life with a chronic disease and a really big yarn stash
Embracing the Sock Blank
Last month I went to the Estes Park Wool Market and scored some great additions for the stash; most intriguing were the sock blanks that I found in the Bonkers Handmade Originals booth. They were single stranded, so suitable for mismatched mitts and socks, or maybe for a little shawl. Hmm… I bought two of them.
You know that I had to cast on right away. Look, look: a mitt! I started knitting right off the blank and thought that the kink in the yarn would contribute to the funkiness. OK, the fabric is wonky, but I like it. It’s rustic, right?
I have to be honest here. As soon as I had satisfied my burning curiosity about how the yarn would knit up I stuffed the project into a bag where it languished out of sight for a few weeks.
Then I went up to Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins in Boulder Colorado three weeks ago to get some more bobbins for my current weaving project and I saw these stacked in a pile of yumminess right by the front door:
Oh, my goodness. Look at those colors! These babies are from The Hummingbird Moon. You know that I was unable to resist casting on a sock right away since I am completely lacking in will power. Luckily I have several pairs of 2.25mm needles hanging out in my knitting bag.This sock blank was single stranded, so I knew that my pair of socks wouldn’t be an exact match, but after the first rush of knitting had worn off I took a better look at the blank to see if I could understand the dyeing pattern. Hey, look at that! The blank had been folded lengthwise at the midpoint and the two halves are mirror images of each other. There must be a way to get two matching socks from this blank.I cut the blank at the midpoint, pulled out a long runner, cut it off and I had the two halves separated. Easy, peasy. I wound the bottom half into a ball using my ball winder. Because of the way the blank was dyed the yarn that I wanted to start the new sock with (the bottom of the blank) was on the outside of the ball of wound yarn.Since I had already started one sock from the blank I had to cast on the second sock off the ball of yarn onto ANOTHER set of needles (hey, I’m an addict. I have lots and lots of needles…) and as soon as I had the second sock (from the ball of yarn) the same length as the first one I transferred it to the needles the first sock was on.Bam! I now had TAAT socks going on one set of needles. As always, MacKenzie was supervising my work.From then on I worked off the ball and my half-blank. Look at how well the socks are matching up. I want to mention that if I had figured out the dye pattern sooner I could have wound both halves of the blank into balls; to make matching socks the trick would have been to knit from the outside of one ball and the inside of the other.
I did run into some issues when I got to the heel gussets; I had to use an extra needle (one for each sock heel) to handle all of the stitches during the gusset decreases. Once the stitch number was down to a reasonable number I was able to transfer stitches back to the original needles and finished up with no problems.
These are the first TAAT socks that I have ever done. I just love them! This simple vanilla sock pattern is Dave by Rachel Coopey. My Ravelry notes are here.
Flush with the success of the socks I pulled back out the mitts that I had started with the first sock blank that I got from Bonkers. This blank didn’t have a reversed dye pattern so I just went ahead and made mitts that are complementary but not identical.
Here they are. These two will play well together but aren’t perfect matches. The fabric is a little funky so I put them into the sink this afternoon to soak for a while to see if the knitting will even out. They fit well when I try them on, so I’m sure all will be well after blocking. I haven’t woven in the ends yet as I thought that might be better done after blocking. My Ravelry notes are here.
I still have two blanks to play with, but as of today I have absolutely no projects on my needles at all; MacKenzie’s WIP basket is empty again. It’s kind of crushing. I have the yarn for three sweaters all lined up, but I’m torn about which one to start on. Should I start the artsy Stephen West Marled Magic sweater that will be very labor intensive, or should I just go for the easy knitting of another drijfhout in a single color? Then there is the crazy colored yarn that I bought for that I See Spring sweater by Joji Locatelli…
Time to start winding yarn. Good thing I am a knitting addict with a lot of needles on hand!
I weave, knit and read in Aurora, Colorado where my garden lives. I have 2 sons, a knitting daughter-in-law, a grandson and two exceptionally spoiled kittens. In 2014 I was diagnosed with a serious rare autoimmune disease called systemic sclerosis along with Sjogren's Disease and fibromyalgia.
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11 thoughts on “Embracing the Sock Blank”
MacKenzie looks like an excellent supervisor! Nice work! I’m always impressed!
They are fun. Be sure to check if the blank is single or double stranded… I’m looking forward to trying out a double one. I’m planning to use one of the blanks in the Stephen West sweater, so I’m going to wind the yarn into a ball so it can relax.
Your socks and mitts are fantastic!! I am impressed by your willingness to knit kinky yarn. I had a few sock blanks and ended up winding the yarn and letting it sit to unkink.
Why not cast on all three sweaters and knit as the mood strikes you, that is assuming you have loads of needles:)
MacKenzie is an excellent supervisor. I’ll bet it’s time for a cat cookie:)
I wrap the yarn around my index finger for tension (continental knitter here) so the kinks really weren’t much of a problem. One blank (The socks) was much earlier to work with… funny, huh.
I cast on the one color drijfhout this evening, and will start the West sweater soon. One will be for traveling, and one will stay home. I
bet you can guess which is which. 😀
Yarn, Books & Roses 
MacKenzie looks like an excellent supervisor! Nice work! I’m always impressed!
Thank you. He is the best knitting companion ever. Well, there is a little chomping, but not too bad. 🙂
What great finds you found and picked up. I will be looking for a sock blank next February at STITCHES.
They are fun. Be sure to check if the blank is single or double stranded… I’m looking forward to trying out a double one. I’m planning to use one of the blanks in the Stephen West sweater, so I’m going to wind the yarn into a ball so it can relax.
Your socks and mitts are fantastic!! I am impressed by your willingness to knit kinky yarn. I had a few sock blanks and ended up winding the yarn and letting it sit to unkink.
Why not cast on all three sweaters and knit as the mood strikes you, that is assuming you have loads of needles:)
MacKenzie is an excellent supervisor. I’ll bet it’s time for a cat cookie:)
I wrap the yarn around my index finger for tension (continental knitter here) so the kinks really weren’t much of a problem. One blank (The socks) was much earlier to work with… funny, huh.
I cast on the one color drijfhout this evening, and will start the West sweater soon. One will be for traveling, and one will stay home. I
bet you can guess which is which. 😀
MacKenzie: cookie please!!
Beautiful palette in the mitts
Thank you. It was the wonderful dye job by Bonkers.
I like how you got the socks to match! Pretty.
Thanks! I’m thinking of making matching mitts with the remains of the yarn.