sock knitting – Cup of Tea and a Yarn

Is it knitting at work or working while knitting? 🧶

I am lucky that I work with people who recognise that if I’m knitting it doesn’t mean I’m not working.

When I have to think about a piece of work I’m putting together, and I need that moment of peace to gather my thoughts I pick up my knitting and the next minute the keyboard is rattling away. I also knit in meetings, i feel it helps me to concentrate.

Researchers theorise that doodling helps the brain remain active compared to the strain of paying single-minded continuous attention.

So, if the knitting is an easy project then taking the research and swapping the word doodling to knitting is really not a stretch. Don’t you think?

What a heel!

After thought
Forethought
Fish lips kiss
Short row
Flap and gusset
Fleegle
And……

If you are a sock knitter, you may have seen your fav heel on the list.

I don’t know about you, but how well the heel looks, (i.e. lack of holes) is my number one indicator of whether I’ve done a good job knitting a pair of socks.

When I gift socks, the compliments and thanks are usually all about the pattern and how well it fits. I’m like, “yeah, yeah, that’s all good, but look at that heel!”

My favourite is the Fleegle heel. The first time I tried it was the first time I knitted a sock that didn’t have holes in it, there were no pesky stitches to pick up and, the short rows seemed to just disappear into the sock.

The Fleegle heel gave me the confidence to carry on with sock knitting, so much so that I’ve started to branch out and try other types. I recently tried the forethought heel (twice now, I feel like I’m getting better!) and, I’m almost able to enjoy the heel flap and gusset now too.

Do you have a favourite that is your goto?

After thought proves to be too much thought!

I did my first afterthought heel socks. As you may tell by the title of this post, there were problems, many problems….

1. I put the waste yarn in the wrong place, so there is a random line on one of them and a half a line on the other. And I thought, well let’s be honest, I didn’t think.

2. I assumed it would mean no short rows, but the pattern I followed had a small short row gusset.

3. I had to pick up stitches with really tiny needles. Enough said.

4. Grafting and kitchener stitch. This was the second time I’d tried this and it looks just as awful as the first time.

5. Casting off at the rib usually means the socks are finished and then I had to deal with the disappointment after realising they weren’t.

So I guess I probably won’t try that again. Which is a bit of a shame because as much as I like how the decreases look, the aesthetics aren’t enough to make up for the headache.

One (pair) down…

I finally finished my Conundrum socks https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/conundrum-socks

The thicker yarn with the tiny needles made it a hard slog, and I wasn;t really enjoying it, so in the end I made them shorter than I was planning on and also did a rolled top rather than a rib.

They are incredibly comfy and warm, and they fit well in my sneakers for morning walks in the (ahhemm) *cold wintry weather though.

*Cold for Tauranga is below 10ºC (50ºF).

I think if I spin yarn for socks in the future I’ll try and do it a wee bit thicker than this one and make it a DK so I can use bigger needles and really enjoy the whole process 🙂

Suffering Socks

I love having a pair of socks on the go, they’re the perfect handbag project. I can easily whip them out while having a coffee in a cafe, or on a quick car trip (when I’m not driving), waiting for appointments, or in the last 5 minutes of my lunch break.

My work mates are also used to me knitting on socks in team meetings, they understand that it really helps me concentrate on what everyone is saying.

The last couple of months, working from home has meant I’ve been able to knit on bigger projects in meetings because they don’t have to fit in my handbag, and so, my socks have been suffering from lack of attention.

On Monday this all changed, with the whole of New Zealand open again except for the borders and the country now in recovery mode. And so my socks have once again returned to their rightful place as the knitting to grab as I’m heading out of the front door.