A Sock Knitting Challenge

Hello, welcome to the latest of my intermittent blog posts!

Today I’m all about knitting socks.

Despite the popularity of this activity, and most of our knitting circle and other friends, having taken it up enthusiastically over the years, I have never felt the urge.

Towards the end of 2018 I decided, however, that it was about time I joined in with the fun.

I knew that I had all the skills required but I really wanted to experience the process so that I could include sock knitting in my list of workshops available. Therefore, I felt that I needed to set myself a goal and a time limit for the number of pairs of socks I was going to make in order to gain the know-how required.

So at the end of November the challenge began!! I was aiming to knit 6 pairs of socks by the end of February.

 

 

 

I had ordered myself some new sock yarn (I already had loads of this but I treated myself to one of the West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas sets), plus some patterns and a book because I didn’t just want to make the same pair of socks over and over again.

 

 

 

This is the first pair of socks that I produced. I loved the pattern and the yarn that I’d chosen but the knitting wasn’t very good. I’d used the needles suggested on the ball band and in the pattern but the tension was far too loose so I learned that I needed to use much smaller needles, which I have done ever since, and been much happier with the results.

For my second pair of socks I used the special Christmas yarn and a different pattern on much smaller needles. I love these socks which have been worn and washed very well.

Before starting this challenge I had envisaged only knitting basic top-down socks but I had bought this book which shows different methods of sock knitting. When I’m learning about & experimenting with my knitting I do like to try a variety of ideas and techniques to see what different results can be produced. The 3rd pair of socks fit perfectly and were knitted from the toe up.

I knitted these lovely red socks on a short circular needle rather than dpn’s.

We were now at the beginning of February, I had produced 3 pairs of socks and needed to knit another 3 to achieve my goal before the end of that month…progress had been slower than I’d hoped.

It was very definitely time to crack on and knit another pair of socks. I’d heard of afterthought heels and thought I’d give one a go for my next sock. Another interesting method of making a sock.

This is a top-down sock also from the Sock Anatomy book.

These socks were finished on 27th February so I’d failed my challenge as I was 2 pairs short!!

I really wanted to try making some very small socks for workshops as it’s obviously not going to be possible to knit a full size sock in a one day workshop.

So, I thought I’ll see if I can make some pairs of teeny tiny socks, good practise for workshops and maybe I could still say I’d made the full 6 pairs.

This is a book I bought from The Loveliest Yarn Company at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. It’s really cool as it gives a basic sock pattern with options for mixing and matching cuffs, legs and toes.

The socks are really mini & you can create your own set of little socks to make a fab Christmas decoration.

I thought I’d have a go at making one of the basic socks to see if you could do it in a day.

This one took me just a little bit too long to knit so I found a pattern for an even smaller one!!  I managed a pair of these teenier tinier socks by the 1st March and decided that that was satisfactory

The end of my challenge but definitely NOT the end of me knitting socks.

I will be running my first Beginners Sock Knitting workshop at Create in Wetherby on 8th June 2019…maybe I’ll see you there 🙂