About Knitting Socks

It's been awhile since I've had time to blog -- the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so hectic!

Since finishing the Secret of the Stole, I have been spending time working on two lace projects. One is another shawl and I'll blog about that later. The other is a pair of socks in Regia Silk yarn that I am knitting on two circular needles. This my first project knitting two socks at the same time using two circulars.

Some thoughts about knitting socks. There are basically two schools of thought when it comes to hand-knitting socks. The one school simply doesn't see any reason for doing this and the other is completely taken with the idea of being able to hand-knit socks. BTW -- if you knit socks, you know which group you are in. :) Unfortunately, my DH belongs in the first group -- and after spending the time making him a pair of socks that he made fun of -- I have informed him that he has received his first and ONLY pair of hand-knit socks from me.

Now -- I like to knit socks because I enjoy having a small portable project on needles that I can take with me whenever I travel or am going to be somewhere where I will need something to keep me busy. There are many sock knitters who are completely absorbed with knitting socks and they make lots and lots of socks and are very involved in finding new yarns and patterns for knitting socks. I think the popularity of knitting socks has really brought about a great deal of innovation and creativity. Just take a look at all the options we have for sock yarns today -- I don't remember seeing such variety ten years ago. Now you can find sock yarns in many fibers from wool to bamboo -- and Oh, my! the colors and the self-striping or self-patterning yarns! Yes, this could develop into an obsession....

Back to my lace socks. In this project I am combining my current interest in lace knitting with the fun of knitting two socks on two circulars. So far, I am still working on the leg or cuff of the socks -- but they are turning out nicely.

I am not one who uses patterns much anymore. What I have learned about knitting socks is that there are basic technics involved -- knitting in the round, knitting and turning the heel and then picking up stitches and knitting the gusset of the sock and then knitting the toe and finishing with grafting the last few stitches of the toe. When it comes to patterns -- I like to experiment with different patterns from a stitch pattern library rather than buy or download a specific pattern -- so I tend to create my own. For this project, I borrowed the lace pattern from a sock pattern in "A Gathering of Lace" and determined the number of stitches based upon my guage with the yarn and the size of my foot. (These socks are for me!)

Some other thoughts about knitting socks. I recommend that new knitters take on the task of learning to knit in the round using double point needles. There are times when knowing how to use dpns is of value for any knitter -- especially for very small diameters. Try a simple hat pattern and a worsted weight yarn to begin. After you have mastered the dpns, try using two circulars. There are many good resources on this technic and it is my favorite way to knit socks. I started by knitting one sock at a time on two circulars -- I think it is best to get the hang of the technic before trying to do two socks at the same time. But -- once you know how to use the two circulars to knit one sock -- it doesn't take much to learn to add that second sock to the needles and begin knitting a pair of socks. There is another technic called the "magic loop" where you knit socks on one longer circular needles. This will probably be my next learning challenge, but I'm fairly content with the two circular needle technic for now....

Here are some pictures of my socks in progress:

Secret of the Stole Finished!

I finished the stole on Monday evening. I blocked it Tuesday evening, but did not have a chance to take photos until this morning. The finished fabric is very light and airy and I am very proud of my first laceweight knit stole. The stole measures 18 inches wide by 74 inches long. It is just the right size to wrap around one's shoulders.

Many thanks to DK, the Nautical Knitter for the wonderful design and the KAL. I have greatly enjoyed participating in this project and I learned a great deal.

Here's a close-up of the last section of this stole:

This section of the design is quite elaborate and complex -- lots of yarn overs and decreases.

Hint 7 Completed 11/23/07

Didn't get any pictures posted last week due to Thanksgiving. I finished hint 7 late Friday night. You can see the beginning of the point.

Secret of the Stole - Hint 6 finished

Finished hint 6 a little behind schedule. This was a busy week with lots of activities and I didn't have as much time to knit as I have the last 5 weeks. So -- I stayed up later last night to finish the last few rows. Then I started making mistakes and decided to get up early this morning to finish rather than keep messing things up due to fatigue.

Got up at 5:00 AM and tinked back about half a row on the last pattern row. I think I fixed the problem -- but I may have added my own personal "design element" in doing so.

The stole is turning out beautifully. Since it now too long to get a good picture of -- I am now just taking shots of the newest section.

Here's the latest picture:

A Closer Look at Hint 5

Here's a picture of just the Hint 5 section of the Secret of the Stole.

This picture really shows the detail of the pattern and you can also see the two beads that are at the top portion of the section. Isn't lovely?

Secret of the Stole - Hint 5 Now Done

Finished hint 5 of the Secret of the Stole this morning. It is now 42 inches long, and would probably be even longer if stretched it when blocking.

This picture doesn't show the detail as well as I would like, so I may try to take another shot of the stole tomorrow morning -- maybe a close up of just the hint 5 section...

This stole is turning out to be very lightweight, but very warm and I love the ever changing pattern. Hint 6 is released tomorrow!

Better Pictures of Hint 4

I just learned that you get much better pictures of your knitting if you use daylight rather than artificial lighting at night.

Here are two pictures of my Secret of the Stole KAL through hint 4. You can see the beads and the lovely lace patterning that is beginning to emerge.

Now to wait until this coming Friday for the next hint.....

Hint 4 Is Done

Finished hint 4 this evening. This section went fairly quickly. It was a repetitive series of staggered yarnovers. I'll try to take a picture in the morning -- the daylight pictures show the details much clearer.

The Nautical Knitter gave us instructions on how to shorten or lengthen the stole in this hint. When you finish this hint, you are halfway done. My stole now measures approximately 17.5 inches by 32 inches. It would be a little longer if it was stretched and blocked, so I decided to stay with this length.

Hint 3 Finished!

I finished hint 3 of the Secret of the Stole KAL. This is turning into a lovely piece of lace fabric. Knitting hint 3 was much more fun and went much faster now that I am using my new Addi Lace needles.

I also took a little tutorial from Nautical Knitter's blog on how to take pictures of your knitting. So once I figured out how to turn off the flash on my digital camera -- I got a really nice picture of the stole that shows the beads! Cool! If you are interested in this tutorial go to http://www.nauticalknitter.com/.

Pictures of the stole through Hint 3 are below. I need to go start knitting on Hint 4 -- it came out this morning and I'm itching to get started....

Secret of the Stole KAL

I am participating in the Secret of the Stole KAL. This is my first experience doing a Knit A Long. Joined this on a whim and I am really enjoying myself.

I decided to use the KAL as a way of motivating me to get past a mental block I had about using laceweight yarn and using it to knit lace. My very first attempt to knit this very fine yarn was frustrating and I finally gave up the attempt and chose to use another "friendlier" yarn for the lace shawl project I wanted to do for my sister. This shawl is now done except for weaving in the ends and doing the blocking -- so I will post a picture of it when it's done drying. It turned out well...BUT that laceweight yarn I had purchased for the project originally just sat in my stash waiting for me to try again.


So, I started the KAL with a committment to make that ball of laceweight yarn into a lace stole. It took me three attempts to cast on and get started before I got a feel for knitting the yarn. I was successful in completing the first hint on time. Then I started on Hint 2 last Friday -- I found myself "tinking" several times during the evening. Fortunately, I was able to knit back and correct the errors each time before I'd gone too far along -- but anytime you are doing that the knitting is neither fun nor relaxing. So, Saturday I splurged on Addi Lace circular needles at my LYS and switched from my Addi Turbos to the lace needles. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! The points are sharper -- which makes the decreases so much easier. And the needles have more grip on them -- so no more slipping off of stitches inadvertantly.

Lesson learned from this? Your needles do make a difference -- so if you are having trouble knitting something, ask yourself if a different type of needle might be worth a try.


The stole is a design of the KAL owner and it is knitting up into a lovely lace pattern. It has another first for me in that the pattern includes adding beads as you knit. The beads don't really show up well in the pictures I have, but they are really good looking as part of the overall design.

Here are pictures of my stole so far:












Hint 1: Using Skacel Merino Laceweight Yarn,


US Size 3 Addi Turbo Needles and Ivory beads, size 8.









Hint 2:






Hint 3 came out this morning, so I need to start knitting. I'll add pictures as I finish each hint.

First Post

Just set up this blog. I am new to blogging. I have read about blogs, read blogs -- but never blogged myself. Decided it was time to give this a try.

I plan to use this blog to recreate the website I had several years ago. The website was "Lindy's Knits and Laces" and I took it down because we bought a new house and in the process of moving from one house to the other -- we changed internet providers. I just never seemed to have time to work through setting the website up with the new provider. So while I have wanted to re-establish the website, I didn't get to it and about 3 years have past since I took it down. In the meantime -- blogs came into being and with the typical speed of internet innovations -- really took hold.

As I thought about re-establishing my website, I began to realize that I needed to look into this "blog" thing. It seems that this is a "must" if you want to be connected through the web. So -- I have now made my preliminary move into the blogosphere.

I'd appreciate constructive feedback as I work on getting this blog established.