Gail's Christmas Socks Finished

Seven years ago I signed Sunny up for puppy class with dog trainer Gail. My intention was to get her Canine Good Citizen certificate and visit nursing homes with my sweet little dog.

As Sunny matured it was obvious she didn't have the personality for visiting nursing homes. Strange objects freak her out and she doesn't like to be petted by people she doesn't know.

Dog trainer Gail describes Sunny's personality as "Queen Bee". Sunny is bossy and opinionated. Without the guidance and wise teaching of Gail, Sunny would be a very obnoxious little dog.

Sunny loves obedience class. After puppy class we went on to intermediate class and ended up in a class called "Hobby Advanced". We do some obedience, some agility, some tricks and games, all to have fun with our dogs, not serious stuff for competition.


When abused and rescued Pappy joined our family six years ago, we gave him a month to adjust a little and then started him in the beginner class.

Gail coached us in turning a nervous, traumatized dog into a loving, happy family member. Pappy has been in a "Hobby Advanced" class for five years now. His favorite part is the agility.


The dogs go to doggy school on separate nights. It's their night out with Mom's sole attention and they love it. That's 4 hours a week I spend in doggy school and the reason dog trainer Gail gets hand knit socks at Christmas and on her birthday.

I'm so pleased that there is something I can do for her that she appreciates and wears. Hope she likes the colors in this pair.


Pattern: Basic sock on 64 stitches. k1p1 ribbing for 20 rows, then k7p1 ribbing down rest of cuff and instep.

Yarn: Opal, 75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon.

Color: Petticoat 1293

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

Gail's Socks Maybe Done, Maybe Not

I can't remember where I got this yarn without a label. I do know it's Opal, but I don't know the color pattern name.

Doggy school teacher Gail frequently wears blue denim, so I picked it out of the stash for her Christmas socks. About half way through the first cuff I began to worry. Is this yarn ugly? Is Gail going to like these socks?

Now that they're done, the colors and dots have grown on me and there's a good chance Gail will like them. But I'm racking my brain to remember if I've ever seen her wear green. I think so, but I'm not sure. While I'm watching for something green to appear at doggy school, I started another pair (below) just in case.

Pattern: Basic sock on 64 stitches. k1p1 ribbing for 20 rows, then k7p1 ribbing down rest of cuff and instep.

Yarn: Opal, 75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon.

Color: Unknown

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

These socks are perfect for Gail. I know she wears each color represented and there are no crazy dots to make her wonder what I was thinking.

I better get the needles clicking and get them done.


Pattern: Basic sock on 64 stitches. k1p1 ribbing for 20 rows, then k7p1 ribbing down rest of cuff and instep.

Yarn: Opal, 75% Superwash wool, 25% Nylon.

Color: Petticoat 1293

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars.

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch.

No Rant and Bob's Birthday Socks

Since I try to keep this a pleasant place to visit, I won't whine on for paragraph after paragraph about all the fun I've had reloading programs and files and configuring my laptop since it came back from being repaired.

Just this evening I've been able to edit pictures to post. And one important task isn't done yet - I still don't have virus protection because my virus software company thinks I don't exist even though I have a serial number and confirmation numbers for the past two years updates.

I know. Virus protection is super important. I'm going to give them one phonecall to make me happy before I change companies. Meanwhile, here I am bravely online unprotected.


Yesterday was DH Bob's birthday, and his birthday socks were appreciated since temps were in the 40s and it was the first day we turned on the furnace.

He likes wool worsted weight socks. He wears them around the house without shoes, so I have to go for tough yarn and tight stitches. The socks I knit for him are next to indestructible.


Pattern: Basic 48 stitch sock. k3p1 ribbing on cuff and down instep.

Yarn: Opal 6-ply shades of gray with Opal UNI-Solid red held together to make a worsted weight yarn.

Needles: Addi Turbo #5 circulars.

Gauge: 5 stitches/inch and 7 rows/inch.

Mom's Birthday Socks Finished and Appreciated

Mom is one of my most appreciative knitting recipients.

Yesterday was her birthday and guess what she got - a pair of birthday socks.

She also got copies of a ship manifest from Ellis Island, the passenger records recorded on their ship, the Belgenland, when baby Mom and her mother came to this country from Switzerland to join my grandfather.

Anyone can go to the Ellis Island web site and search the 25 million immigrant records for their relatives.


Here's the official sock shot.


Pattern: Basic sock with Old Shale/Feather and Fan on the cuff

Yarn: ON Line Supersocke 100

Color: Tropic Color 927

Needles: Options 2.5mm

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette

Black Monkeys Finished

I ignored finishing these socks for as long as I could. The birthday lunch for recipient daughter Heather is tomorrow, so out they came last weekend and they're finally done.

The result is lovely. The Regia silk is soft and shiny. The Monkey pattern is beautiful in black.

I will never knit another pair.

Since I only had metal needles in 2.5mm I found myself tensing up while the silk yarn slipped around and occasionally off the needles.

Being black, the project was difficult to see - difficult to count stitches, difficult to count rows, and difficult to keep track of the pattern.

I'm not whining about this. Just recording the facts.

The socks were knit with love and I hope Heather likes them.


Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. in Knitty, Winter 2006.

Yarn: Regia Silk

Color: Black

Needles: Options 2.5

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

On-Line Socks Finished

Needing something easy to knit in Idaho and presented with a pretty skein of yarn from Linda Jo's Blogiversary contest a few weeks ago, it was obvious that the prize yarn needed to be knit immediately. So it was.

When I met with the Northern Idaho Knits group in (where else?) Northern Idaho, we sat for two hours and I managed about a half inch on one sock foot.

A few weeks ago I attended an orientation meeting for the Portage Senior Center. The room next to our meeting was full of knitters. Very raucous sounding knitters. We had to shut the door so we could hear our presenter.

The knitters sounded like they were having a great time, but I doubt they were getting much knitting done. Now that I'm a member, I need to attend one of their meetings and see what goes on.

Does anyone ever get any knitting done at a knitting group?


Pattern: Basic sock 56 stitch with k7 p1 ribbing on cuff and instep

Yarn: ON-Line Highland color

Needles: Options 2.5mm circulars

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Gail's Birthday Socks Finished

Done.


Who is Gail?

Pattern: Basic 64 stitch sock with k7p1 wide ribbing on cuff and instep

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Hundertwasser 956 Seeschlange

Needles: Options 2.5mm

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Time to get back to thinking about the She Said sleeves. This is a busy time of year and I find myself looking for easy knitting when I sit down in the evening, so the sleeves have been on hold.

I lack confidence in doing the cables top down with short rows. How difficult can it be? I think it will work, but I'm tempted to just cast on at the cuff and do them the way the pattern is written. Do I hear chickens clucking? I really want to try the top down approach, but need some quiet knitting hours to figure it out.

John's Birthday Socks Finished

Done and ready for their trip to Idaho.

The yarn was so so. It's OK, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy more of it.

There was a knot with a new, unwanted color starting partway through one skein. I managed the matching challenge, but wasn't happy. Knitting men's socks there is always that worry about having enough yarn, and it doesn't help when a big chuck in the middle of a skein needs to be cut out. At least the colors didn't start coming out in reverse order like I've had happen.

Sometimes color is all important, and John bought this yarn because of the Washington Redskin colors. Can't argue with that. I'm happy with them.


Pattern: Basic 64 stitch sock with k7p1 wide ribbing on cuff and instep

Yarn: Cascade Sassy Stripes, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: 718

Needles: Options #1, 2.5mm

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Anne's Step Socks Done and Sock Sizing

Anne's second pair of birthday socks knit with the yarn she picked out are ready for mailing.


Pattern: Basic sock with k3,p1 ribbing on cuff and instep

Yarn: Austermann Step with Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil

Color: Gray, purple, and tan

Needles: Options 2.5mm 24" circulars

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Yesterday I received a nice email from Karen in Maine who asked . . .

I enjoy knitting socks for myself and I'm interested in knitting them for others as you do. How do you go about making them to fit? What measurements do you ask the person to give you and how do you relate that to the sock as you knit. I know the circumference is easy, but I've always tried on my socks to get the length correct which can't be done when giving a gift to someone.

I ask the person for their shoe size and use the Brannock Shoe Size Chart Chart.

I know my shoe size is 6, my sock row gauge is 10 rows/inch, and I require 60 rows from the gusset pickup to the start of the toe decrease for a good fit. That's my starting point to calculate how many rows to knit for someone else.

Example:
Anne wears a size 9 shoe. From the chart, I see that a size 9 is one inch longer than my size 6, so I add 10 more rows to the 60 rows I would knit for myself. (1 inch X 10 rows per inch) Anne's socks are 70 rows from the gusset pickup to the beginning of the toe decreases.

Another Example:
Mom wears a size 7 shoe. From the chart I see that a size 7 is .3 inches longer than my size 6, so I add 3 rows to the 60 rows I would knit for myself. (.3 inch X 10 rows per inch) Mom's socks are 63 rows from the gusset pickup to the beginning of the toe decreases.

The chart also converts men's sizes to women's sizes and has kid sizes, UK sizes, and European sizes. Click on the "Printer Friendly Version" for a larger, clearer chart.