square [ j ] jane's stranded monster socks

Well, after years of being heavily addicted to both wearing and knitting socks, i am taking the plunge into writing my own patterns.  I knit the sock intuitively and then reverse engineer the pattern later.

My patterns will be available as PDF files on Ravelry. The first pattern that will hopefully be available soon is a stranded sock pattern.  It's a Monster Sock as in it makes use of left over remnants that you may have from knitting up other socks.  A Frankensock if you will.  With the charted portions of simple stranded knitting though, it won't look like a Frankensock.

It is currently (as of July-August 2013) in test knit, being worked on by some absolutely terrific fellow Ravellers and should be available as a free pattern soon.  You can check here for availability... i hope you have fun knitting socks!

Update: as of August 8th, 2013, this pattern is now live and available as a free download on Ravelry.

Dying for the Doctor

It's no secret that i am a giant geek.  There's a reason i have used the online name "squarejane" since 1996. Jane is a generic name for a woman and square?  Well there you go.  Geek Jane.

Anyway, the kids and i have been on a Dr Who marathon summer and we are so smitten.  I want, nay, NEED to knit these T.A.R.D.I.S. socks found on Ravelry. The real problem is trying to find just the right yarn color.  I am a very picky person when it comes to color and a recent trip to our fantastic local yarn shop did not turn up the specific blue.  It is a blend of a deep true rich navy with undertones of sky blue and some variation as the T.A.R.D.I.S. is worn from all that wibbledy wobbledy timey wimy stuff.

Here is our inspiration...

So as you can see, a simple navy or bright blue would not suffice for a color picky lady like myself.  I set upon dying the perfect yarn... dying for the Doctor.  I used these dyes:

That is Royal Blue from Tintex and Bahama Blue from Dylon.  These are toxic dyes so one must be careful.  First i started with one of my favorite yarns for dying, Zitron Trekking Undyed. It takes dye like a champ, wears like crazy and has never let me down.  In Canada, it retails for about $13.99 a skein.  I soaked the yarn, still tied but untucked in a bath of warm water and then placed in a large glass casserole dish which i had lined in saran wrap.  Then i bathed it in a wash of mixed Tintex Royal blue (premixed in water).  I then sprinkled liberally some dry Bahama Blue from Dylon across the surface of one side of the skein.  This only uses about 1/4 of the Royal Blue dye and 1/8th of the Bahama Blue. 

Using gloves, i flipped over the skein and did the same with the scattering of the Bahama blue.  Then i sealed up this bad boy inside it's plastic wrap and microwaved for 1.30 minutes and then let sit all hot and bothered and wrapped up for 5 minutes.  Be careful to use a dish you don't eat out of and plastic wrap that is microwave safe! Next i turned the dish using oven mitts and microwaved for another 1.30 mins.  Next was to carefully take out and open to allow it to cool.  

At this stage, i like to allow a long sit... an hour or more to allow for maximum cuticle closure before the rinse.  You can see that the color is a lovely mix of the two blues but favors the darker Royal Blue.  Looking pretty T.A.R.D.I.S.y to me!  Next stage is a cool water rinse with the least agitation possible. You are not a Dalek here... don't exterminate. A second bath of cool water with some Soak or a bit of shampoo for color treated hair is the next stage, again, easy on the agitation.  If you are too agressive or the water too hot, you can tangle or even worse, felt your yarn.

Here it is in the cool bath...

And here it is drying.  I use my ironing board on it's side to hang dry my yarns... with a bucket underneath to catch any drips.  

YAY!  Success!  Now i think i will go watch some more Dr. Who while it dries.  Next installation will be the knitting.  Cheers and happy dying!

Update:  Here it is all dried and balled up.

and i have also just charted up lettering that i will strand in in white for the side of the Tardis... don't mind if you save and use too.

Sock knitting tricks i have learned

Sock knitting isn't just a pass time for me, it is an addiction.  I knit and wear hand knit socks almost all year round.  In the years i have been knitting socks, i have figured out some helpful tricks that i thought i would share.

I really dislike coming to the end of a 3 day or 2 week long sock project and know that i have to weave in 30 ends of yarns, especially in colorwork.  As a result, i have come up with a few ways that will work in most cases to deal with that as you are knitting.

Adding a new color:

When i know i will be adding a new color next round in stranded knitting, i start by draping the new color of yarn to be introduced next round over the current working yarns with a 6 inch tail.

Next, i pull it snug up close to the item i am knitting and hold it with left hand ( i am right handed).

Now knit with one of the previously used colors. This secures your new color, ready to be used next round.

Now simply knit with both strands of the new color held double, after bringing them around the previous yarns to ensure no hole.

Make sure to drop the short end of the new yarn on the inside of the garment (sock) when it is .5 inches long.  It will stick out inside, but won't unravel. I have the world's most sensitive feet and i cannot feel it at all.

Finishing a color you are done with:

When you are finished with a working color and want to break it off, and your knitting isn't pattern dense, you can break that color at the beginning of the round, leaving a 6 to 8  inch tail.  Then pick up a different color of your choice... usually one that is closest to the color that you just broke.  Hold the two yarns double and knit with them until the broken yarn is .5 inches long, and leave on the inside of the sock... then continue with the other live yarn. You can see below in my ombre Blender socks, specifically on the dark toe, there are flecks of coral and black together, that is a broken coral color being held double and knit with black. If you don't mind a mix of the two colors, it's a great way to not have ends to weave.

 You can also knit one to three stitches with the color you have broken off held double with the still live yarn, being sure that the live yarn is behind the broken yarn so it will be more hidden, then for the rest of the round or row, hold the broken yarn in your secondary hand and trap it every 2 stitches like you would when working stranded knitting.

So there you are, two easy to do tricks to help reduce the number of ends you need to weave in. This pair of  Ombre Blender Socks were knit with 6 different yarns.  That would have led to 24 ends to weave in... i had NONE to weave in.

Find me on Ravelry: squarejane

Monster Mash

I knit a lot.  Mostly, i love to knit socks as they are utilitarian, will see lots of wearing, they are small projects and very portable.  They are generally well received as gifts and sizing is not generally too complicated.  When i am cold, wool on my feet is an instant warm hug.  I also just love looking down at my feet to see the crazy colorful socks i knit.  It makes me all hella happy.  Once you start wearing hand knit socks, it's near impossible to go back to cheap crappy store bought.  Sure, you will pay between $9 and $30 for the wool for one pair of socks, but that pair will last 10 times longer than your typical sock and 30 times longer than a dollar store sock if cared for properly. 

Sock pattern is available from Drops Design.  It's a great pattern but for established sock knitters.  These were my first attempt at stranded knitting in the round.

These are Puzzle socks by Violet Green (pattern is available for purchase).

One of my more favorite socks to knit up are Stripe Tease for their unique construction. Yay General Hogbuffer! So nice, i knit them twice. Too bad these ones shrunk.  My son inherited a great pair of socks. This pattern is free on Ravelry too.

Shown here is Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä... an excellent free pattern available to download from Ravelry.  Note, you must be a member to access the patterns on Ravelry. If you love to knit, and you aren't on Ravelry, well what are you waiting for!? It's awesome there.

What happens when you knit so many pairs of size 6 women's socks is you are often left with 1/6th of a skein of yarn or about 70 yards.  In fingering weight yarn, that is not all that much to make any one item.  you can save them all up to make a scrap yarn blanket which i will be doing this winter but you can also combine those remnants into MORE SOCKS.  These are commonly referred to as Monster Socks.  You can use any old sock pattern, and there are many different ways to combine the colors of yarn including but not limited to, knitting 2 rows each of 5 or 6 left overs or using the Blender Sock formula.  I like to stagger a few rows back and forth with my various yarns and do some stranded colorwork.  It makes for some super cozy socks that are fun and colorful. 

 These were knit for my teen daughter... and i can barely get them from her long enough to wash them.

These are all mine baby!

Squarejane Dyes

Don't fret... i said DYES not dies.  All 3 of my readers can rest assured that i am far too stubborn to die anytime soon. I plan on being an old crotchety lady for a long long time.

I love to knit.  I love to knit socks in particular.  One of my favorite sock patterns to knit is Skew which is knit on a diagonal. Here are a pair of Skew socks i knit before in Zitron Trekking XXL (one of my favorite sock yarns for it's fun colorways and durability).  This colorway is Prism.

It's like Dr. Seuss designed them in Froot Loops colors, what's not to love?

  Anyway... i decided i wanted to knit another pair of Skew socks but i just couldn't find some fun self striping sock yarn close to my rural BC home.  Sure i could wait to order some online but i decided that i had long wanted to foray into dyeing my own self striping yarn.

I started off with some Zitron Trekking Natura undyed.  I wound each section for each stripe around my hand 30 times and then tied off gently with some scrap wool in a different weight.  This took some time.  As i did this, i placed each tied loop of yarn in a bowl... bowl A, bowl B or bowl C to create a pattern.

When done, i carried the bowls to the kitchen and added boiling water with a few drops of vinegar, then poured my various powdered dyes directly onto the yarns.  I didn't want solid colors but more variegated within the colors.  I chose a red to plum to purple, an ice blue to deep sky blue and a pale green to apple green to dark forest green. 

After 15 mins and with much care, i took the yarns out of their baths but kept them in their respective piles, A or B or C and squeezed excess dye from the yarns.  I wrapped each pile in it's own plastic wrap and placed it all in a glass dish.  I microwaved on high for 2 minutes, took the dish out and let sit for 10 mins.  Then i opened the wrap and let them all cool.  When cooled, i washed each section by hand in cool water and rinsed until clear.  It was torture waiting for it to dry.  I ran into some tangling issues (i really need a swift and ball winder!) I had to toss out a portion of the yarn due to bad tangles but in the end, the yarn turned out quite pretty.

Here are my new Skew socks in progress...

and here they are all done: