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FAL Finish: Socks For Sarah

Finish A Long 2016

This is my final 'must catch up with Q3 finishes' post and I'm now pretending it's the end of September!  I had four knitting projects on my Q3 FAL list, and have finished one of them.  At the start of the quarter, this is what Sarah's socks looked like:

Trying again, hopefully this time with the right yarn! Is this better, @sleepinsarah?!! #numpty #makingsocksforaweegem

This is the second pair of socks I knitted (the first pair, which I knitted toe up, are here), and I decided to go cuff down for these, so I needed to learn a stretchy cast on and chose the Estonian/Latvian cast on, which looked liked this when the stitches were on the needle:
I'm making a start on the second sock while watching Gardeners' World and am joining @charmaboutyou for the #saturdaynightcraftalong.

I needed to slightly change the plain stocking stitch leg and did *four rounds of knit, two rounds of purl, four rounds of knit (and repeated from the *) until the leg was long enough.  This gave me a garter ridge every eight rounds and added a bit of interest.  I was slightly shaping the leg, so the stitch markers are there to remind me to decrease every ten rounds (just after the two purl rounds, which nicely hid the decrease):

It's growing, @sleepinsarah! #socksforaweegem
I then did a plain stocking stitch heel flap, turned the heel, did the instep shaping and then carried on in plain knit rounds along the foot:
Untitled


I've shaped the heel (I think it's right!) and am ready to pick up for the instep, but first I need a cup of tea! #socksforaweegem


That's better! (I'd done one row too many on the heel flap and so had set off in the wrong direction when I started picking up the instep - no wonder it didn't feel right!) #socksforaweegem • • I've enjoyed joining @charmaboutyou for the #saturdaynightcra


It's growing, @sleepinsarah! #socksforaweegem #2016fal #FALQ3Archiewonderdog #ridiculouslylongFALlist #ridiculouslylongfallistgang

I decided to put the toe stitches onto a piece of yarn and graft both toes at the same time to get the Kitchener stitch embedded in my head.
Untitled

Despite very careful measuring of both balls of yarn and putting a slip knot and marker in the right place on the second ball, the socks don't match, and I didn't notice until I'd turned the heel on the second sock!  Sarah said they were okay, though, so I left them.
Why you shouldn't start something when you're tired, the sock edition. These were supposed to be a matching pair. Spot the difference... What say you, @sleepinsarah, carry on or rip out and start again? #socksforaweegem
I then grafted the toes, darned in the ends and packed them off to Sarah.  (No, I didn't bother blocking them!)

Look what I've just finished, @sleepinsarah! I'll get them in the post on Monday, probably Stingy class ;o) #socksforaweegem This is my seventh finish for this quarter of the #2016fal (and guess how many I've blogged. That's right, none of them! #musttryh

I really enjoyed knitting them and because they're knitted with double knitting yarn, they went an awful lot quicker than my first (4 ply) pair!!!

Sock details
Pattern: Regia cuff down
Adaptations: added two rounds of purl once in every ten rounds (K4, P2, K4), cast on 60 stitches and decreased by two stitches every ten rounds until there were 48 stitches at the bottom of the leg, missed out the final round of knitting at the toe shaping and went straight to the 'knit round until you reach the beginning of the heel needles' round
Cast on: Estonian/Latvian
Yarn: Adriafil Knitcol 'Beethoven Fancy' (100% wool) (from Love Knitting)
Needle size: 3.25mm KnitPro Symfonie dpns


And that's the end of my finishes for quarter three!  I've made some progress on a couple of other projects on the list and have made something not on my list, so I'll hopefully do a more normal 'what I've been up to' post sometime this week.


The other thing I've done this quarter is a guest post on a friend's (gardening) blog - I hope you enjoy it!

And finally, this is one of my favourite photos of Archie:

b-thank-you-for-giving-me-my-own-way-over-breakfast_29981470605_o
Aren't I angelically handsome?
Thanks for popping in!!!

Comments

  1. Gorgeous pair of socks - luck Sarah! I'm sure she will need to keep her toes cosy and these will be just the ticket!

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  2. I have NO idea how you do all that amazing knitting. I just can't get my head around it, or crochet, despite many tries. I'll stick with the sewing.... Beautiful socks, well done.

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  3. I am always in awe at your attention to detail. . . . and these sock are the Bees Knees!
    Off to read your gardening adventures now! Good luck with your Q4 List #ibetchamineislonger :(

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  4. Love these! On behalf of the FAL cohosts, hanks for participating this quarter! ;-)

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  5. These look great! I bet Sarah was over the moon! You're going good with the FAL I may have to join in for the last quarter. It might help get me back into the swing of sewing and knitting. This cold has stalled all my good intentions!

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  6. My jaw is on the floor ... I can't even knit a scarf so I hope you can see how impressed I am!

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  7. Nice pic of Archie! I really like that yarn you used. Very pretty.

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  8. Also in awe of your lovely knitting skills, these are super socks and I bet Sarah is well chuffed.x

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  9. I spotted these on ig and loved them then, love them still. Grafting the toes is something I never get quite right, I must ask Mr Google.

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  10. Sarah is still totally over the moon with her lovely socks! Thank you x

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  11. These socks are fantastic! What yarn did you use? I love the way they actually match well. I'm always put of printed yarns because they usually end up with different socks :) x

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