Projects
Socks and Blocks: Small and Portable
Dear Kay,
Our summer knitalong for socks and blanket squares is now under way: Socks and Blocks Knitalong 2020. (Read about it here.)
People are very funny: some are diving in with projects abandoned forlornly some distant time ago, some folks in a fever on new projects. There’s talk of yarn substitutions, the question of dye transfer, who’s doing what.
This knitalong reminds me that knitting is such a connector, an opportunity to be with other people, a chance to learn something and—equally valuable—to have the chance to help somebody figure out a problem. The Lounge forum is “Socks and Blocks Knitalong 2020” where everybody’s hanging out.
How to Crush This Thing
Strategy is a big part of any knitalong. I really like the idea of starting with a partially finished pair of socks. I call it “the running start.”
“Premomentum.”
“Clear eyes, half-finished sock, can’t lose.”
“One and done.”
If you’re thinking that two entire whole socks seems like a lot, go dig around and you will probably come up with a pair in progress. It just happens when you knit enough.
With very little effort I came up with three pairs of socks in various states of doneness.
The Zauberball Situation
This pair was started at Christmas, when my son made an unprecedented request for a pair of handknit socks. I quickly cast on a giant sock, figuring that it would be plenty big for him, only to find it was so huge that we renamed it “The Sleeping Bag.”
After some self-loathing, I started over and got distracted after 1.1 socks.
We have a bunch of Zauberballs in the Shop at the moment (except for the color above, which dates from 2009 or so!). If I had to go for another color, it would be Smoking Area, which is the most obscure yarn name I have ever seen.
Somewhere in there, I pivoted to
The Campfire Solution
Yes, this is Kim Formica’s exquisite Barnyard Knits yarn. Yes, these socks will fit David’s feet. The campfireness of these socks is the tiny embers of orange that blurp in there from time to time. I can smell the smores, I tell you. 
The Hedgehog Diversion
At Rhinebeck last year I bought this yarn despite the fact that we run a yarn operation at MDK. Hedgehog Fibers, in a colorway that seemed incredible.
It’s the mint green in there. Alongside the red. I dunno. It’s so good. Of course, I need to get a needle back into these, after yanking it for some other sock as yet unexcavated. I mean, I’m a decent knitter but I haven’t nailed knitting without a needle. Yet.
How to Join the Socks and Blocks Knitalong
We have a long summer ahead, so if you’re looking for a place to hang out (the air conditioning is superb in the Lounge), I cordially invite you to join us as we knit up as many socks and blanket squares as we can manage. It’s free. The guidelines (here) are so loose that we hesitate to call them guidelines, and joining is as easy as making a visit to the Lounge.
Click “The Lounge” at the top of our home page, or here, and register as a user, if you haven’t already. Sign in, head for “Socks and Blocks Knitalong 2020,” and leave your first message. You’ll hear from a fellow knitter shortly, and wham! You’re in the knitalong.
Labor Day is our endpoint, but we’re not going to fuss about much of any of this.
Love,
Ann
I love Hazel Knits merino wool cashmere nylon fingering weight yarn. I am a sucker for cashmere . But I have to wait to buy any sock yarn. My sock yarn bin is VERY full! Hmmm… but a bigger bin? Lol
Oh, I have a pair of unfinished socks that needed encouragement. Right after I finish the shawl I’m working on,I’m on it!
I am in. I have a Sock One partially Heal Turned. Perfect for this Knit Along.
I have a couple half-pairs of socks I need to finish up, but first I need to finish my Sussurate shawl. Only 6 rows and a bind-off left — but when the rows are almost 500 stitches, and it’s brioche, so that means really, each row is almost 1000 stitches, those 6 rows are going to take a while. In the meantime, I guess I can dig out those half-pairs of sicks, though.
Janna, I’m Susurrating along right now. 20 rows, and the bind off, to go. A couple of months ago I learned (through YouTube) to make both passes at once on each row. Still doing the same number of stitches, just using the MC in my left hand (first pass stitch), CC in my right hand (second pass stitch), and though it’s technically the same # of stitches, it seems faster. Here’s to having our beautiful shawls in time for Fall!
You just took the needle out of the Hedgehog sock! Gasp. Didn’t even put it on scrap yarn! That is so…bada**.
I, too, stand in awe. *picking jaw up off the ground*
I, three, am also in awe. I looked again at the picture, searching for the string/cord/cable holding the stitches. I tried to pick up loose stitches once, and twisted every one of the them the wrong way. Definitely not as brave/skilled as you!
Re: NAME CHANGE —————————— I am very disappointed and see this as a weakness for not being able to stand up for who you are. I have fair skin but my dear daughter in law is of colour. We both are disappointed in what has happened and believe that every person should SEE and ACCEPT themselves as EQUALS and BELONGING to the same society. Than and only than most of the racial problems will automatically start to dissolve. Always STAND UP for who you are and than no one can bend or break you. Susie
Don’t you have smoking areas in the US? Over here in Europe (which I think we’re still part of in the UK for a little while yet) when the indoor smoking ban came in all pubs, restaurants, theatres, workplaces and the like created outdoor “smoking areas” which, if you’re lucky, include some sort of bus shelter affair and a patio heater. They don’t usually have loud music so they’re sort of like the kitchen at a party where you hang out and strike up random conversations with strangers.
it is the complimentary colours in the Hedgehog fibres yarn that really captures our eyes. Me ‘usband landscape artist E.Robert Ross explained this effect early in our acquaintance when we were painting a room terracotta around a fireplace with bottle green ceramic tiles in the 1920s flat we lived in.
So…if I find the 3 “pairs” of socks that were started on DPNS 3 years ago, I can put them forward as my KAL projects? Woot! Daughter says she knows where they are!