Knitting Socks

[watervole]

 About five years ago, I started knitting  a pair of Norwegian socks.  The pattern comes from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush and should look like this



I got about half way down one leg and then I stopped. I cannot now tell you why I stopped, because I can't remember.  Life throws you wibblies and sometimes you abandon projects when a wibbly hits.

A few months ago, I was feeling organised and I picked them up again.  In the intervening time, I'd worked out how to do two colour knitting with the technique of knitting English with one hand and Continental with the other.  It makes the knitting much faster as you don't have to keep swapping from one ball of wool to the other.  I also (thanks to Youtube) found a better way of catching in the strands of yarn (of the colour you aren't using) that float across the back of the knitting.

I did a tension square and was all ready to get going again.

Then disaster struck!

I  found a inch wide hold in the part sock I'd already knitted, and lots of breaks in some of the balls I was about to use. Moth!  How much yarn had I lost, could I salvage anything, should I abandon the project alltogether?

It took a couple of weeks research, increasing puzzlement because of the total lack of visible larvae, droppings, etc, before I noticed some short, pale hairs on the yarn and my brain finally flipped back five years and I remembered.

It wasn't moth. It was Molly's greyhound!

Probably because the balls smelled of sheep, the dog had taken to grabbing them and running off with them.  I hadn't realised at the time how much damage had been done, but greyhounds have big, sharp teeth.  (Maybe that was why I'd abandoned the socks?)

I've now rewound the worst affected balls and removed all bits less than 2 ft long - I'm sure Molly would have been pleased that I managed to work out how to use the swift and ball winder that I picked out from her collection after she died.

However, I've lost quite a bit of yarn in the process.  Whether I have enough to complete the socks is a tricky question.  I've weighed all the bits, and the stuff I've completed so far, and I still don't know....  It's an imported yarn and it's going to be very tricky to replace (although it is still produced in Norway).  The places I can find selling it are in the states and the  price for a single ball to the UK is crazy.  

I'm thus going a bit by guesswork (because I can't yet predict the weight of the part of the sock that I haven't done).  I'm aiming to reduce the length slightly, and do the back of the heel and maybe the toes in the remainder of the ball from the contrast colour at the top, but I really don't know if I'm going to make it or not....

Cross your fingers for me, and if you have any Heilo Dalegarn yarn in black or grey, just give me a wave!

Comments

[watersword]

Those are lovely socks and yet I am very distracted by my love for greyhounds and their ability to linger in one's life well after they have departed it. Oh, greyhounds.

[watervole]

Molly loved greyhounds. Had half a dozen of them over the years. All gentle dogs with a robust constitution -and the ability to instantly locate and eat any unattended food. (A whole pat of butter was one of the most memorable)

[ranunculus]

They don't have to be greyhounds to locate food instantly!

Those socks look amazing. I suppose I should learn to knit so I can make Donald some socks for dancing. Tall heavy socks with a cuff for flashes are very hard to find here.

[watervole]

there are some fabulous patterns for kilt hose.

Look here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#sort=best&query=kilt socks

But I'd start with something simpler - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/doctor-who-tardis-dishcloth

The tardis facecloth only uses two stitches, doesn't really matter if it comes out too big or too small, and thus is ideal for beginners.

Make sure you start by learning 'Continental' knitting. (You Tube has lots of handy videos)

Go on! Give it a try.

[feng_shui_house]

I don't know if this will help, but this page lists other yarns that might be an acceptable substitute for heilo, with details on how they match/differ.

http://yarnsub.com/yarns/dale_of_norway_dalegarn/heilo

[watervole]

Ooh!

Thanks, that may come in very handy if I run out.

I hadn't known that site existed.

[feng_shui_house]

I hope it works out! Good luck! :^)

[vilakins]

I use that technique for colour-stranding work - so much faster!

I hope you can recover the socks as they're beautiful.

[watervole]

They won't come out perfect as I'm not perfectly balanced on the tension between the two hands. But they're getting more even as I move down the sock -and from a distance they'll probably look fine.

they're making a very good learning exercise and I'll certainly do more colour work in the future.

And I know they'll be wonderfully warm to wear as indoor slipper socks, which is what I wanted them for.

[vilakins]

I doubt my tension was even, but it didn't show at all in the items I made. Washing will probably even the stitches out, but I find I notice imperfections others don't.

What colours did you use? Similar to the photo?

[watervole]

I've used red rather than green.

I can see the pattern is getting more even as I work my way down the sock. My grey is generally tighter than the black, but it's getting better. (Where the gray stranding is too tight, the black tends to stand a bit proud)

[vilakins]

They will look very striking. Will you wear them while Morris dancing, or are they too culturally different?

[watervole]

LOL. These are knitted from a much thicker wool than normal sock yarn. I'd roast if I danced in them. These are for wearing indoors in winter, or for going hiking.