The best part about it was designing a sock pattern that would in some way be right for the personality of each friend, as I knew them. Then, finding just the right yarn to fit the pattern... I'm sure there were some hits and some misses, but the whole exercize really helped me develop as a designer. And I discovered some great yarns in the process!
The first socks were the blue cascading leaf socks, in Australian-spun baby merino. They were so, so soft, but the yarn was sport weight instead of fingering weight, making them a bit chunky and probably not wearable in shoes, only in clogs or boots. They were my first toe-up socks and the first toe was pointy-pointy, unlike the second which came out just as intended. Since the point disappeared when on the foot, I didn't frog them, but sent them as they were - a testament to my sock noviceness...
The second socks were the Duckies - a spiral stitch pattern heeless sock from a vintage pattern. These were made from angora and merino wool, with orange wool reinforcing thread at the toes and heels (which ended up being a decorative touch). These were made on size 3 needles and again, came out a little big and chunky for their recipient. They were good for sleeping socks or clogs...
The third pair I designed after watching Van Helsing! My friend and I chatted about the movie and the Van Helsing Candleflame Socks were born! I used a pale lavender angora yarn and a lace stitch that reminded me of candles burning in the windows of the castle (the colour in the photo below is more true to life)... These came out well, if chunky, but they were my first short-row heels, and luckily the angora halo covered up all (or most) of the mistakes!
I finally got the fact that sport-weight yarns don't make very wearable socks! For the fourth pair, Erin Lace Socks, I paired a lace pattern with a fingering weight yarn that was actually meant for socks: Lorna's Laces. These socks were for a friend who was moving to Ireland, so I used a lace design called Erin. They were toe-up on tiny needles (1.5) and again, I tried the short-row heels. My wraps definitly needed practice and this yarn was less forgiving of any holes and gaps, but they turned out pretty well.
The next pair of socks, toe-up with short row heels again, were made especially to be used as sport or yoga socks in sneakers or without shoes at all: The Peaceful Feelings Yoga Socks. These were made with Cascade Fixation on size 3 needles. The elastic in the cotton yarn made the pattern really work and the only mistake - even after counting counting counting, was that one sock was one row shorter than the other. Gettng closer to sock perfection though!
The sixth pair of socks was so fun to design and knit! These were for a friend who does a lot of laboratory work - a real scientific mind - so I wanted a DNA cable pattern. I was new to cables, and couldn't tackle a real DNA cable, so I chose a psuedo-DNA cable lace and created a design I called the DNA-ish Socks. I went back to using a real sock yarn - Knitpicks Sock Memories this time - and 1.5 needles, toe-up with short-row heels. Most of my concentration went into the cabling pattern; it was so difficult for a first-timer! After finishing the entire foot, I noticed that the cable lace meant that the sock wasn't very stretchy. While this might be okay on the instep, it would definitely be a problem on the leg! So, back to searching for a DNA-sh cable pattern with some stretch... I found one that was very similar in look to the foot and continued this up the leg. Then of course, I had to repeat this design mistake - now a deliberate "design element" - on the other sock. Happily, my short-row heels were now perfected and there was only a minor gap where the ankle met the leg... They came out well in the end!
The next socks were new in several ways. For the Seventh pair I used special silk and merino sock yarn in the Onyx colourway from Blue Moon Fiber Arts, tiny size 1 needles and a leaf lace panel with Yarn Over open panels on the sides, and - for the first time - toe-up socks with gusset heels. It took some practice to learn the gusset heels and I read and re-read the directions, practicing on scrap yarn so that I wouldn't destroy the delicate silk sock yarn. I also reinforced the toes and heels of these stockings with black wool, and made the legs a little longer than usual. The only mistake came when I miscounted in one place on one row of the lace pattern, but it didn't show. Also, the yarn, when it arrived, wasn't as dark as it had looked on the computer screen, but was still beautiful and very special.
My next and eighth pair took a long time to create. I used Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino sock yarn in Maple Sugar colourway and 1.5 needles, a toe-up pattern with gusset heels, a Maple Leaf lace pattern with varigated length ribs on the side and the back, and an initialed panel in the back, like vintage socks from the 1800's. I envisioned a journey through an Elven forest while I was designing these, and named them Road to Lothlorien. I'm happy to report that these socks had absolutely no mistakes of any kind! However.......(ahem), the yarn itself was horrifyingly flawed. In exactly the middle of the skien, the colour began to change, and the second sock was very faded compared to the first! This was not a case of having two skeins that didn't match - it was all the same skein! It was so disappointing to create a perfect design and have the yarn let me down! But it had taken me so long to make them, I didn't want to have to make my friend wait even longer while I order more yarn, so I sent them. I did end up emailing Lucy Neatby's company and they very kindly wrote to say that hand-dyed yarns should be knitted with every other row coming from a diffent end of the skein to avoid colour mishaps. They sent me another skein of the yarn in a different colour so I could try this method, which I will do after the holidays. My friend, who is kindness itself, never mentioned the colour differences, and says she loves her socks!
The ninth pair of socks was challenging in a different way. I was on a hunt for a brilliant sock yarn for a friend who is allergic to wool. In spite of the many new non-wool yarns that have come out recently, nothing was elastic enough for repeated wearing and washing, thin enough to make a wearable sock, or in colours that were really suitable. I experimented with Italian mercerized cotton and loved it's sproinginess and vibrant colours. Finally I decided on a stitch pattern that reminded me of the waves and water of Puget Sound and the sock design Watery was born! These were top-down, traditional heel socks with modified Star toes.
The tenth and final pair are for a friend who is studying for the priesthood. He needed a special pair of socks to wear in the chapel while tending the altar. I wanted these socks to be completely natural fibers, so used O-Wool Balance (wool and cotton). Since these were my first pair of men's socks, I used a pattern so I could get the sizing right: Thuja from Knitty.com. I did modify them a bit so that I could have a plain panel on the front to do a little duplicate-stitch embroidery. I had had a dream of my friend with a symbol on his Templar's tunic: a sliver of moon with 7 stars arched around it. These became Daniel's Chapel Socks.
So, that is the story of my f-list knitting for 2007! It took me about 9 months to get 10 pairs of socks finished. Of course there were many projects and original designs in between - as well as hours of Ravelry! I enjoyed this sock-knitting so much and learned more than I could have learned in a year of classes. I highly recommend knitting for friends. :)
Patterns for all the original designs will eventually be posted here, on my blog.
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