Mistress Stash Enhancer

just waiting for their cast on day, 40 pairs of potential socks... just waiting...  for their turn on the needles...

 Lolly said it best "every stash tells a story". I can remember where I bought each one, (hell if I can remember why I just walked into the kitchen but I remember where I bought my yarn!) 10 hanks came from my trip with Mom to Maryland Sheep & Wool just this past year. 3 where gifts, quite a few followed me home just because I had to have them.

a few have plans, the fleece artist autumn a pair of lacey leaf socks, blustery day or CTH birches either cablely socks or vanilla socks with a picot edge... when their time comes its really about what is going on in my imagination.

going through my sock yarn stash brought back memories. None going back more than a year unfortunately as I haven't been knitting socks all that long. The aquamelon and fire in the sky I bought with mom's special order Vesper yarn, the LL knit happens Mike bought for me all by himself. The girls that work there still remember him... is that a good thing? Or is it because you could never forget someone as cute as this? The strange little momma, is one of the best birthday presents I've ever received!

Tomorrow morning, hopefully before noon, we will have the van all packed and will start our drive to my parent's house in Massachusetts. Hopefully we won't forget anything, or anyone. Mom and I will be at the blogger meet up, I'm praying for anything but rain, I'm sure plenty of sock yarn will follow me home.

I'll be there, will you?

I'm a little, ok more than just a little, behind in posting my sock history. My camera and I have been having "issues". I say turn on, it says nope. Then there are the re-chargable batteries, that the camera is eating like candy corn. *gr* Here is my story of how I walked down the road of sock knitting

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

There is a bit of controversy on this one... I have two posts that mention my fall into sock knitting. Honestly I can't tell you which sock I started first the one in this post or when my mom gave me a copy of The knitter's handy book of patterns by Ann Budd, some Moda dea sock yarn, and let me borrow 2 12" addi turbo's size US2. Mom, do you see what you've done? ; )

 What was your first pair?  How have they "held up" over time?

ohhhh, boy. This is where I open the closet door and (a few) skeletons fall out. This isn't exactly my first "pair" per say. Mom knit the first sock, and didn't like how it turned out (yeah right) so she gifted it to me, along with  the rest of the sock yarn to complete the next sock. (she had a PLAN you see, a PLAN!) If you click on the pic to embiggen it, you'll see how the sock on the right that mom knit has no ribbing on the foot. While my sock, on the left, has ribbing down to the end of the toe. They have held up just fine. Why? cause I never ever where them. They make my feet sweat (your welcome!) and are not even a little bit warm. And that's why neither sock has a "real matchy" mate.

Above is what you could call my first real "pair" and I wrote about here. I used Plymouth sockotta in color 5616, and size 3 dpns. You could say they have worn very well, cause they also haven't been worn that much! I didn't know all that much about gauge back then, I followed the directions in the book for the pattern I liked. Even though I used a lighter weight yarn it didn't occur to me to use a smaller needle! doh!

What would you have done differently?

With the mod dea sock knit tighter, maybe moved a few stitches back and forth where the 2 circs met up to prevent the gapping ladders, stopped knitting the ribbing when I reached the toe decreases, and used different yarn.

The sockotta sock paid more attention to gauge. Much closer attention to gauge. Stupid gauge.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Honestly? I *heart* Vesper. My Neapolitan socks are my absolute fav. I really enjoy knitting with Schaefer's Ann, Claudia's hand painted, Socks that rock and Lorna's Laces.

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

5 DPNs all the way babeee! I've knit with 2 circs before and it just killed my hands when I got to the heel flap and the gusset. 4 dpns doesn't work for me either, the way I have to hold hold the needles to knit cramps my hands. I really like how complicated and dangerous knitting with 5 dpns look.  Although crocheting is lovely, and can create some beautiful pieces, It doesn't create a fabric that is right for sock making.

Which kind of heel do you prefer?  (flap? or short-row?)

Flap, Flap, Flap! (*snicker* Mike and I say that to each other all the time. "Flap, flap, flap I'm feeling the love here!") Flap heels fit my heel better than short row.  I love the look and feel of a traditional heel (k1, sl1 to end, purl next row)  

How many pairs have you made?

 14 pairs of adult socks, 1 pair of baby socks, 1 sock for my SSS pal Stacey and 2 pairs of itty bitty teeny socks.  I've gifted a few pairs to my Dad, a teacher at Bryce's pre-school and my daughter Corra.  

Here is a pic of most of my finished socks, there will be many more to come as I've found that sock knitting is portable, fun and creates a very useful finished product! Someday I hope to have a drawer full of hand knit socks!