Striped socks

I finished a pair of socks in three months! This is much better than the year and a half for the last pair. It must be noted that I can only knit for about 15 minutes before I get distracted; I am not a power knitter. I usually knit as a time filler between other activities.

Photo description: newly finished toe-up striped purple socks with ribbed arch knitted from Cascade Yarns self striping yarn, toe and heel from Cascade solid color yarn

I knitted these by feel and measurements, rather by row, and that also helped save me time. The ribbed arch is a personal preference that I added to the basic sock instructions.

Photo description: socks on feet, ribbing is right on the arch

That the socks match almost perfectly is pure serendipity. Or fabulous planning by the yarn manufacturer. I split the skein of yarn in two by winding one cake until I reached half the weight, then wound the second cake of yarn. I knitted from the center of each yarn cake, one per sock. I used a coordinating solid color for the toes and heel to avoid disrupting the stripe pattern. To be honest, I’m a little sad that they match so well, I rather like coordinated mismatched socks. Hm.

Thoughts on an afterthought heel

After taking a year and a half to knit one pair of socks with a line-by-line pattern, I needed to try something where I could just knit by inches. I chose a toe-up striped sock with a ribbed arch and afterthought heel.

Photo description: a pair of purple striped socks with one afterthought heel location marked with scrap thread and one heel complete

The yarn is printed and self-striping, so no forced color changes or multiple ends to weave in, which is fantastic. I also really like the afterthought heel. It knits up like toe shaping, and is easy to track. No heel flap or gusset confusion.

This pair is almost done. Just one more heel!

Ruffle scarf, 4 vs 6

One more comment on ruffle scarves knitted from machine lace “yarn”. Here are two scarves, one using six stitches (purple) and one using 4 stitches (faded glory).

Photo description: two ruffle scarves, “Faded glory” red, white, and cream on the left is longer, the purple scarf on the right is shorter and thicker

Really it is a matter of personal taste when choosing how many stitches to use.

Photo description: in progress work with four stitches on the needle, picked up from the edge of the machine lace

Throwback Thursday: ruffle scarf

Today is a throwback with a current twist. As I was going through pictures from 2015 I found one in April of my first ruffle scarf. These scarves are knit from machine made lace. The lace comes wrapped like chunky yarn, and if you knit 6 stitches wide, just picking up one edge of the lace, the lace spirals out and around the central knitted core.

Photo description: red ruffle scarf from April of 2015
Photo description: purple ruffle scarf from July 2025

I just made another of these from yarn my Mom sent as packing material for a package. They can be a bit tricky because the lace needs to be fanned out to find the edge, but once I get the groove, it goes pretty quickly.

Jacob’s wool swatches

I started on the swatches for Jacob’s wool, and then finished them all in a day, even the nålbinding. I must have thirty other projects I’m not working on. Hm.

Photo description: four squares made from hand spun Jacob’s wool: knit (top left), crochet (top right), cut open nålbinding (bottom left), woven (bottom right)

I had two large cakes of yarn, and two small nostepinne balls, so I used the smaller amounts to make the swatches. I hope to make something wearable out of the larger cakes of yarn.