Locusts Socks - take two

Recently I got back a pair of socks that I had knit in 2009, which had developed a hole right where the cuff met the top stockinette section. Weird failure-mode, but after 9 years of service, I can't complain too much.

I put in a lifeline, snipped and seperated the intact bottoms from the cuffs. I lost a little more yarn on the sock with the hole, so I worked on that one first to knit the leg a little longer before adding a new cuff in a contrast yarn. For the second sock I will do the same, but match the length of the first sock.

This yarn is fairly fine, and I had needed to knit it on size 0s originally. I think they still have some wear in them though. The colors have lost a lot of their brightness, but settled into a nice sort of forest drab.

Sock Mending

Apparently this the week in which I decided to finally tackle my mending basket. By yesterday I had gotten 8 pairs of socks for me back into rotation, all of which had been resting there for more than a year. Even given how long they have been in time-out, I did get some good use from them and am looking forward to more. And the weather in Boston seems to have just turned the corner into wool-socks-everyday season.





Left side (top to bottom):

Self-striping Socklets (7/2015)

Coral Snake Socks (3/2007)

Astronomy/Astrology Socks (11/2008)

Holly Berry Socks (5/2008)


Right side (top to bottom):

Ember Socks (3/2007)

Twisted Flower (8/2008)

Cozy Socks (4/2014)

Thick Camo Socks (6/2011)


I like to take mending time as an opportunity to revisit how well things had held up and learn from it. I can't complain too much about the holes in the Cozy Socks and Thick Camo Socks, both of which were made from heavier, merino yarns. They were designed to quick, cozy knits around the house rather than something more hard-wearing for use with shoes.

Similarly the Holly Berry Socks were a 100% merino socks yarn from Knit Picks that was long discontinued, even before I knit them. I am not terribly surprised they developed a weak place at the toe, and it was an easy repair.

The Ember Socks were knit in Koigu and Silky Wool, and I remember thinking when I made them that I was not sure that the Silky Wool would make good socks. It doesn't have quiet the same elasticity of some other sock yarns, but actually it worked out pretty well. The hole that developed was actually in the middle of one of the Koigu stripes on the ankle, perhaps from it rubbing against my shoes? More disappointing is that the Koigu has faded so much. I totally admit these have been washed many times, but since the colors palette is one of the major differentiators of Koigu for me it is a little sad.

The Self-striping Socklets repair was totally not due to wear, but rather knitter error. The first time I wore them I noticed that I had missed/dropped a stitch in the bind off. It was super easy to fix once I got around to it, and I expect a long time of wear out of these in the future.

The Coral Snake Socks were the first of several pairs of socks in this yarn base that are in my mending basket. The Minds' Eye sockyarn base was a merino/tencel blend and sort of on the fine side. Ultimately I do not think the tencel content was necessarily to blame, but at this point I would still prefer a wool/nylon blend.

The hand dyer who was making it is no longer producing, and I am sad that this base has been so problematic for me as I have a bunch  more in my stash. Given that I have had problems with it in socks, I had even tried making accessories out of it instead. But even that apparently had weak spots that I couldn't see as it developed holes with relatively little use.

The Astronomy/Astrology Socks developed a weak spot in the facing yarn I had used in the hem edge, which was strange. I attribute this to a weak spot in the Louet Gems fingering that I didn't notice when knitting, since I had noticed other weak places in it. Similar to the Mind's Eye sock yarn of the Coral Snake Socks, it is a little on the fine side with occasional thinner places.

I have fond memories of knitting the Twisted Flower socks while traveling to Hong Kong and Germany, so even though they are impractical I was ready to repair the thin places. I knit these to pattern, so the lace panel extends down the back of the heel. It is super pretty, but I would not do that again. Unsurprisingly they wore weak spots at one of the open lacy parts. I was pleased by my ability to darn roughly in pattern though and am glad to get to wear these longer.

Rainbow Socks for Majes

Quite a while ago I had knit a pair of socks for Majes. *ahem* And by quite a while ago, I mean they were finished in December 2013, gifted for the holidays and promptly went directly on his feet. I spot him wearing them all the time but somehow we kept forgetting to take a picture for the blog.

Yarn: Patons Kroy in Mellow Yellow and Regia Nation Color in 5399 (discontinued)

Yarn Supplier: Wisconsin Craft Market and Carodan Farm Wool Shop respectively

Needles: US 1 / 2.25mm

This was quite the precious yarn. Regia has discontinued it forever ago, and it was highly sought after. I knew the two balls in my stash were for something special though and was excited to have them find their recipient. To maximize the yarn I had these were knit toe-up with a color-coordinated heel. I did take the time to match the striping sequence before I started, but the two balls were pretty close to start with.

Since I have the ability to look at almost 2 years of wear, I can say that these have held up great! The color has held well, and they are in good shape with no noticeable wear in them. The only trouble with them is that the heel is maybe a little too shallow, but that is totally of me rather than the yarn. And this is why I love Regia so very much. It holds up so well!

Darn it!

So I mentioned the pair of resoleable socks that I had made with the yarn that was also made into the last pair of leftover socks. I had thought the idea of socks that were completely resoleable was fantastic, a new way of having handknit socks a little longer. And then after only a few wearings, I noticed this:


Apparently the universe was laughing at me. But I did darn it as best I could this week.

Not perfect, but hey, either way this rescues it from the mending bag which it has been resting... for a few years.

Don't they look cute together?

Manly Grey Socks - Fixed

Back in January 2007 I finished a pair of manly grey socks for Salvbard out of some Trekking XXL. This was my earlier attempts at socks, which were mostly focused on making them toe-up to make them as long as possible. This led to a problem though once Salvbard finally developed a hole on them this fall, however.

So the repair job on this pair was less than perfect. I found some other grey yarn in my spare sock yarn bag that was good enough for something that was just going to be hidden in a boot anyways.

Due to the location of the replacement I ended up ripping out the whole toe and then knitting it in the reverse direction than it had been done in originally, as a wedge toe.

Still, these socks took an amazing 20 months of use before developing a hole! And this is a pair that he loves and wears all the time. They have some felting along the bottom, but they look in great shape other than the toe that needed replacing. Trekking XXL gets two thumbs up for both pleasure of knitting and for excellent wear.

Crazy Man Socks - Fixed

Many weeks ago I mentioned I had some darning to do, and I wanted to get back to recapping socks as I fixed them. This pair was Salvbard's Crazy Man Socks. These were socks that surprised me when I knit them because the rainbow quality wasn't what I expected from the on-line color sample. Not to fear though, the color really didn't keep Salvbard from wearing these in the end.


These lasted 20 months of hard boot use before developing a hole, so slightly longer than the black pair discussed previously. I am not sure if the difference was due to the yarns (roughly similar fiber other than these have 7% PBT, whatever that is), needles used (0s for these, 1s for the other), or just frequency of use (the black ones were slightly preferred). In any case, these held up really well.

The feet of these felted slightly after only a few wearings, but that only made them more warm and durable. All and all, I think Mega Boots Stretch sock yarn really does live up to its name. It does make great hard-wearing boot socks.

Two Pair Down!

Salvbard gets a fair number of my socks, and he is a good recipient in that he wears them all the time. So a few days ago when he came to me with two pairs with holes, I wasn't shocked. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much wear they got before they did wear out the toes. Fortunately I had a little yarn saved for each of these.

First up was the younger of the two pairs. After replacing the toe so that this pair could go back to live in the drawer.

This pair was made in April 2008 from souvenir yarn from Germany in April 2007. They are one of his favorite pairs, and get worn a lot, in boots no less. So these lasted 18 months despite quite frequent use, and they do not have seem to have significant wear anywhere else.