Monday 18 January 2021

#LooseEndsMAL: Sock WIPs - part two

At the start of the month, I launched the #LooseEndsMAL, a MakeALong (MAL) to encourage you to go and unearth some treasured works in progress (WIPs) and turn them into precious finished objects. If you’re not in love with the WIP any more, now is the time to let it go! You can read all about the MAL here.

It turns out I have *a lot* of sock WIPs, which might explain why I can never find any sock needles. I shared the first four pairs last week (you can read about them here), and here are the next four pairs that had disappeared into various corners of the house.

1. Fruit-tastic stripes!

I cast these watermelon socks on about 18 months ago, and they were an experiment in two ways: 1. The yarn is cotton, so this was going to be my first pair of hand-knitted cotton socks. 2. They are shortie socks, so can be worn in the summer.

I misjudged the row gauge of these ones so they got put to one side as I made the first foot too long. Re-examining them, I have absolutely no enthusiasm for them – in the summer I wear sandals all the time; in the winter, I like my socks to come up nice and high to keep my ankles warm. These are either going into the RIP pile, or I’m going to finish them for someone else.

Yarn: Regia Cotton Tutti Frutti in Wassermelone*

 

2. Candy Cane stripes


I cast these festive socks on in November, but ran out of time to finish them for Christmas, so sourced something else for the original recipient. They’re a UK size 5, which is far to small for me, but I have a few friends who might like them. I am going to play about with the length though – I wanted to do the heel in red, but putting the heel so it fell on a red stripe made the socks either too long or too short. I went with too short, but I think I’ll be happier if I switch to green for the heel, and work it on the green stripe between the two red stripes. Definitely a pair to revisit.

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply* in Candy Cane and Cayenne Pepper.

 

3. Flamingo


Wow! This abandoned pair is OLD! Possibly summer 2017. I love the yarn, I love the sock, but, I used a really cheap set of needles and I cannot get the gauge to match between sock one and sock two!! One for the frog pile. I will reknit them though as I love the yarn. Those needles should probably go in the bin…

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply* in Pink Flamingo and Sarsaparilla.

 

4. #gbboknitalong


T
his WIP is a much more recent one: I cast these socks on this summer to knit along with Great British Bake Off. The yarn is cake-inspired (Birthday Cake by Strawberry Fields Yarns), and the pattern I designed for the socks is also cake-inspired: Swirls and Sprinkles. The yarn is a bit busy for the pattern, and while I’ll finish the socks for myself, I think the design is going back to the drawing board.

Yarn: Birthday Cake by Strawberry Fields Yarns

 

WIP update

In case you were worried that I may never actually finish all these WIPs, have no fear! This week, I have been working on the Bah Humbug and Arcadia socks I shared last week, and they’re both making good progress. I even cast on sock number two in the Arcadia pair, so I should hopefully have a couple of finished objects in the not too distant future.

Bah Humbug sock progress
 

Arcadia sock progress

If you have long-abandoned WIPs that you need a push to get finished, why not join me in the #LooseEndsMAL, either on Instagram or Ravelry,** or let me know in the comments below what WIPs you want to get finished this year. The #LooseEndsMAL runs until the end of February 2021. For full details on how to enter, read this post.

*Affiliate link.

**Ravelry link; may cause issues to people with photosensitivity.

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