Beaded Eyelet Rib Socks

I love these socks. They came out better than I envisioned (and that doesn't happen often!) and they look and fit fantastic.

I dyed the yarn with wine colored Rit dye and tried to achieve a Faux Ikat (see previous blog entry). I mismanaged the timing of the dye bath and the result was yarn that was basically a solid color. There were a few small light areas which gave a slight heather effect in the stockinette stitch of the sock foot but doesn't show at all in the eyelet pattern of the sock body.

Yarn: Fingering weight superwash merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns

Colorway:Rit Liquid Dye - Wine

Gauge and needle sizes: I used size 3 needles for the cuff and 7 pattern repeats for the body and size 2 needles for the remainder. My gauge was 8 stitches per inch on #2 needles.

Direction knit: Cuff down.

Cuff pattern: P2, k2, p1, K2 for 1"

Body pattern:

Slip bead: Move yarn to the front (as if to purl) and slip bead down, slip next stitch purlwise and move yarn to the back.

Stitch pattern in multiples of 7
Row 1: *P2, k2 tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2: *P2, k5; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 3: *P2, k2, slip bead, k2; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 4: *P2, k5; repeat from * to end of row.

The total length of the body (including cuff) is 8" ending with row 4.

Heel pattern: The Sherman Heel (see Ripple Stitch socks for details.)

Foot pattern: The foot was knit in stockinette st.

Toe pattern: The Round Toe from the book Folk Socks by Nancy Bush.

Notes:

The cuff could also a pattern of K5, P2

The standard way to do a ssk is: slip 2 stitches as if to knit then k2 tog through the back loops. An alternate way to work the ssk is to slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 purlwise then k2 tog through the back loops. The claim is that the alternate way lays flatter. For this sock I worked the standard ssk and the way the stitch lay didn't strike me as an issue, but it's something to keep in mind for future patterns.

Dying some more yarn

Bouyed by my success of dying with Kool-Aid I decided to experiment with some dying techniques using Rit dye. I attempted the Faux Ikat Dyeing Technique described in the book The Yarn Lover's Guide to Hand Dyeing by Linda LaBelle.

Because Kool-Aid is food safe I was able to work with my kitchen pots and pans but with Rit dye I moved to the basement and used pots that aren't used to cook food. I rigged this table to make a longer skein (don't you just love duct tape?!)


Unfortunately, I didn't time things right and I couldn't achieve the desired results but I did get a very pretty wine colored yarn which made a gorgeous pair of socks (details next blog entry!)

After this dying experiment I discovered a personal dilemma. The amount of water used to wash the dye out of the yarn was enormous. Rit dye works on both cotton and wool and because I was dying 100% wool yarn, the unused additives and dyes intended for cotton were being flushed into the water supply. Dying your own yarn is NOT eco friendly. What to do? I had two packets of Rit dye and 7 skeins of bare yarn! I decided to use the dye on a few of the skeins but I resolved to use only natural dye techniques for any future projects.


Daughter Laura was home for fall break and willing to help!

Rit colors Pearl Grey and Scarlet. I achieved the variations in grey by simply leaving the skeins in the dye baths for varying amounts of time. The bonnet is for Laura's Halloween costume (the Sunmaid Raisin girl!) Unfortunately, the fabric must be a cotton/poly blend (there was no label) because the bonnet did not come out the beautiful red that the yarn did.

Spinning

I'll admit it -- my spinning, using both the spindle and the wheel, never really got out of the park and draft mode. However, at some point I felt I acquired a decent sense of handling the drafting triangle and was beginning to spin a more consistent yarn.
After my first spinning attempts I spun 8oz of corriedale cream top purchased from Alpaca Direct. This produced 279 yards of single spun yarn. I tea dyed 203 yards and kept 76 yards in the original color.

I also spun 4oz of shetland roving purchased from Iron Horse Farm. I did ply this yarn but the ply came out so loose that I don't think I did it properly. The skeined yarn hung remarkable balanced both before and after setting the twist but it looks just barely plyed -- more like just holding two single strands together. This produced 111 yards of 2 ply yarn.


I did like learning to spin but I never took to it. I love touching and handling yarn but that tactile enjoyment did not transfer over to roving.

Ripple Stitch socks

The wonderful thing about knitting socks is the ability to design them yourself. The dozens of ways that the cuff, heel and toe can each be knit combined with thousands of stitch pattern choices means that the possibility of designing a one-of-a-kind pair of socks are pretty darn good!

So here are the details for my Kool-aid dyed yarn and my first attempt at sock designing:

Yarn: Fingering weight superwash merino/tencel blend from Mind's Eye Yarns

Colorway: Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-aid dyed in a gradated pattern (see Kool-Aid dyed yarn post)

Gauge and needle sizes: I used size 4 needles for the first 4 inches of the cuff and body and size 3 needles for the remainder. My gauge was 7 stitches per inch.

Direction knit: Cuff down.

Cuff pattern: K1,P1 for 1"

Body pattern: Ripple Stitch from Vogue Dictionary of Knitting Stitches by Anne Matthews (1984). The total length of the body (including cuff) is 8".

Heel pattern: The Sherman Heel. The Sherman Heel is a short row pattern but does not use the wrap technique. Instead slip stitches and the techniques of knit and purl encroachment are used. My references for this heel pattern and how to work the stitches are:

A toe up sock pattern by Mary Lycan.
Knit Encroachment (k enc)
Purl Encroachment (p enc)

Foot pattern: The instep/top of foot (1/2 of the total stitches) follows the pattern for the body. The bottom half is stockinette stitch.

Toe pattern: I couldn't find a name for this --it just seems to be the standard pattern for toe decreases when working a sock from the cuff down.

The stitches are distributed as follows:
1/4 of the stitches are on needle #1 (the center back of the heel), 1/2 of the stitches on needle #2 (these stitches are the top of the foot), and the remaining 1/4 on needle #3.

Needle #1: knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle #2: k1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle #3: k1, ssk, knit to end of needle.
Work an even round.
Alternate decrease rounds and even rounds until 8 stitches remain.

Notes and observations:

It took a couple of swatch samples to select the right pattern for the self-striping effect of the yarn. The stitch pattern was written to be worked flat using two needles but was easily converted for circular knitting.

I decreased the toe down to the recommended 8 stitches but I think I like a wider toe and will try 10.