KnitMe

Memo re: child socks

My first hank of cashmere/merino is finished and plyed. I'm delighted with it.

First off, this is how it came off the bobbin. I'm getting better at creating something both balanced and sufficiently plyed!

The skein weighs 2.7 or 2.8 ounces. When washed, it poofed, as one might expect, and it has a great deal of elasticity. It measured 420 meters on the niddynoddy but my past experience with the poof factor tells me that I probably have about 420 yards here. I think I have something I could knit lace with!! Given the poof factor, I think its weight is a very light fingering or a generous lace. It is VERY soft and lofty too.

I didn't get to do much spinning this weekend, with all the running around we did. My task now will be to spin the remaining 5 ounces to the same grist so that I will actually have 1000 yards or so of this. I may overdye it a medium shade of rose - while it's a very appealing maple-walnut color, I'm not sure I want to wear, it although I haven't entirely made up my mind.

Inspiration struck last week when I was faced with the fact that Emily's feet are more than an inch longer than they were last year and have outgrown all the handknit socks I thought would fit her this year. These things are knitted top-down, so why couldn't I pull out the toes and make them longer?? At this age, her growing is all lengthwise and not much widthwise, so it's an ideal time to try this approach.

First I turned to the skyblue-pink socks that match the pair I just finished for myself. Now, this is not superwash yarn, so my hare-brained scheme became more complex when I saw how Emmy's sweaty little feet had FELTED the soles and toes (making them even shorter than they started out to be). My best bet ended up being running a needle into the row after the completion of the gusset, then cutting off the original toes and knitting a new foot. It turned out to be a pretty good idea after all, despite the trial-and-error of actually getting the stitches in a single row instead of stitches from the adjacent rows. And that little felted heel will be extremely durable, too.

You can see quite clearly where the new knitting is in the photo, because the colors get more defined and you can see the stitches. This pair is now redone and I have finished putting a longer toe on half of another pair (this one is superwash yarn so does not present the challenge of locating teeny stitches in a slightly felted fabric). How great is this? Emily will have three pairs of handknit socks in her drawer this winter instead of just one.

Memo to self: when knitting socks for small feet, use superwash yarn and never go toe-up!

Posted by Prudence at November 28, 2005 08:30 AM