one pair a week all summer.

And of course it is the last few days of school, so I've been tackling the constant influx of stuff from lockers. Failing of course:

summer of socks begins!

I declared this summer to be my summer of socks!

what does that mean summer of socks?  Well it means I'll be working on my socks this summer--both looking at making new ones and making sure the ones I have are in good repair so come fall, I have no big surprises. I did this in part because my handknit sock collection is getting older.  Sure, I add a new pair every year or so, but I don't think I've ever gone through and really thought about which socks might be beyond saving.  So far, I've pulled out four pairs that either are just beyond repair (old darning patches have holes!) or they have holes, and I just don't like them enough to repair them (like maybe they don't fit me right). I also pulled out four pairs that need some repair (And honestly, I need to go through them all and find all the ones with holes).  I hate darning though, so I'm making myself take care of one pair a week.  I started that last week, and promptly didn't do last week's pair. 

This week though, I did that PAIR and this week's pair.

This is this week's pair.  I did one sock already--this one needed both the heel and the ball of my foot.  Usually most pairs just wear at the balls of my feet.  I'm glad I'm not a 19th century maiden lady looking for a husband because my darning is quite simply atrocious.

And of course, I'm going to try to knit a few pairs this summer.  This has been my traveling sock, as it is just a plain sock pattern.  I was playing around with two different skeins of leftover yarn.  So the toes and heels are in one skein, and the rest in another. 

Further, I've been playing with something.  First, I know that tighter knit socks SHOULD be less prone to holes, so I am knitting these on size 0 needles.  Second, the gauge I usually use for socks means that when most sock patterns call for 64 stitches, they are way way too big on me. In part because I need a sock smaller than most sock patterns make and I think I'm always a little loose on my knitting. 

I'm thinking about fancier patterns though. Like Knitty's Neldoreth. Wouldn't that look just divine in Modeknit sock yarn?  Of course it would.  I wanted to do that pattern/yarn combination a while ago when I made some just plain green socks.

I also just lost about 20 minutes looking through knitty at all the other socks I'd like to knit.  That doesn't even dive into the two issues of sockupied I own or all the sock books I own.  I might just have a tiny little sock problem.... First though, finish the plain socks.