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Cosy Toes - Socks

Daydream of A Castle in the Air

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The Knitting Squirrel recently stocked the wonderful new range of Opal Daydream, a cosy 6ply sock yarn that knits as a DK weight yarn. The ball is 420 metres long and 150 grams. I loved the gorgeous colours in the Daydream range but decided to use Daydream of A Castle in the Air for this pair of socks as I really loved this colour combination.

Dream of a Castle in the Air

There aren’t very many patterns around for the 6ply sock yarns. The 6ply range is a bit more expensive but the finished socks are very warm and cosy. In fact, I am wearing this pair of socks while I write this. [Read More]

WYS Wood Pigeon Socks

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Some yarn combinations are just too tantalising to put off knitting for long. I fell in love with these two yarns and couldn’t wait for them to arrive in the post. I love the beautiful colour combinations in the WYS Signature 4ply Sock Yarn Country Birds. The Wood Pigeon sock yarn is soooo perfect. The delicate colours match the colours from the Wood Pigeon’s breast, head and wing wonderfully well. Who wouldn’t want to wear these gorgeous WYS Wood Pigeon Socks?

WYS Wood Pigeon Socks Wood Pigeon photo by Stefan Berndtsson via Flickr

I used WYS Signature 4 ply Sock Yarn in Wood Pigeon from the glorious Country Birds range and its beautiful partner Pennyroyal from the Spice Rack collection.[Read More]

Fair Isle Swirl Socks

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Who doesn’t love the lively combination of stripes and a touch of fair isle? One of my favourite combinations. Stripes have become a common theme in my sock knitting recently, but more about that in future posts! For the Fair Isle Swirl Socks the fair isle is worked as a wide stripe filled with an all over swirling two colour diagonal pattern. This is balanced by the wide dark stripe on the foot.

Fair Isle Swirl Socks

I chose two colours of Artesano Alpaca 4ply for the plain stripes as I liked how they contrasted with my main yarn choice. I have no idea how well the alpaca will wear so chose not to knit it on the heel or toe area where it would get a lot of heavy wear. The alpaca is a wonderfully soft warm yarn. The paler pink is Sweet Pea CA13 and the darker magenta is Venezuela 4345.[Read More]

Crazy Little Fox Solefull Socks

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The new book “Solefull Socks – Knitting from the Ground Up” by Betty Salpekar arrived by post in the middle of last week and I happily opened it to start reading about this new method for sock knitting.

Crazy Little Fox Solefull Socks

Solefull Socks have been popping up everywhere recently, 2 patterns in my digital copy of Interweave Knits Summer 2014 – Lobelia and Forester Socks, and Carry on Solefully in Knitty.com Issue 48 | first fall 2014.[Read More]

Fish Lips Kiss Heel and Toe

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There is nothing more exciting than finding out about a new sock heel construction. I first read about the Fish Lips Kiss Heel on a sock knitters forum and eagerly bought the pattern.

Fish Lips Kiss Heel photo 11

Fish Lips Kiss Heel is designed by Sox Therapist and is available on Ravelry.com. I read through the detailed instructions and watched the two stitch techniques on Youtube and then decided to use the heel construction with my normal basic sock pattern.[Read More]

Swirl Socks

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Don’t you just adore frosty autumn leaves. I do. Autumn is one of my favourite seasons. I went through a phase where I really enjoyed knitting patterns that swirled around my leg. I chose to end the lacy swirling pattern at the ankle as I find a smooth foot more comfortable for wearing. The Swirl Socks were finished and photographed last Autumn.

Lang-Swirl-Socks-1web

I have had bad experiences with second sock syndrome in the past and still have a few single socks on the backburner. Sometimes the reason a second sock isn’t made is because something wasn’t quite right. Perhaps, the wrong choice of yarn for the pattern chosen, or I wasn’t happy with the colour chosen.[Read More]

Conclusions – Rainbow Sock Collection

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I have really enjoyed knitting this collection of socks and as I have created them they have all raised interesting issues.

As the Rainbow Sock Collection series has progressed I’ve thought about different heels, toes and cuffs that I like. Some were styles that I have knit many many times, others were ones which had made it onto my To Try list. This seemed like the perfect time to try all of them.

Discoveries-Rainbow-Collection-1web

There were some elements of the sock design that I also considered. How the sock looked when it was finished was important to me. I wanted all the elements, from the cuff, to the heel and finally the toe to look in the finished sock as though they belonged together. Balance. Elegance.[Read More]

Indigo Rainbow Socks

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I’m nearing the end of the Rainbow Socks Collection Series. Indigo Rainbow Socks are the seventh post in the series which began in the early summer with a search for the answer to my question ‘What is the Perfect Basic Sock Pattern?‘.

So far it has been an interesting journey. I’ve really enjoyed trying the different cuffs, heels and toes. I’d love to know which ones you have knit.

Indigo-Rainbow-1web[Read More]

Blue Rainbow Socks

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The Blue Rainbow Socks are the sixth post in the Rainbow Socks Collection Series which started with the question ‘What is the Perfect Basic Sock Pattern?‘.

Blue-Rainbow-1web

Design Choices

I used a lovely Regia Hand Dye Effect sock yarn in shades of blue for the Blue Rainbow Socks.

These socks have a knit 1 purl 1 rib for the cuff, a wrap and turn short row heel and finish with a pretty star toe. I did a bit of reading on wrap and turn short row heels before I started. I wanted what the best way would be to give my heel the roominess it required and keep the sock the sock comfortable. I tried using a different percentage of the total stitches for knitting the heel. On a plain sock like this it has been successful. Not sure how it would work if you were adding pattern from the leg running down the top of the foot.

The star toe was really easy to knit and has a lovely look. It involved no grafting at the end so is a very easy toe to do.[Read More]