Dear Kay,
It’s time for a knitalong. Start thinking about socks.
Details below, but first, I need to show you my rocket socks in all their peculiar glory.
Having been on a sock hiatus for some time, I was knocked out by how much fun I had making these socks.
At the gusset-making portion of the show, I watched the stripes turn into pools or flashes or whatever. It was a combination of fascination, horror, then tender acceptance as I saw what happened to the stripes as they turned the corner. Hey, stripes, it’s OK. You’re still awesome even if you do get all weird in there for a minute. You will forever remind me of a Saturn V rocket.
They fit my size 10 flipper feet so perfectly. Exactly 10 inches long. The heels sit on my heel, not halfway under my foot like so many socks I own. They are marvelous. This is Susan B. Anderson’s “How I Make My Socks”, and the yarn is Fred.
I kitchenered the heck out of the toes.
I had an intense feeling of loss upon finishing these socks. It was such a profound absence of meaning in my life that I headed straight for Stash Zone Number 2, certain that somewhere in there was another pair of socks, unfinished, that would preserve the giant sock mojo in my soul.
It took about three minutes. Of course I found more unfinished socks. Doesn’t every knitter in the universe have some unfinished socks marinating somewhere?
Zauberball!
This 97-percent finished pair of socks was stopped in midlife, like a bog body or a trilobite. This pair of socks lacked exactly twenty rows—one toe, basically. What was so dire that I had to stop knitting these socks with less than an hour’s work left to go? Did a meteor hit the northern hemisphere? Did I get stuck in a peat bog?
Watching half an episode of Homeland, Season 5 (oh, Peter Quinn you heartbreaker), I finished this second pair of socks. No more sock puppet for me.
But once again, I was left without socks to make. The only cure for no socks is MOAR SOX.
So. Anybody who’d like to finish something for once, who’d like to start a knitalong already halfway home free, this knitalong is for you. Three possibilities:
Option 1: Poke around to see if you can find a bogged-down sock project, and dig it out.
Option 2: If you don’t have such a project, feel free to dive in with a fresh skein of sock yarn (NOBODY lacks that), and go hunting for a sock pattern that will amuse you. I’m really curious what patterns everybody selects, so I’ll cook up a thread over on the Modern Daily Knitters forum on Ravelry.
Option 3: I also encourage anybody who has never made socks to jump in. So many cool things about knitting a sock.
Let’s start on Monday, May 16. We’ll finish by the end of May.
I couldn’t help starting. I’m a mess.
Love,
Ann
PS Congratulations to the six winners of our Noro Rainbow Roll drawing:
Alison L. of New York, NY
Ruth J. of Oklahoma City, OK
Amy P. of Oak Creek, WI
Meryl D. of Bangalow, Australia
Terry S. of Virginia Beach, VA
Virginia M. of Spring, TX
Long may you roll your rainbows! And thanks to everyone who shared their favorite rainbows. It’s a My Little Pony world.
No, you’re not a mess. Your stash, perhaps (especially if the cats have been playing in it), but not you.
Oh, man. I am IN LIKE FLYNN. Thank you, Ann, for reading my mind across the ocean.
Oh well that’s perfect! I have a 70% finished pair of Alfricks by Rachel Coopey that I really need to finish. I shall go and dig them out!
Umm…I knit three complete, partnerless socks over that past ten years or so…that I keep in my sock drawer…and that spark a dynamic synthesis of joy and lamentation. For me there needs to be a new synonym for “mess.”
Mess = Wonderfullness!??
I have at least 3 socks that I have only knit one of, and one of them I cannot find the rest of the yarn because of the mess my stash/house is. Lately I’ve been trying to cast on both socks at once, not two at a time on one circular, madness lies there! I cast them on two different circulars and go back and forth, knitting a few inches at a time and that way when I’m done, I’m done.
I will dig around for my undone socks and finish at least one pair this month.
Bring it on!
Ann, that last photo of the ribbing in the sock is what draws me to knitting. For me, it’s all about the color, the texture, the pattern and the implied warmth and love.
Wait – what you found in your stash was an “Instant Sock Kit,” as described by your Mason half in a recent post!
Glad you finished it, and your very cool rocket socks. I’m tempted to join you in sock making, but that would be in conflict with my identity as a sock-yarn-knitter-who-doesn’t make-socks. But you’ve got me thinking about it…..a sock is good travel knitting, and as I finish my gazillionth shawl/scarf, I have to consider that maybe I have enough of them ( hah!).
P.S. So glad to see you back in my mailbox!
I’m in.
I also have a pair of socks with sock #2 lacking ONLY THE TOE! It’s been like that for nearly a year. Absolutely no clue why. Now I think the end is in sight!
I totally agree with you about the feeling that making socks gives. I just recently picked up making socks again,and I’m on my 3rd pair in about 2 months! Made a pair for my sweet husband (probably my only family member who will wear what I knit), a pair for me, and now another pair for me! I realized I had never made a pair for myself, always babies, or toddlers (who are now adults and teenagers) but those tiny socks still live in my sock drawer, just so I can look at them every once in a while!!!
I’m all in!!
LOVE making socks! And I have one of a pair languishing around….
I’ll finish that pair and send it off to my friend.
I’m in. I have two pairs of part-done socks. The pair for my daughter has one complete sock and one cuff. The pair for me has one leg and one part of a leg (I have no idea how that happened).
My granddaughter never wears socks that match. My daughter ordered several skeins of yarn in different colors to crochet a temperature blanket only to learn that her yarn was fingering weight and not worsted. She passed the yarn along to me and my plan is to knit my granddaughter one sock from each color. She will not have two socks that match and since I don’t have to knit two of the same colored sock, I’m looking forward to not falling into second sock syndrome.
Kathie – can I make a suggestion? Put stripes in them for instance Sock A – main color, stripes of Socks B & C main color; Sock B – main color, stripes of Socks A & C; Sock C – main color, stripes of Sock A & B. That way they coordinate but won’t necessarily match. Makes the knitting more fun too!
Or, try “Dorothy’s Spiral Slip Stitch Socks” (on Ravelry, of course). They use two different skeins in a slip stitch pattern and are great fun. If you don’t want them to match, switch the main and contrast yarns on the second sock. Just be careful with the gauge if you are fitting a high instep: slip stitch doesn’t stretch as much as stockinette!
Thanks for the tip. It looks like a fun pattern.
That is hilarious! I love that idea.
I’m in! I’m knitting my third pair of socks and am having a hard time not casting on a new pair. I only have half the foot and toe to go on this one. I’ve got a new set of dpns arriving in the mail on Monday. I’ve convinced myself it’s so I have a back up set in case I lose another don…..deep down I know the reason is I want to cast on another pair…I have the yarn picked out already. This will give me the shove I need to get this pair finished and be ready to start a new pair on the 16th!
All I need is the hash tag.
I’m in with my super plain first socks ever (2 at a time). I stalled after the heels, as I know my gauge is too loose for them to be useful. I just made so much progress in class I couldn’t stop and wait for smaller needles. . .
bogged down on a couple but I just cast on some socks last night — a gift due at the end of the month, by Monday I will be bogged down on those and can join the knit along. 🙂
I’m in! I have two different unfinished socks – I’m not sure where the second one is in the stash but I know its there because I have a project on Ravelry for it. Off to look into my unfinished project stash!
yes ! yes ! yes !
At the eng of your last KAL “bang out a sweater”, i had a lot of fun and a sweater ! Now i would be very happy with socks ! I’m in !
I’m in! I hope sock knitting will get me out of my knitting-funk!!!!!
I have a vanilla pair that is hauled around to appointments and short car rides. Then there is the pair (well, the first one) that comes with a huge chart that has been marinating for a while. It’s a great time to work on these, as I’ve just started a shawl that is NOT portable. Thanks for getting me rolling again on socks!
I’m in too. Thanks for the inspiration.
I’ve had a pair of socks kicking around for almost 3 months that a do a row on every now and then. They started as TAAT on one circular but that lasted for the first 15 or so rows (I hated working them TAAT) and then I separated them. So I have one sock which just needs another inch or so of foot and then the toe, and the second which needs everything except the cuff…Challenge accepted for end of May finishing 🙂
Absolutely brilliant! Ready to dive in and finish the 2nd sock that is just lurking around here.
Yes, I’m in! I have a part of a sock that needs to be finished, and then the mate too! I also just picked up New Directions in Sock Knitting which is an amazing and inspiring book, so now I want to knit MOAR socks too!
From about 5 years ago, I have one yoga sock done and the second one started. A yoga sock! Very short with no heel or toe needed. What the heck is wrong with me that I can’t finish it? So, yes, I’m in!
This is perfect! I just found a single sock buried in my stash, and it’s lovely and stripy and really needs a mate – and I’ve got a long plane trip coming up… I’m in!
This is EXACTLY the motivation I need!!! I’m making my husband a new pair of socks for Father’s Day, and I’ve got one and a half done. The heel flap is done on the second one, but I have yet to pick up the gusset stitches and power through the last bit, even though I carry this around in my purse everywhere I go. I’m so in!
Okay, I am in. I have 1 and 1/3 of a pair of socks that have been in the works for about 2 years. I could easily finish by the end of May, and maybe I will. They have traveled with me all over the world, just in case I got stuck in the airport an extra long time…they serve completion.
When my hands started aching I stopped knitting socks, but I do have a worsted weight pair in Jazz that I stalled on when I had to do the second sock (afterthought heel). If I can find it, I’m in.
I’m in! I looooove socks! I’m knitting a pair right now, but this will not stop me casting on a new one next Monday. To the stash!
Now yer talkin! I’ve got a pair of socks in stall-mode at the moment, for no reason I can think of.
I ALWAYS have socks on the needles. They are my go to for mindless knitting. Like you, I have size 10 feet, and it is almost impossible to find nice socks that fit correctly. I don’t think I have bought any socks since I learned to knit my own.
I’m in! I taught myself socks by just taking my time and using a very basic pattern. Figured out that tiny DPNs were not for my chubby fingers and then bought myself Melissa Morgan-Oakes “2 at-a-time socks”. I highly recommend it. I even bought the sock subscription from Yarnbox. Now I have a roadtrip this weekend and KAL to work on. Yay!
I’m SO in! I have half of a first sock going, plus the second half of another pair going, but on May 16, Ima cast on a new pair because that’s what we do… 🙂
Great idea, I have about 1″ done on the second sock of a pair that I started a year ago.
I suspect I have 4 or 5 partially knit pairs of socks going. This sounds like the perfect knitalong to me!
SOCK IT TO ME! Yes, I am over 60:) I have never knit socks and got so inspired with your rocket toes.
I will print out Susan’s sock pattern and find some awesome yarn. Thank you! Please be gentle with first timers-heheh
I know I have 2 pairs going. Pair A is my carry-it around in case knitting and sock 1 is to the instep. Pair B is the Yarn Harlot’s sock recipe with 2 cables added, sock 1 is approaching the ankle. Thanks for the kick in the motivator (you know that area about 2 feet below the back of your neck). Good idea Ann!
Oh dear…the only unfinished sock pair I have is Jean Newsted’s Pearls of Wisdom for my husband (a generous size 12), which is a knee-high fair-isle. I knit the first one in early 2013 when we were dating. Then we got married and had a(nother) kid. Does he REALLY need the other sock?
Frame it!!!!
brilliant. Now I can make baby booties for this KAL instead. Thanks!
I’m in too. Christmas knitting!
I am constitutionally incapable of leaving a pair of socks unfinished, but there’s some uncommitted sock yarn in the stash and I want to join the party, so count me in.
I have two unfinished pairs. I will join you.
I moved earlier this year. As I was packing, I got a good look at my stash and the number of UFOs in said stash. I was sad, very sad, and aggravated, to have to pack and move things that could have been lovely, finished objects! So I vowed not to begin another knitting project until I had finished at least a few of the marinating UFOs. That worked for awhile, and I found myself making good progress on a lovely superwash baby blanket for my future grandchildren. But now, my enthusiasm has ground to a halt, and I find I am hardly knitting at all. That cannot be good! So this sock KAL may be just the thing to get my enthusiasm back. After all, if knitting is not pleasurable, what is the point?
Help me! I am an hour’s knitting away from finishing Moroccan Nights (your idea, by the way), and about 1/3 of the way into Flaum, and now I’m thinking about going home at lunch and casting on a sock? You really need a black box warning on your blog that it may not be appropriate for easily distractible knitters.
You have made my day by mentioning trilobites on the blog. I in fact work on trilobites and my 2016 goal is to master sock knitting. It’s like you read my mind. 🙂
Waaay ahead of you. I’m finishing one unfinished pair this weekend (Denature — a wonderful pattern for a biologist, or really anyone who has DNA); have another unfinished pair queued up and a plain vanilla sock yarn leftover stashbuster for teleconferences also lined up. Before I went to MSW this weekend I lined up my sock yarn stash. I found 23 pairs, some assembly required. This will be my summer of socks! (you heard it here first)
I’m in, too! I have the toe to finish on my first sock and need to start the second one soon! This works out perfectly!
lol I am working on finishing a second sock. My own invention of a few spaced out rows of yarn overs. So I did I write down how many rows of knitting between the rows of yarn overs. Oh well, just eye ball it. I’ve got so much sock yarn in cool colors calling my name…can’t stop!
You got me! I won a copy of New Directions in Sock Knitting, found yarn for my first choice, dragged out needles and tucked them into a sock project bag. Now all I need is a copy of the pattern and I’m good. Since I usually wear mismatched socks my habit is to knit one sock so I avoid “second sock syndrome” but I haven’t knitted a sock in a while. The time has come. Thanks for the push.
First I banged out a sweater. Now I’m hunting for sock yarn and a pattern. I can’t resist the pull of a MDK KAL! This one has special meaning to me because I lost my dear friend and prolific sock knitter, Laurie, in March. I’m not a sock knitter, but knitting a pair in her memory sounds like something that will soothe my soul. And, bonus, I’ll have a pair to fit my flippers! Size 9.5 narrow over here. #skis
I am in! I just brought back a couple of skeins of sock yarn from my yearly trip to NYC. I’ll either set aside the sock I started yesterday and work on other projects until the starting date, or I’ll knit like crazy to finish this pair over the weekend and start afresh on Monday.
And Ann, your socks rock(et) (groan)! You found your yarn’s true purpose. The striping is especially adorable around the kitchenered toes.
Socks … like chocolate for your feet … the mac and cheese of comfort knitting … I make them this way … though I’d say it’s memorized … gotta know how to knit socks!!!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/how-to-knit-socks-2
Cheers … knit faster … knit happy … Ina + Pokey + Stella
Interesting pattern-not sure if there is a youtube video to master magic loop or how she uses two 24″ circulars?
Thank you!
Diane … two circulars is my way to go for knitting adult size socks … surely there are some youtubes out there to help you out in a pinch! Knit faster … knit happy!
Thank you! I then found Cat Bordhi’s youtube on how to do 2 circulars-looks very doable!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_yVikAvPuE4
A lot less filling with the two circulars and less opportunity for ladders between needles … depending on your hands the 16″ circulars can seem a bit too short for just knitting “rows” … knit faster … knit happy!
I always knit socks on two 16″ circulars. Works like a charm top-down or toe-up and no ladders.
I, too, am in. I have a lovely pair of gray socks on the needles for dear husband, one sock finished and the second one with the top down cuff done. So, just less than one sock to go. I love the pattern, but I chose gray at his request and it’s a borrrrrrrrring color – this may be the kick in the pants I need to finish this WIP. It has been sitting in its little project bag for +/- 3 years.
Totally in!!! I have a start to a sock that I haven’t been paying enough attention to. Would love to get them done in a kal. If people aren’t well versed in sock knitting, I’d suggest checking out WendyKnits. She’s an expert, and lots of great free sock patterns.
I wish I could get excited about knitting socks. But, I am sorry. Enjoy though.
In the midst of a trip to the Homeland (Cornwall, England) to be followed by a visit to France before driving home to Spain. One sock on a turned heel….will I finish the pair in the next seven days?
Wow, 3/3 lately with the MDK knit-along challenges! You’ve inspired me to pick up and finish my first lopapeysa, start a complicated-construction sweater with a lace pattern, and now resurrect 2/3 of a pair of socks that I abandoned last fall for holiday gift knitting. All of this was planned for “someday” but you’re lighting the fires. Thanks, ladies!
I’m in, too! I’ve been vicariously following along on this FB group lately: https://www.facebook.com/groups/642084589269882/?fref=ts
I’ve been knitting a wedding gift for the last 6 months (the wedding is this Friday!) and I’m MORE than ready to start something new! Socks it is, and a welcome alternative to the heavy afghan I’ve been working on! Now to have a dig in the sock stash… 😉
I was so inspired by your description of the Fred sock yarn that I ordered it. For some weird reason I selected the option to pick up the yarn. As I live in Maryland, that would have been a challenge, especially as I was going to the Sheep and Wool Festival on Sunday. The lovely people at the shop called and asked if I was really picking up the yarn. During our conversation, they told me about the other colors that go so well with the rocket ship color selected. So I went back online and ordered more of Fred in complementary colors, enough to ensure free shipping. As soon as the yarn arrives, I will join in your KAL. Until then off to find an unfinished pair somewhere in a basket. Thanks for a double inspiration!
P.S. They were tickled with your descriptions of their yarn.
I literally never have an issue with the second sock but I do have a fancy pair stalled at the top ribbing of the first sock. Maybe this will be the push to “git er done”.
Well I don’t even need to crane my neck from here at my desk to find a long-abandoned sock project, so I’m happy for the motivation. And even though I think the pooling on your sock looks fine, if you ever want to try a more defined stripey yarn, Susan B. Anderson shared a great solution on one of her podcasts. She takes off a bit of yarn before starting each sock, I think she said about 5 grams, and then uses that to knit the heel flap and heel, then you pick up where you left off – so no change in striping on the top of the sock! If I am using a sock yarn that comes in two smaller balls, I use the opposite tail of the other ball to knit my heel (does that make sense?!).
BRILLIANT. Such a solution! Thank you!
Option # 2: new socks.
Goal: at least one baby/ child size pair of socks for afghans for Afghans.
LoveDiane
What perfect timing! I leave for a conference on Friday (in Toronto! There will be yarn shopping!) and I had already decided to take along two partially finished pairs of socks as my conference knitting!
I have big feet too. That’s what I like about hand knit socks. I had some self striping yarn and I didn’t want to disrupt the stripes, so I did an afterthought heel.
This one has my name all over it. Yellow-socks-marinating-since-2011, your time has come!
Ok. I have two bogged down sock projects. For one, the DH would thank you. The other goes to Afghans for Afghans. Since their cold feet may have no solution and he has plenty of options, A4A it is.
I love knitting socks more than anything else and 2nd sock syndrome is defeated as I knit 2 socks in tandem on 2 sets of needles. First is sock 1 cuff, then sock 2 cuff, then heel for sock 1 and heel for sock 2, then foot of sock one then sock 2 then onto the toe. This way any mods are remembered and the socks are finished at almost the same time.
I am also working my way through Lara Neel’s book Sock Architecture and am on the second design. It’s fun to try all the new heels and toes for fit and fun.
Can’t wait to hang with all the sock knitters.
Love your Rocket socks! I know the issue of too-short socks all too well, as my feet are a size 11! (Or they “go to 11,” like Spinal Tap.) In fact my first pair of hand-knit socks was in a very girly colorway, in part to compensate for years of limited sock color and style choices.
I am sort of in summer knitting mode right now, but will consider this challenge. If I dive in it will probably be a two-at-a-time, toe-up, afterthought heel pair. With one of my many skeins of stash sock yarn!
You’re always an inspiration. Thank uou. I must go and knit now…
I’ll be joining the KAL and making Scandi Socks.
There’s no way I could knit a sock in two weeks, so I think I’ll sit this one out. Although I believe I do have a pair of socks that started unraveling shortly after I finished them I could fix. On second thought, I think maybe they didn’t unravel but were too tight at the cuff for my husband to put on and need to be re-bound off. Ugh. Maybe not.
I am SO in! After a few years of heavy sock knitting, I had moved on. Your Rocket socks had me digging in my WIPs for the striped socks I started several years ago – first sock finished and second sock started. Using 2 circs and Wendy Johnson’s Fingering Weight Toe-up Sock with Gusset Heel, Judy’s Magic CastOn and Stretchy Bind Off. Will be very happy with a new pair of socks come September! Of course, I also want to cast on for Kay’s Tryon Wrap! You ladies sure keep the knitting mojo flowing. Thanks.
I’ve never knit socks before so this is my chance. I’ve just returned the past few years to knitting since before my kids (and the first one is graduating from college in a few weeks!). Except for scarves- straight, garter stitch ones. So I’m rediscovering knitting and I have a new blog on my knitting adventures and I decided that I’d incorporate your challenge in my blog today (hope that’s OK) and I joined your Ravelry group so now I need to get sock yarn because- hum- I don’t have any. OK maybe I’m the only knitter who doesn’t, but we’ll fix that. Thanks, I’m looking forward to Monday. I’ve never done a knitalong either. http://lovelyyarnescapes.blogspot.com/2016/05/technique-thursday-sock-thon.html
Okay, I’m in. Somewhere in a bag there are 1 1/2 Rachel Coopey’s Willowherb socks in grey Swan’s Island fingering. I will hunt them down and finish them up, cross my heart.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/willowherb
I definitely have a bogged down sock project. I can see it glaring at me now…
I love how your rocket socks have little non-matching ankle bracelets. And I just may be in for the sock knit along. I stopped at the heel-turn of sock number 1 in Yarn Harlot’s basic sock pattern. This is the third pair in that pattern. Usually I knit cabled things but the thought of doing cables with those teeny baby stitches is very intimidating to me.
Oooohhh…now I get to decide between finishing up dh’s socks where I ran out of yarn (I have a contrasting color for toes, but need to rip the finished sock back, balance the amount of main color, and finish the toes) or starting a new pair. I should probably finish what I started!!
This is exactly what I need. Not only do I have one sock that’s threatening to be completed, but its mate needs to have the toe undone and reworked. If I finish them, I’ll finally have my first completed pair!
i am in ! (always in…) with many, many remnants for glorious pairs of Monstersocks. they’re fun and so freeing.
re: self-striping yarn and flashy weirdness around heel & instep: i feel a bit shy to ask, but would very much like to learn how the PerfectSockKnitters maintain their stripe sequence … being a fan of the Monsters, it doesn’t bother me, really: but îm curious to know how they do it with a flap-and-gusset heel.
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