Knitmas '13; Owl Socks

It has been far, far too long since I blogged. And not because of a lack of crafting, I assure you! The needles, the hooks, the paint brushes, everything has been agogo since I posted.
And yet I haven't posted. I guess I have just been too busy with uni. You know, that really rather important thing that is the main focus of my life currently. Yeah, that. For the record, it's worth not blogging for the results I have been getting and I'm so close to finishing now, too. One more assignment, two exams and then... I will have a degree.

But enough about that. I haven't written a diary 'this is what I did today' blog in years and that is not the function of this blog. This blog is for crafts and that's what all of you readers are here for. (Or so I presume. If that isn't what you're here for then I have to question why you're reading this in the first place. Also, Ramms+ein's Amerika just started playing on Kerrang! radio. This makes me happy.)

So it's April, nearly May, right? Well into the 'new' year, right? Yeah, well, due to my lack of posting I'm going to be all festive again. More Christmas presents, oh yes. Last Christmas post, I assure you. At least, until it is Christmas again (although I'll probably still be on a backlog, so you'll be getting Summer themed posts or some such nonsense).

A sock! In many shades of purple.

The last person I knitted a gift for for Christmas was my brother. He suffers from the cold, particularly in his feet, so I decided the only thing for him was to knit him a pair of socks. Well, that and, although I'd only knitted half a practise sock before, I knew I loved knitting socks. So it was winners all around in my opinion.

I decided to knit using DK wool instead fingering weight wool (the normal weight of wool for socks) as I wanted something that would be a bit bulkier and snugglier. This, however, presented a couple of issues. Firstly, although not impossible to get a hold of, wool/nylon blend yarn (which is what is recommended for socks, as pure wool breathes well but wears quickly) in DK weight isn't all too common. I could find, online, plenty of wool/nylong blend yarn in fingering weight, but very little in DK. Fortunately, there's a great little wool shop in Lincoln called Spins and Needles and, after messaging them through Ravelry, I found out they had just ordered some DK sock wool in, in half a dozen colours. I went over one afternoon with my boyfriend to pick out a colour; I was originally going to go for a solid purple, but my boyfriend preferred the variegated wool. I found this a little ironic, as when I explained that I'd be knitting my brother purple socks and with what motif, he had told me they were far too feminine (I responded with that I knew my brother better than he, and knew this was a winning combination; he later agreed, once he saw the final product).

The second problem was finding a pattern. Most patterns are knitting with fingering weight wool, or seem ridiculously difficult. That said, the weight wool was not the only issue; most patterns seem to be designed for females (i.e., for smaller feet) and the few that were for men were still too small for my brother's large size UK 11s. A pattern in DK weight for anything larger than a men's size UK 9 seemed non-existent.  Fortunately, the internet exists. I decided on Deb's Super Simple DK Socks (which are exactly what the title would suggest) and with the help of Ravelry's forums I worked out how to knit a bigger pair of socks. In short (no pun intended), as I was not knitting a pattern onto the foot of the sock, I needed only to knit straight (circular?) row until they were about three inches shorter than the desired length (then I was to knit the shaping rows; these would for the toe).

My brother initially mistook this
for the Ultima Online symbol...

As these socks were super simple, I decided I wanted to add something a little different to them. I had seen a brilliant pair of socks that were covered in cabled owls, but the pattern was for the wrong weight, foot size and, to be honest, looked too complicated for a beginner sock knitter like me. The owls were cute though and anyone who knows me well, will know that I love knitting cables. They're so ridiculously easy and yet so effective (although do have the issue of looking a bit 80s if too many are used). Fortunately, I am good enough a knitter to be able to pull apart (easier; I don't think I could an advanced pattern) patterns to use the bits I want in something else. Thus, my own, DK weight, simple, single owl motif socks were born (er, knitted?)!

When I first knitted the owls, they some how ended up on the back of the sock, rather than on the ankle, where I had intended them to be. I think this is an issue with the sock pattern, that gives the starting stitch as the centre stitch, but then, when you start shaping, that centre stitch has become the side. Ergo, as I'd been measuring my side from the centre stitch, which then became the side, my side became a back. Fortunately, I only had to pull down an hour's, at most, work to remedy the problem.

Slip free stars!

The first sock took me about a week to knit. This was good, as I had over run when knitting my dad's hat, giving me less time to complete the rest of my Christmas projects. I had offered to finish knitting the Sackboy mum had begun knitting for my brother about five years ago (as I have since completed two of these; one for myself and one for my boyfriend) if I ended up running too short on time to finish the socks, but she has misplaced the pieces. So, yes. First sock took a week; I had another two weeks to go until Christmas, so i knew I had plenty of time and there was no need to rush. Bad idea. The next thing I knew it was the 22nd of December and I had about five rows of the second sock started. Thing is, we visit my brother on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas day, so that cut my knitting time by another day. On top of that, I had some non-slip stuff I wanted to put on the soles (it is called 'ABS Latex' and is fantastic; I've mentioned it before), which takes twelve hours to dry. So I needed to have this sock finished by the evening of the 23rd, so I could put on the latex and have it dry and wearable for when I wanted to give it to my brother.

I was doomed. My brother was going to have to be presented with one, lonely sock and receive its pair, probably in the the new year. I'd come so far, too; people had told me knitting a load of Christmas presents for people while maintaining a busy schedule wasn't going to be easy, but I wanted to prove that I could do it. So close, only to fall at the last hurdle.

They look good on, if I say so myself.

I didn't fall. I bound over that hurdle with gusto and gracelessness and lots of coffee, but I did it. In less than forty eight hours I managed to finish the second second sock and stencil on the latex soles in the early hours of the morning (I decided to go for stars, to match the night theme going on with the owls). I surprised myself; I genuinely had not thought I'd be able to do it, but I did. I can, apparently, knit a pair of socks in four days, then. Not that I would want to. That was a lot of knitting for me.

It was good to get it finished in time though. Not sure I'm going to repeat the process of knitting Christmas gifts for people (even if I do decided to start early in September), or if I do it'll be for one person. But at least I can say I have done it.

My brother appreciates the socks (I hope), but I don't think he's aware of the mad dash I had to do to get them to him on time. To be fair, I don't think he's ever really watched me knit.

... No comment.

Sock facts then! As I mentioned earlier, the yarn was DK weight; it was a brand of yarn called Aire Valley DK by west Yorkshire Spinners and is a brilliant yarn. I believe it cost me £5 for 100g (with student discount). The pattern said that for larger socks I would need two skeins, but I ended up (bizarrely), only using one and still having yarn to spare. The pattern asked for 3mm (UK 11) but I only had 3.25mm (UK 10) in DPNs; this wasn't a bad thing as I'm a pretty tight knitter and I think on 3mm needles, the socks would have been too tight to wear comfortably.