The occasional downside of knitting a lot of lace is that you crave something simple to knit. Now the spinning is certainly simple but it just doesn't cut it on the utterly mindless front. I wanted something that was complete "stick your brain in neutral"... and then I started to crave making socks. Now this is something that happens to me every now and then. As a general rule I loath knitting them, round and round and round and round in the same old stockinette stitch, but every now and then I have the urge to knit a pair... or three. I think what set me off this time was the thought of spinning for something other than a lace shawl. I'm still new enough that the thought of a full jumper's worth is daunting, a pair of socks on the other hand :) So I've got some fibre thanks to the Krafty Koala at FibreFest, and a new spindle on order but I wanted to start knitting NOW darn it!
Luckily for me a quick diversion on the way to work via GetKnitted netted me some of the stunning Jillybeans Tweed Sock yarn... and a new set of needles. Now I have to admit the latter were an utter "well I might be bored later and I could cast on for the socks and hang the fact that I've got a set of 2.5mm circulars at home" moment. Needless to say I wasn't bored later and driving home I was feeling very guilty at wasting the money on something I didn't really need (there must be a lesson in there somewhere about stepping back from a situation and being a bit more mindful rather than "wanting" all the time). It turns out however that I got very very lucky... I didn't have a set of 2.5mm circulars. I do have the KnitPicks DPNs set but prefer to magic loop where possible as I tend to get less of a "ladder" at the crossover points.
So why I hear you say have I cast on with the DPNs?!? Well I've loaned my ball winder to the lovely Laura at Wool so that those buying insanely long skeins of laceweight can wind it before they leave, meaning I didn't have it at home. I didn't really feel like winding several hundred yards by hand so called in on the Friday to use it there. Luckily for me and the other knitter at the shop she's just had her autumn/winter stock come in, including a whole load of luscious sock yarns... many of which haven't come with samples making it harder for her to sell. I'd said a while back that I'd be happy knitting some up for her so grabbed the first ball while I was in. One busy train ride home later and I had cast on the first of the shop socks on, you guessed it, the new circulars. In my defence I try to prioritise commission pieces above my own knitting and avoid using DPNs on the train as I have a bad habit of dropping them, hence starting these on the circulars:
Both are knitting on the same size needles (2.5mm) but are feeling slightly different. The bamboo is beautifully soft, as expected, but is creating quite a nice thin fabric. It is dense enough for a good sock but doesn't have much of a squoosh factor to it. The ball band recommended using 2mm - 3mm needles so for a demo piece the 2.5mm seemed a good pick. I would worry that the 3mm would be really quite loose for most knitters but suspect that quite a few may prefer to use the 2mm for the extra density you would get. The Jillybeans was always going to be more squooshy as it is a merino/superwash merino three-ply with lots of loft in the yarn before you start. These I could easily have gone up a needle-size on without much effect but given that two of the plys are straight merino I wanted the extra strength of a slightly denser fabric. It does have to be said though that it is a real ugly duckling of a yarn, stunningly beautiful in the skein, less than lovely in a ball but working up to be really quite pleasant when knitted. They're not my usual style but the idea of Autumn trudging round the streets of London makes me want to have something to make me smile on my feet :)
Luckily for me a quick diversion on the way to work via GetKnitted netted me some of the stunning Jillybeans Tweed Sock yarn... and a new set of needles. Now I have to admit the latter were an utter "well I might be bored later and I could cast on for the socks and hang the fact that I've got a set of 2.5mm circulars at home" moment. Needless to say I wasn't bored later and driving home I was feeling very guilty at wasting the money on something I didn't really need (there must be a lesson in there somewhere about stepping back from a situation and being a bit more mindful rather than "wanting" all the time). It turns out however that I got very very lucky... I didn't have a set of 2.5mm circulars. I do have the KnitPicks DPNs set but prefer to magic loop where possible as I tend to get less of a "ladder" at the crossover points.
So why I hear you say have I cast on with the DPNs?!? Well I've loaned my ball winder to the lovely Laura at Wool so that those buying insanely long skeins of laceweight can wind it before they leave, meaning I didn't have it at home. I didn't really feel like winding several hundred yards by hand so called in on the Friday to use it there. Luckily for me and the other knitter at the shop she's just had her autumn/winter stock come in, including a whole load of luscious sock yarns... many of which haven't come with samples making it harder for her to sell. I'd said a while back that I'd be happy knitting some up for her so grabbed the first ball while I was in. One busy train ride home later and I had cast on the first of the shop socks on, you guessed it, the new circulars. In my defence I try to prioritise commission pieces above my own knitting and avoid using DPNs on the train as I have a bad habit of dropping them, hence starting these on the circulars:
Both are knitting on the same size needles (2.5mm) but are feeling slightly different. The bamboo is beautifully soft, as expected, but is creating quite a nice thin fabric. It is dense enough for a good sock but doesn't have much of a squoosh factor to it. The ball band recommended using 2mm - 3mm needles so for a demo piece the 2.5mm seemed a good pick. I would worry that the 3mm would be really quite loose for most knitters but suspect that quite a few may prefer to use the 2mm for the extra density you would get. The Jillybeans was always going to be more squooshy as it is a merino/superwash merino three-ply with lots of loft in the yarn before you start. These I could easily have gone up a needle-size on without much effect but given that two of the plys are straight merino I wanted the extra strength of a slightly denser fabric. It does have to be said though that it is a real ugly duckling of a yarn, stunningly beautiful in the skein, less than lovely in a ball but working up to be really quite pleasant when knitted. They're not my usual style but the idea of Autumn trudging round the streets of London makes me want to have something to make me smile on my feet :)
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