More Baby Socks

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I’ve been in the ‘knitting for baby’ mode for a new grandbaby in the family and can’t believe I haven’t posted these little socks on my blog yet.  Guess I’ve been preoccupied.  These are made on my standard gauge machine with a couple different brands of non-wool self striping sock yarns.  I’ve knit them flat and seamed the side later but could easily be knit in the round if desired.   My pattern is designed with a 3-1/2” sole to fit 0 to 3 months but can easily be resized by adjusting stitches and rows.  

They are just adorable and mom and baby just love them.  The two yarns are Premier Wool Free Sock Stripes which is acrylic and polyester, and Loops & Threads Perfect Pair yarn which is acrylic, polyester and bamboo.  Both are easy knits and soft for baby.   So here we go.

Size: 0-3 mos (3.5” sole)

Machine:  Standard gauge

Tension 6

Gauge:  9 sts, 12 rows = 1”

CUFF:

1.  CO 40 sts in 1x1 ribbing.

2.  Knit 14 rows (or 30 rows for a foldover cuff).

3.  Transfer ribber stitches to main bed.  (or do a mock or latched rib if you don't have a ribber.

ANKLE:

Knit 17 rows total in the ankle. 

BUT if you want an eyelet row,

            a.  Knit 6 rows and make eyelets by transferring one stitch to its neighbor beginning

                with the 2^nd needle from the left.  The eyelet row looks like this after transfers are made:

                  . x .. x .. x ….. x .. x .. x .. x ..  etc,  to end of row.

            b.  Keeping empty needles in work, knit 11 more rows to make a total of 17 rows.

HEEL:

1.   Put half the stitches away from the carriage into hold position.

2.   Make sure there are even stitches in work, put machine on hold and shortrow down to 8

       stitches and back out.

FOOT AND TOE:

1.  Knit 28 rows.

2.  Decrease EON, move stitches together and knit 2 rows at T7.

3.  Gather live stitches and secure.

FINISHING:

Mattress stitch the side seam using the 1/2 stitch on each side.  Use a Bickford seam in the ribbing.  Knit a 2 stitch I-cord at T2 for about 18”.  Weave the cord thru the eyelet row and double knot each end.  Or pompoms or tassels can be added if desired.

Baby Socks

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What’s a gramma to do for a new baby when mom is a Green Bay Packer’s fan and dad is a devoted Minnesota Vikings fan?  She knits a pair of each to wear on football game days during those friendly rivalries.  These socks are knit in the round on my standard gauge machine with ribber with shortrowed heels and toes, but they can be knit flat and seamed up the side if desired.

Size: 0-3 months  (3-1/2” sole)

Machine: Standard Gauge

Yarn:  Tamm 3 ply Astracryl

Gauge at T6:  8 sts, 12 rows per inch

1.     T7, CO 32 sts, 1x1 rib for 14 rows for cuff, 24 rows if you want a foldover cuff.

2.     T6, transfer all main bed stitches to ribber bed, knit 1 row and convert to circular with seam up the back on center of main bed, K to RC014.

3.     Then make an eyelet row for tie as desired, leaving empty needles in work. Eyelets on L6, L2, R2, R6 on main bed; L7, L3, R3, R7 on ribber bed.

4.     Knit to RC013 for ankle. (27 rows total in ankle)

5.     T5, shortrow heel down to 6 stitches and back out.

6.     T6, knit 36 rows for foot.

7.     T5, shortrow toe as for heel. Scrap off both beds.

8.     Graft toe seam, sew ribbed cuff with a Bickford stitch, secure all yarn tails and weave in.

Knit a 2 st I-cord at T3 for about 18” (approx. 260 rows) long and run thru eyelet row. Double knot ends of ties or attach pom-poms or tassels if desired.

This sock can easily be made larger by increasing CO sts and/or rows.

Mesh Shopping or Beach Bag

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I made this bag several years ago and kind of forgot it was in my stash until a group of gals brought it to my attention again by starting a KAL for shopping bags.  My inspiration came from a bag done by Linda (Lanz) Tsekoura of 'dancingbarefoot' fame on Ravelry.  My bag looks a lot like hers but knitting is a bit different than hers.  She uses a ribber with her standard gauge machine and mine is developed to be knit on a KX350 midgauge machine with no ribber.  I thank Linda for her pattern at https://dancingbarefoot.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/susitna.pdf

Here's how I did it:  (Please forgive the appearance of this post; sometimes blogspot doesn't like my formatting).

Machine:  Brother KX350, Midgauge

Yarn:  Cotton carpet warp,  8/4, 2 strands throughout

            8.5 oz ea cone,  5 oz total

Gauge:   Unimportant

Tension:  Variable

Size:     16”H x 14W” unstretched, without strap

NOTE:  Double stranded cotton will be pushing the limits of your machine, so work your carriage slowly but deliberately.  Use both hands and it may help to put a bit of downward pressure with back hand when moving the carriage.  Use yarn spray if needed.   

BOTTOM

1)  Leaving a long tail for sewing the side seam.  Scrap, ravel cord  and loosely e-wrap CO 65 sts.  Pull the e-wrapped stitch thru the ravel cord when casting on.  This will make it easier to knit the first row.  Pull needles out to hold position.

2)  RC000, T8.  K1R to the left.   (May need to manually knit the first row.) 

3)  Carriage on Hold, shortrow decrease by putting the 1^st needle  next to the carriage in hold til 5 needles are in hold on each side.

4)  Increase back out by putting the needle opposite the carriage into working position and knitting across each row til all needles are in work again.

5)  Backstitch bind off and leave work on machine.                                                                                                    

SIDE

1)  RC000, T4, K40R.  (More or less rows as desired for length.

2)   Beginning with the 2^nd needle, remove every other stitch from the needles.

NOTE:  A stitch must be on the end needles.

3)   Move empty needles to working position and even out needle butts. 

TOP BAND

1)   RC000, T8, K10R total on all needles, reducing tension by one click every 2 rows.

2)   T9, K1R.

3)   T6, K9R, increasing tension by one click every 2 rows.  End with COL. 

4)   Remove weights from the front and reposition them on the back side of knitting on the upper portion of the band.

5)   Move needles out to UWP (position D).

6)   Pick up and hang the top of the knit stitches from the beginning of the band row.  Hang the new stitches on every other needle, making sure that the end needles are hung with the new stitch.

7)   Pull the front hung stitch thru the back stitch on the needle.

8)   Loosely, back stitch bind off.

9)   Remove from machine.  Lay work flat and pull on the BO stitches to flatten and shape the stitch.

10)  Unravel the dropped side stitches down  to the beginning row at the bottom.  This will create the  meshwork.

11)  To make the 2^nd side, with wrong side facing, rehang 65 sts from the other side of the bottom. 

NOTE:  Must be an odd number of stitches.  Repeat the steps from the first side for the 2^nd side and top band.

12)  Loosely mattress stitch the side seams, stretching to keep the same gauge as the meshwork. 

STRAP

With wrong side facing, pickup 2 bars between stitches and hang 16 sts on the side seams of the top band.  (8 sts on each side of seam).   E-wrap and manually knit the first row as you e-wrap. 

Option 1:

1)   RC000, T7, K90R (for shoulder length), or for length desired. 

Option 2:

1)  RC000, T7, K1R across,

2)  With the 2 prong transfer tool, *move  sts 2 and 3 to needles 1 and 2 on each side.  K2R. *

3)  Repeat from * to * for desired length. 

Option 3:

1)  RC000, T8, K1R across,

2)  **Pull needles out to hold position and with an extra strand of yarn, weave over and under every   other needle.  K2R**

3)   Repeat from ** to ** for desired length. 

FINISHING the STRAP

Back stitch bind off and sew to other side of top back evenly spaced over the seam line.         

MORE STRAP IDEAS:

1)   Make the straps, then sew in both ends in place after bag is completed.

2)   When hanging the first end, to make the 2^nd end match, knit only half the length and scrap off.  Then hang the bag and knit the 2^nd half the same as the first.  Scrap off and graft the 2 ends together at the middle top.

3)   You may also make 2 straps instead of one by evenly placing them on each side of the top band for desired length. 

4)   For drawstring straps, do not sew the top bands together and run a  4 or 5 stitch I-cord thru each side. 

HANGING THE TOP BAND 

Release EOS and knit top band

Pick up the top loop of the first row of knit stitches

Hang the stitches on every other needle, with a hung stitch on each end.

Pull the hung st thru the st on the needle bed to have one st on each needle.  

Back stitch bind off. 

FINISHING:

Weave in ends.

You may add a closure to the top band by making an I-cord loop on one side and an I-cord knot button on the other side.

Felted Slippers, Fairisle

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I’ve been busy the last few weeks, among other things that is, developing and doing trial runs on a felted fairisle slipper pattern.  I think I have size and proportions down pat now so I’m ready to share.  I’ve had this worsted yarn on hand for several years so I thought it was time to put it to good use.  It’s a bit thinner than most worsted yarns and I wanted a hefty slipper so I chose an alternating 1x1 fairisle pattern to double the fabric weight and it worked wonderfully.

These are probably one of the easiest slippers I’ve ever made.  They can be worn as is or attached to a sole of choice, embellished by adding a faux strap across the instep, some needle felting, bows, buttons, etc.   

My schematic is very easy to read and explains how to knit from the heel toward the toe.  Please ask if I can elaborate on the instructions. 

 

I made the pattern to fit my foot but would be very easy to alter any of the measurements to fit any sized foot, just increase or decrease stitches and rows as needed. Felting is not an exact science, too many variables, so I would suggest making a swatch and felting it first to determine gauge. 

I felted them in the dryer. They took a couple extra 5 minute cycles most likely because of the thickness. And I did find that felting went better with a couple old bath towels in the dryer with them. Love dryer felting!  See my previous post. 

After felting and drying, I inconspicuously weave a strand of woolly nylon thru the toe area, especially over the big toe, which keeps the toe from wearing out too quickly. 

The fairisle patterning left quite long loops of yarn on the edges which left a sloppy seam over the instep and it was quite noticeable after felting. So after I got done seaming and before felting, I used one strand of yarn and loosely went back over the seam and whipped through those long loops. The seam looks fine after I did that. 

Hope you like them as much as I do.

The Art of Dryer Felting

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A couple years ago I got a new washing machine which put a sudden halt to my felting days. It’s a top loader but doesn’t do fabric any favors in the felting department. I know a lot of the front loading washing machines aren’t designed to be opened during a cycle so felting with them is a nonstarter too. I think my new machine agitates too strongly with less water so it pulls the yarn apart widthwise before it can pull together. I’m no engineer so I have no idea really, just speculating on that but it doesn’t felt no matter what the technical issue is. So I basically had given up any thoughts of felting anymore knit projects….until ‘Ozlorna’ of Ravelry fame mentioned in a group conversation thread that she felted in her dryer.  I asked more questions, tried a couple swatches and am now a believer.  After the swatches, I proceeded to a hat pattern that I’ve been wanting to try and now I have 3 hats!  I’m onto my felted clog/slippers next.  ‘Ozlorna’ has had many successes with the dryer method to include slippers, hats, bags, etc.

Here’s the ‘how to’:

Give your finished project a quick wash and rinse by hand.  Squeeze out excess water and put in the dryer on high for 5 minutes.  Remove and rinse with cold water.  Put back in the hot dryer for 5 minutes, then rinse in cold water again.  Continue with the cold rinses in between the 5 minutes in the hot dryer until it felts to the size you want.  Watch it carefully.  It will go fast towards the end so I checked it every 2 minutes or so then.  Depending on the item you’re felting, the yarn and how far it needs to felt, it may only take 2 or 3 times in the dryer.  Honestly!   One of my hats took 3 five minute cycles and the other took 3 cycles plus a couple extra 2 minute cycles.  Then block and air dry as usual.  Note that you don’t put any other clothes in the dryer with it, just put it in by itself.  Of course, you can add more items to the dryer but it's not necessary.  Just don't overload the dryer.

If you’re lucky enough to have a washing machine that felts predictably and you’re happy with it, by all means continue to use your machine.  But this is a fine alternative if you don’t have a machine that will dependably felt.  Other than not felting because you don’t have a machine that cooperates, I can see a couple other plusses to dryer felting.  There’s far less time involved and much less water used.  

Happy felting!!

P.S.  This wonderful hat pattern is available for purchase in Marg Jones' Ravelry Store.  The title of the pattern is Felted Hat on Bulky Machine.

P.S. Again:  As long as Marg posted the link to her pattern in her comment below, I will add it here for easier reference.  Hope you use it, it's a great pattern.
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/felted-hat-on-bulky-knitting-machine/

Chemo Turban, Revisited

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A knitting friend, Bonnie, has knit several chemo turbans for those in need, bless her heart.  As we’re in the middle of a long, cold upper Midwest winter, she used a heavier yarn than I have specified in my earlier posted pattern and has graciously given me her consent to share her patterns.  Here are a couple of her concepts using the same yarn but with different gauges.  Both are great but she said she prefers the feel of the one knit in a tighter gauge.  Either are very acceptable because we fortunate ones with hair can’t predict what will feel good on the skin of those without.  From my previous experiences, my sister’s head was very tender and she preferred the smooth, soft yarns like Simply Soft or Berroco Comfort.  Then another friend’s head wasn’t tender and she preferred the fuzzier type yarns.  So use up that yarn, someone will make good use of them. 

A big thank you goes to Bonnie for her patterns. 

TURBAN  #1

Machine:  LK150 midgauge

Yarn:  Deborah Norville Everyday,  aran weight, 1 – 3.5 oz skein, 180 yds

Tension:  T7 and as noted

Size:  Woman’s medium 

1.  Cast on 78 stitches with several rows of waste yarn and ravel cord.

2.  E-wrap from L to R.

3.  RC000, T6, knit 6 rows.

4.  *  Remove fabric with a garter bar or several rows of waste yarn, turn work and rehang on

      the same needles.

5.   Knit 6 rows. *

6.   T7, repeat from * to * to RC054 with 9 total repeats.

7.   T6, knit 4 rows.

8.   T5, knit 4 rows.

9    T4, knit 4 rows, COL.

10.  Decrease for crown by transferring every other stitch to adjacent needle.

11.  T3, knit 1 row to right.

12. Gather live stitches and secure.

13.  Sew side seam. 

Band:

1.   With right side facing, pick up 5 stitches in top center of the hat.

2.   T4, knit about 32 rows, hang on other side of hat and bind off. 

An I-cord or 1x1 ribbing for the band is also an option.

Embellish as desired.

TURBAN #2

Machine:  LK150 midgauge

Yarn:  Deborah Norville Everyday,  aran weight, 1 – 3.5 oz skein, 180 yds

Tension:  T6 and as noted

Size:  Woman’s medium 

1.  Cast on 90 stitches with several rows of waste yarn and ravel cord.

2.  E-wrap from L to R.

3.  RC000, T5, * knit 6 rows.

4.  Remove fabric with a garter bar or several rows of waste yarn, turn work and rehang on the

      same needles. *

5.   T6, repeat from * to * to RC054 with 9 total repeats.

6.   T5, knit 10 rows.

7.   T4, knit 6 rows, COL.

8.   Decrease for crown by transferring every other stitch to adjacent needle.

9.   T3, knit 1 row to right.

10. Gather live stitches and secure.

11. Sew side seam. 

Band:

1.   With right side facing, pick up 6 stitches in top center of the hat.

2.   T3, knit an I-cord for about 80 rows, hang on other side of hat and bind off. 

A rolled stockinette stitch or 1x1 ribbing for the band is also an option.

Embellish as desired.

Self Striping Sock Blank

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So, just as I was finishing the blanks in my previous post, ‘Laylor ‘ in the Sock Blank Artists group on Ravelry posted a self-striping blank that she had done and I just knew I had to try to mimic her results.  I like stripes and she produced such nice stripes with her blank.  However, there is a bit of pre-planning involved if you want somewhat precise striping.  If not, just wing it with a 150 stitch width blank knit with double stranded yarn.  Then when dyeing, shade the colors from dark to light or light to dark.  A 150 stitch blank gave me sets of 4 stripes in each color set.  

Any midgauge knitting machines that I know don’t have 150 needles to accommodate knitting a blank this wide.  But I just happen to have an extra KX350 plastic midgauge machine that I ‘robbed’ 2 needle sections and inserted them into my machine.  With a machine and ribber, a blank with this many stitches can be knit in ‘U’ shape, half of the stitches on the main bed and half on the ribber.  The beginning row of ‘U’ knitting will be a zig-zag row as used in circular
knitting which will have to be clipped and removed
before dyeing to let the blank lay flat.

To achieve precise stripes, first off I need to know how much yarn it takes to knit one round in my socks to fit comfortably around my foot. So I knit a few rows in a sock that fits with the yarn I’ll be using. I unravel one row and mark the ends of one row with a washable marker or pencil. Then on my midgauge machine at T7,  I knit a couple rows with double strands of yarn in stockinette and counted how many needles it takes to go from marker to marker on the sock yarn. This will tell how many stitches needed in the blank to make 1 round in the sock.  I’ve made enough blanks and socks to know that it takes approximately 32” of yarn to make one round in my socks, about 40 sts in my blank depending on the yarn and gauge.  With the yarn I’m using now, 37 sts was the magic number.  If you want to be this precise with a different yarn, I’ll have to measure and calculate again.

So with the magic number for one round in my socks, I can now determine how wide my blank needs to be.  For 3 rounds of each color set in my sock, my blank would have to be 112 sts (3 x 37) wide, 148 sts (4 x 37) for 4 rounds of each color, 186 sts (5 x 37) for 5
rounds of each color.  (Round up to an even number).  

Again, using my KX350 midgauge machine at T7, I start my blanks with 6 rows of acrylic or cotton waste yarn, then change to double stranded sock yarn and knit even til the yarn runs out.  Then I knit another 6 rows of waste yarn.  I drop a stitch at the halfway mark and at each color change to keep the dyes from bleeding into each other.  Then I cut a long tail of yarn and run it thru the live stitches on the needles, skipping over the dropped stitches.  Secure the end of the yarn tail.  Run the dropped stitches down to the beginning and remove the blank from the machine….ready for the dye process.

I've detailed my dyeing techniques in a earlier post  on 30 Sep 16, entitled 'Dyeing a Sock Blank'.  You can find it quickly by clicking on the 'sock blank' label.  Keep in mind that my way is not the only way, just the way it works best for me.

So now I have all these blanks knit up and dyed, I'd better get to knitting socks before the snowflakes fly.  

Attempts at Variegated Sock Blanks

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I’ve neglected my blog for far too long but this has been a busy year so far and I haven’t done much crafting.  Tending to garden produce is pretty much done now so I’m devoting some time to myself and some fun times.  Which brings me to….dyeing sock blanks.  I’ve been gathering some ideas and now trying to refine some techniques that’ll give me what I want.  

I like variegated yarns, but only if they don’t flash or pool.  So my first attempt was to randomly place ‘giraffe spots’ on a blank.  The resulting sock turned out interesting but not what I was striving for.  Most likely if I’d used more than just the two colors, I would’ve had different results.  Love the socks anyway.  I cast on 60 sts on my KX350 midgauge machine and knit at T7 throughout with double stranded yarn. 

I always begin and end my blanks with about 6 rows of waste yarn.  This eliminates the tighter cast on edge for better dye penetration and gives me a bit of yardage to ‘play with’ for arranging and hanging on to while painting on the dyes.  At the end of the blank, I also knit about 6 rows of waste yarn and run either a straight knitting needle or a blocking wire through it.  This lets me easily flip the blank over to apply dye to the backside.  

To give a solid color band at the top of the cuff, I knit about 6 rows of waste yarn, 6 rows (or as desired) in double stranded sock yarn, then 6 more rows of waste yarn, then finish the rest of the blank in sock yarn.  The 6 rows of waste yarn prevent the dyes from bleeding together and gives a nice crisp band edge. 

  

Ok, with that done, I moved on to a technique that I’ve used before and knew that It would not flash or pool.  But this time, I left a bit of white between the strips of color.  These blanks are 100 sts wide and again knit double stranded at T7 on my midgauge machine. I like them lots.

I've detailed my dyeing techniques in a earlier post  on 30 Sep 16, entitled 'Dyeing a Sock Blank'.  You can find it quickly by clicking on the 'sock blank' label.  Keep in mind that my way is not the only way, just the way it works best for me.