Sunday, March 16, 2014

Socks, part deux

Still playing with the knitting machine, and finishing up a WIP.


The second sock went much easier than the first, and now I have a pair.  You'll notice that I didn't bother with trying to make the stripe colors line up exactly the same.  I wasn't sure that I would have enough yarn to do that, and I really don't mind that they are fraternal rather than identical.



To reinforce lessons learned, I immediately cast on another pair.  This pair is also knit from a Regia yarn, but a different fiber blend -- Regia Silk.  It's a 55% wool/25% polyamid/20% silk combination.  I've used it before in its 6-ply incarnation (now sadly discontinued) for long-wearing hand knit socks for the mister, but this is the first time using the lighter weight 4 ply.  And what was today's lesson?  Despite being the same 4 ply weight as the previous socks -- this blend needs to be knit at a slightly tighter tension -- probably due to the inelasticity of the silk.  Still, they are OK fit-wise, and will happily join their friends in the sock drawer.

I have even started a third pair, but I think these won't be so quickly finished.  I think I will do a bunch of socks -- just the machine knitting, not the seaming or hand knit ribbing -- and throw them in a bag for finishing up later.  They are an easy "front of the TV/travelling/etc. project once the machine work is done and it would be good to have some quick to finish projects on hand.  At any rate, that's the plan!