Pam Alison Knits

I’ve been making slow progress on my stripey socks, partly because the self-striping yarn is annoying me just enough to impede matters. I mentioned previously that I’m not entirely happy with the leg-length swathe of lime and brown stripes on the first sock. Now, though, I’ve found that there is no corresponding repeat so the second sock starts with a very pretty turquoise stripe which only gives way to the lime on the third stripe. Whilst exact matching isn’t vital, I do prefer both socks to be a bit more closely related.

Today’s lesson: Avoid self-striping sock yarn.

To compensate myself for the slightly less splendid sock yarn experience, I decided to upgrade my small project/sock knitting bag. I picked up this toiletry bag from TK Maxx because I’ve seen some similar versions being used as knitting bags (some actually designed for the purpose) and I’ve found them very appealing. The stand-out features are the internal pockets and the way you can unzip it to stand nice and open when you’re working. I had future travel plans in mind, too, when choosing this – it will be perfect to take a sock project with me on upcoming jaunts.

I need to confess here that I’ve done something pretty silly. When I threw away the old cloth bag my sock projects used to live in I forgot to take out my trusty old sock pattern. Luckily, I know the numbers off by heart, but I am not happy with myself for being so careless. I’d had that pattern for years. I almost feel it would have been better to have thrown away the socks and still had the pattern!

In anticipation of finishing these socks in the next few days, I’ve grabbed a couple of balls of West Yorkshire Spinners’ Signature Sock in the Juniper colour. Plain socks: very not much my usual go-to. However, the reason for the sombre colour and the quantity of wool is that I’m going to try knitting a pair of knee-length socks. Even in the winter, I like wearing dresses or skirts though I hate wearing tights. This past year I hit upon the combination of dresses and long socks and it worked really well, but the commercial socks I bought weren’t tough enough. Now I’m going to try and knit a couple of pairs ahead of next winter. I wouldn’t be averse to using a jollier sock yarn to wear with plain skirts, but the majority of my clothes are patterned so plain socks are going to be a must. It will be interesting to see how much yarn I need to complete a pair.

In other knitting news, I got about 30cm of my sister’s Swale knitted before admitting to myself that it was too big. I was following the numbers for the smallest size and when I measured it I found it matched the dimensions of the third (middle) size. I know it’s meant to be really big, but that was ridiculous. It was enormous. It would have fitted a baby elephant and still had a decent amount of ease. So my goal is now to cast on again with needles one size down and omit the strand of laceweight silk/alpaca so I’ll just be knitting with the cotton/acrylic blend yarn. Fingers crossed this will work out to a better size.

I wanted to touch on the needles I’m using as they, too, are a new purchase and I’m very pleased with them. As I have frequently mentioned, I don’t like using circular needles. I don’t think they support the weight of the fabric you’re creating as well as straight needles do, and I find that makes the knitting harder on the hands and wrists. With the size of this garment, though, even when it’s knitted to the correct size, they are essential. You just can’t cram that many stitches onto straight needles. My interchangeable needles were not making me happy as they were coming loose where you screw the tips onto the cable. I think I’ve just lost the knack of tightening the joint enough, but it was making me want needles where the cord is already joined. I did some research and Pony’s new “Glydon” joint to provide a smooth transition between the tip and the plastic cord seemed worth investigating. I can report that these seem to be very well-made and I haven’t been experiencing any snagging as I move the stitches along the needles. Top marks so far. Just need to see how durable they prove to be.

So that’s the current state of play. There’s been a decent amount of knitting going on and it’s a bit sad there isn’t more to show for it, but nothing’s on a deadline. It wouldn’t make any difference if I spent the whole year working on just my two current projects. I’m embracing the pleasure of the process and trying not to focus so very hard on the finished products.

I hope your hobbies are progressing, but if you’ve hit some snags just work your way through and you’ll be out the other side in the end.