Anastasia's Socks are Finished!

Remember when I told you about finding wool in a barn - wool which was shorn from the sheep, way back in 1972? Well, that project is finished!

Please welcome Anastasia's socks into the world. I'm thrilled with myself!

Close up view of the front -

- and the back -

- and the upper edge of the front -

- and the upper edge of the back.
(I have no idea why these last two uploaded rotated. They are properly oriented in my computer... annoying...)

I used a hugely modified version of Nancy Bush's "Chalet Socks" from the book, Folk Socks. I liked the basic pattern, but my stitch gauge was vastly different from the one needed for the Chalet Sock. Also, I wanted to knit the socks toe-up, and I didn't want to use twisted stitches because I was afraid that the socks wouldn't stretch enough with the twisted stitches, so I basically had to graph the stitch pattern over again.

I knit them toe up, and I decided to use that Genius Cat Bordhi's advice and knit an afterthought leg! What a concept! *smack forehead* Of course! Why not!

Ladies and Gentlemen - try this. It really works well. Once you wrap your brain around the idea, it really makes sense. Here are the photos -

- knit from toe up - increase for toe, knit straight for the foot, decrease for the heel.
- kitchener the heel shut if you make the heel like I did - the exact opposite (almost) of the toe. You could do a 6 point decrease and cinch it shut, like the point of a hat, if you prefer.

- thread the needles in through the appropriate rows of stitches

- closer view

- snip the stitch and pick the row out

- ready to knit the leg.

This project represents many firsts for me.

For the first time, ever, I washed wool - wait, that doesn't sound right, I've been washing wool all of my life. What I mean is that I washed it straight off of the sheep's back, and this was not as much work as I had feared, actually.

For the first time, ever, I brushed, and carded, and combed and teased locks of wool, because up to now, I'd only used roving. I even made rolags! (I'll tell you more about how I made fake rolags in a future post.)

For the first time, ever, I spun from a rolag. Let me tell you something, this is a wonderful thing! I REALLY like my little rolags!

For the first time, ever, I knitted traveling stitches, and you want to know something - it's easy peasy. I love traveling stitches and will certainly do lots more. Actually, this is a lie, now that I think about it, as the Spider's legs are traveling stitches..... OK, so this is the first time I've done any sort of patterning with traveling stitches, and I really like it!!!

For the first time, ever, I ran out of yarn towards the end of a project and said to myself, "Oh my, I've run out. Let me spin some more!" I spun for about 15-20 minutes, and got back to my knitting, and completed the socks. Ha!

For the first time, ever, I knitted two socks off of one ball of yarn. Oh, I've done it this way before by winding enough yarn for each sock into its own ball, but this time, I pulled from the inside and from the outside at the same time, and I saved my sanity by employing this one simple trick - rather than pull both in the same direction, and therefore, ending up with a twined mess, I simply pulled in either direction.

Duh.

Most importantly, for the first time, ever, I knitted something out of my hand spun yarn. I think I'm hooked! Time to dig out those skeins and get knitting!!!

Cheers!