Sunday, February 12, 2017

Hand Knit Slouch Socks Finish

Hey everyone, Sunday has rolled around again and that means it's time to share what crafty thing I have been up to. However I would like to start this post with an update on my new blogging home. Last week I set up the hosting and made a start on the layout of the new website. I have kept it quite simple for now but there will be changes to it over the coming months, as I get to grips with the Wordpress software. I would love some feedback from my awesome readers on it, so if you get a chance, check it out and let me know what you think, link here.

So now that is out of the way, we can get back to the fun stuff. While in my local craft shop recently I found a gorgeous yarn call Tivoli Haven. It is super chunky and soft so I bought a couple of balls to make some nice comfie slouch socks. However having gotten my yarn I couldn't find any patterns online that used Aran (8wpi) weight with 8mm needles. At first I was despondent but then I decided I could make them myself, if I knew how to calculate the number of cast on stitches I needed!

Hand Knit Socks, Knitting, Tivoli Haven Yarn, Chunky Slouch Socks

As it turned out there was a bit more to it than that, especially in the heel turn and the toe decreases but all I needed to know first was how to figure out the number of cast on stitches. Luckily the internet came to the rescue and I found  great instructions on how to work this out, here.

So I now knew the cast on, based on the yarn gauge and foot size, was 24 stitches. I was delighted, so I made a start on my ribbing. I decided to go with 2x2 but I think it would have been better to use 1x1 instead, due to the size of the needles.

Hand Knit Socks, Knitting, Tivoli Haven Yarn, Chunky Slouch Socks
These socks knit up extremely quickly and before I knew it I had the the length I wanted and I needed to do the heel flap. So back to the internet I went again to find out how long this should be. I discovered another great site called Hands Occupied, which I would end up using for the rest of the math on this project. Soon I had one fully completed sock, I felt so proud. The second sock was just a matter of repeating the same steps, luckily I had kept notes for each stage on the Knit Tink app, so it was very straight forward.

Hand Knit Socks, Knitting, Tivoli Haven Yarn, Chunky Slouch Socks

Now I am the owner of a crazy comfortable pair of slouch socks, that have been hardly off my feet since they came off the blockers. If I could get away with it I would wear these to work! I was so delighted with the result that I am now making another pair for my OH in earth tone yarn. I can't wait to finish them for him.

This was a tricky project and I did make a few mistakes. When picking up the gusset stitches on one of the socks I didn't pick up one of them correctly and there is a slight hole. The other issue is with the gusset size, I think I made the heel flap a bit too long and picked up too many stitches for my size feet, making them a slightly too big. This is something I will research, but for now the fact that they are a bit large doesn't really matter.

So that's it for my super comfortable slouch hand-knit socks, what do you think? Would you ever try to make something without a pattern? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.


18 comments:

  1. Those socks look super warm - I had to laugh at myself as most of this post made no sense to me whatsoever but I'm sure it does to a knitter! I'm impressed that you made your own knitting pattern.

    I had a look at your new blog and it's nice and clear on my smartphone but I can't see a way of following it! I use Bloglovin to keep on track. I'll try from my laptop later in the week.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment Justine and for taking a look at the new blog. As far as I know you can add wed addresses in bloglovin of sites you want to follow. I am still putting it together and haven't managed to sort out ways for readers to follow yet. Don't worry though until I do I will continue to post here when a new post is up on the new blog so you won't miss out.
      I hope you didn't find the post too confusing or boring by not understanding the jargon.

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  2. Your socks look great. Love the color.

    Linda

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I'm working on another pair with really gorgeous earth tones so those should show up at some point in the near future.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. They are so comfortable, only problem is I need another pair for when these are in the washing :D

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  4. Nice finish on the socks and good choice on the colours. I have done a cross stitch sort of without a pattern, although I ended up drawing one out because I made some mistakes.

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. Making your own cross stitch patterns is no small feat. It's something I really want to start doing so you might see some of those on the new blog.

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  5. Love the color of that yarn and the socks looks great! Your new blog looks nice too. Will you still have a follow by mail option?

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I really appreciate you having a look at the new blog. I am still sorting it out at the moment so I will be adding in ways to follow, as soon as I figure out how. In the meantime I will still let people know on this blog about new posts as well as on social media, so hopefully you won't miss out on anything.

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  6. Love the warm colours, the socks look super cosy :)

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. I really love the colour choices in this yarn. I need to make myself another pair so hopefully will get round to those in a different colourway.

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  7. I love your socks - and the colours are beautiful x

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. They are so snuggly, I wear then all the time at home.

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  8. Oh my God, these look AMAZING! I'm so impressed with how you basically made this project up yourself. They look super comfy, and I love the colors!

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment. It felt so amazing to be able to make these with no pattern! I'm hoping to make a few more pairs and then put up the pattern instructions on the new blog for others. It would be so awesome to see other people make these.

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  9. Your socks look amazing and nice and cosy and warm =) Great Job =)

    I took a look at your new blog and it Looks great already =) I subscribe to Blogs via a feed reader (omea). The RSS button didn't work on my computer (I'm using Chrome) but with my Feeder I could just enter the normal page and it went looking for a connected RSS and that worked perfectly fine. I just don't know how other feed Readers can cope with that.

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Would love to read any comments you would like to leave. Thanks for brightening my day :)