The Consequences of Owning Many Sets of DPNs
Sock ennui plus many, many sets of dpns results in 6 pairs of socks on the needles. And this doesn’t use all my available sock-knitting-sized needles. It’s a slippery slope.
Top Row (left to right):
1. Christmas Socks I: 4×4 rib (total snoozer), eye of partridge heel flap (42 rows to get a 2″ flap!), and FA merino in Lily Pond (very pretty). One sock done. Sock two started, but I have to bribe myself to knit on it.
2. Christmas Socks II: K3,P1,K1,P1 rib (looks nice stretched), slip-st heel flap, and FA SeaWool in Burgundy (nice colors, but the yarn feels a bit funny to me). One sock done. SeaWool is thicker than FA’s merino, so I used size 2 needles (2.75 mm) and only need 48 stitches around, as recipient has very narrow feet.
3. Stansfield 27 Socks (More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch): Knitting these for a friend’s birthday gift. Sock one done. Sock 2 on gusset decreases. Love, love, love the Fearless Fibers merino in Raspberry. Will finish these soon (birthday was July 31, but weather is hot here, and she got to try on the first sock, which fit!).
Bottom Row (left to right):
4. Making it up Seed Stitch and Rib Socks: Got this pattern idea from a sweater swatch I was knitting and HAD to try it out. Black Bunny Fibers Merino in Aquamarine. This is the third sock try with this yarn; I hope it’s the charm.
5. 2/2/2 socks: Cool cables, but rather complicated to knit for the effect (e.g. two cable needles for one cable and moving stitches from front to back half way through the cable for the other). Is all this fuss worth it? Or should I frog and try something a little simpler? BFL yarn in Poseidon from Little Dog Designs. Opinions?
6. Plain Stockinette Socks: CTH Supersock in Champlain Sunset. After trying to be clever and either getting a non-stretchy fabric (braided cables with no purling between the braids) or pooling ugliness (4 colors–2 striping on one side of the sock and the other 2 on the other side), I determined that stockinette on 2.5 mm needles (60-st sock) was just the ticket.
I have enough needles to put the plans I have in mind for these three yarns in practice.
CTH Supersock in Cabin Fever: Has been frogged once, but I think I learned my lesson.
Merino Tencel in Baltic from someone’s dye pot–I have lost the ball band. It’s pretty!
Claudia’s Hand Painted in Eat Your Veggies. I keep giving away the socks I knit from Claudia’s yarn. These will really be for me.
The goal is to get the gift socks DONE, and some of these multi-colored yarns knit up in simple patterns for myself, as I don’t even have a week’s worth of handknit socks. Then I have some plans for more complex socks, like Laura’s new Algernon pattern and Taina’s Paraphernalia (Ravelry link), using some semi-solids and solid yarns I have. I’m also making up patterns in my head. But which yarn for which pattern?
Left to right: Creatively Dyed Merino Sock in ATS3, Dream in Color Smooshy in Gothic Rose, CTH Supersock in Amethyst, Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino in Thoroughbred, and CTH Potlucks in Blue/Purple.
You can see why I say it’s a slippery slope.
Wow! I would be so confused with that many socks on the needles! 🙂 LOVE the Raspberry and Amethyst colorways. And good for you for working on your holiday knitting early. 🙂
Isn’t it so nice to have more than one pair of socks going? I really hope to stay in the habit of having at least one pair of socks in lace pattern and one pair in plain stockinette going. I’m not sure about 6 pairs though. It might be a little too much for me right now. But, of course, I’m not knitting for Christmas like you! And what a great colorway name…Gothic Rose.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally, someone who has more pairs of socks on the needles than I do. Just think, when returning to these socks, it will take no time at all to get most of them done and then you will be so gratifide.
That is a lot of sock!
I love that Eat Your Veggies colorway. You are quite the sockist. Good luck with finishing all those pairs. I do mine all two at a time or I would have the same thing going on.
Mmmm…Eat Your Veggies… OK!
Wow, that looks like my WIP table at any given moment.
All socks, all the time! WOW…you’ve got your work cut out for you. I can’t do more than 2 pair at a time, and that can make me crazy quite easily…
(((hugs)))
Ooh, I was just swatching with Cabin Fever! 🙂 It wasn’t right for the lace scarf I was planning, but now that I have been playing with the yarn, I really want to find a suitable project for it. Something simple but effective…
He-hee! I know the feeling. If it’s any consolation, you have fabulous taste in both yarn and patterns.
Wow, I’m a little overwhelmed 🙂 Do what makes you happy, even if it means having a lot of WIPs!
Those are lovely! I would be so crazy if I had that many projects going at once.
I think that I never showed all my socks when I had six going. I have lots of size 1 needles.
Brenda- You didn’t say which Christmas they were for, right?
Slippery slope, indeed! But options are a wonderful thing.
I just love the first photo of all the sips! Anything else on your needles besides socks? Gothic Rose looks so luscious. Definitely a slippery slope. 😀
Wow, I hardly know where to start. The cabled sock looks great, but if it’s too big of a pain it may be better to find a less complicated pattern.
The rest of the socks are just fabulous. I hope I will be as good as you at socks someday. Good luck keeping all those projects under control!
That’s hilarious! I would be in the same boat if I had that many dpns!