Sunday 12th July

Hello friends, I hope this week finds you happy and healthy. Yesterday was handknitted sock wash day for me and for once I did not lose a single sock. I put this down to procuring a basket into which I put my socks after wearing and once I have collected a few pairs it is time for a mass wash. Because most of my socks are knit with superwash yarn I do them in the machine on the rinse and spin cycle with some Eucalan wool wash added to the fabric conditioner section of the drawer. So easy to do, then I hang them up in the wet room to air dry. Sadly we have no outdoor drying facilities so wet room it is.

Now for a wee segment about how I avoid SSS.

The 7 Day Sock

If, like me, you are a regular sock knitter and know how many rows it takes to knit the socks to fit this will be so easy for you to do. If not this can be an easy way to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome and have your pair of socks finished just one week after completing sock 1. The theory is very simple, it just needs a little simple maths to create your daily target. For the socks below I added up how many rounds in total it took to knit the first sock, I did not include the short rows for the heel as these are very quick and I count it as just the two full rounds knitted. In this case, it is 184 rounds, then you divide that number by 7, which gave me 26. 28. Being as I am somewhat anal and like even numbers, I rounded it up to 28 rounds per day to finish my 2nd sock in just 7 days. easy peasy and so effective.

Day 1 gives a toe and the start of the foot

Day 2 continues the foot

Day 3 finishes the foot and begins the gusset increases

Day 4, gusset, heel turn and start of leg

Day 5 continues up the leg

Day 6 end of leg and beginning of cuff

Day 7 finish cuff and cast off

And so, in 7 days I have a matching sock to the first one and my pair is complete

These are my own wee in my head pattern for socks that can be worn two ways as you can see. I call them the long and short of it socks.

Other knitting has been happening this week too, I am keeping up with the Stillness MKAL and am dying to share it but am being good so as not to spoil the mystery. I also signed up to the Curious Handmade Spindrift Shawl workshop, this fabulous series of e-mails has taught me a great deal about what to do to get the best out of your yarn and all the processes of shawl knitting. We are never too long in the tooth to learn new things. I will share my progress on the shawl next week. 

I think that's enough for this week, stay safe and healthy

Mary