Year of Projects 7: Week 31

• Petty Harbour Socks - complete
• Vanilla is the New Black Socks - complete
• There & Back Again Socks - complete
• Crosshaven Socks - complete
• Somewhere Socks - complete
• Tuxie Love - complete
• Brigit Socks - complete
• Crenate Socks - complete
• Mad Mix Socks - complete
• Ringwood Socks - complete

• Hearty Man Plaid Socks - using unknown yarn, 10% complete

• Gschnitztal Socks - ripping and restarting in Tanis Purple Label Cashmere sock in papaya  
• Mojo Socks - using stash yarn frogged from Gschnitztal
• Yaacov Socks - using Lang Jawoll Magic Dégradé 
• Alfrick Socks - using Sandnes Garn Sisu in grey and white 
• Twisted Flower Socks - using Hikoo CoBaSi yarn in Egyptian Blue 
• Feny Socks - using Lang Jawoll Superwash in turquoise and chocolate 
• Double Heelix Socks - using stash yarn TBD 
• Somewhere Socks - using various shades of blue scraps 
• Merripog Socks - using stash yarn TBD 
• Rrribb-it! Socks - using stash yarn TBD 
• Glass Slippers Socks - using stash yarn TBD 
• Leyburn Socks - using stash yarn TBD 

Last week I rolled up my sleeves and opened my Hand Dye Sock Kit from Louet North America. The kit contained three 50gram skeins of natural Louet Gems fingering weight yarn, small jars of dye crystals labelled Silver Birch, Cornflower and Blueberry, a squeeze bottle and instructions.

First I soaked the undyed yarn for 40 minutes in warm water. Next I mixed the Silver Birch dye with hot water, then squeezed it onto the yarn skeins. I realized after the first colour that I should have untwisted the skeins from the very beginning, so I did that right away. I repeated the dye step with the Cornflower dye and the Blueberry dye, turning the skeins to make sure that all the yarn was dyed.  Next I wrapped the skeins in plastic wrap, bagged them in Freezer bags (unsealed) and microwaved them.  Being careful not to burn or scald myself, I unwrapped the skeins and hung them to dry overnight. And finally I rinsed the skeins in a SOAK bath to remove excess dye and hung them once more to dry.


I think they turned out beautifully! The three dye colours resulted in a nice tonal yarn with an overall denim-y effect. I'm so pleased with the yarn and highly recommend the kit. It was easy and fun!

I decided to knit Ringwood Socks from the yarn. It's a very simple traditional pattern that creates a nice texture which works well with variegated yarn.

Ringwood Pattern:
R1: K1P1
R2: Knit
R3: Knit

I knit them toe-up with an FLK heel, although with 3 skeins of yarn there was no chance of running short. As well, because I made the legs longish, I increased 8 stitches at the top of the leg before the cuff to accommodate the widening of my legs at the calf. That worked out great, I think.

The socks are great; and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Gavin keeps trying to steal them. That's a backhanded compliment, I'd say!

Now what to knit next? My Mystery Paper Bag for February is coming up in just a few days, so nothing too complicated. For my Gschnitztal Socks I've decided that I'd better work with metal 2.5mm needles - which I don't have so I've ordered them. I was thinking Mojo Socks, but there was a delay when I purchased the pattern from Ravelry. So now I'm knitting Plaid Socks... but more on that next week.