Sheep Shots: Promises! Promises!

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Promises! Promises!

Ellen from the Ships Project mentioned in her update today that I will be doing a "bed sock" tutorial right here. And she is right! A couple of years ago, I adapted a fairly basic, generic sock pattern into the short-cuffed socks you see in the picture at left (the left pair in the front row).

If you are new to socks, this is a good pattern to start on. It used worsted weight (and for The Ships Project, an inexpensive, but soft, machine washable) yarn, relatively big needles (for socks), and there's not a lot of ribbing.

If you want to play along, you'll need a set of double pointed needles, size 4, 5, or 6. I use 5" Brittany birch needles, because I like the way they feel in my hand, and the length doesn't get in my way. Size 5 gets me a nice dense fabric. (For socks, you want to work at a more dense tension/gauge than you would for, say a sweater or hat.) I'll be using 4 needles, because that's how I learned. Some knitters prefer to use 5.

You'll also need about 3.5-4 ounces of worsted weight yarn. If you are making "community socks" (for someone you don't know), you may want to choose machine wash/dry yarn. Red Heart, Lion Brand, Caron, and many others make good choices. Superwash wool is nice, and it's warm even when damp or wet. Variegated and ombre yarns will knit up in interesting patterns.

If you are knitting "for the troops," consider something wild and multicolor or just plain bright, but not girly, or baby pastel. If this will be your first time knitting socks, avoid black. Like the plague!

Get your supplies together. Assuming that life gets back to normal for me, I'll be starting my next pair on Monday (October 10).
.

// posted by Ann @ 10/06/2005 08:11:00 PM

Comments:

If I don't actually explode before then, I may join in.

Stay tuned.

# posted by

Rabbitch : 1:38 AM

This sounds like a good project for me to do when I get back home. Usually I am a little lost in my knitting, but this time I will have your project as a goal.
And they do sound like great bed socks for the Elders on the Rez.

# posted by

Mariella : 11:35 AM