It’s OuaS time again, our monthly round up of sock related nattering hosted by Paula of Spin a Yarn! Do come join us on the first Thursday of the month and chat about your sock progress (or not) and ideas.

I got a significant way into my foolish sock from last month and then had to accept that no, a contrast foot was not going to be quite the thing. So I cast on again with the contrast colour and it will join the first sock in having a contrast toe.

*baas sheepishly*

It’s only at the heel turn now though because I was tempted away to start my long awaited Incunabula when I went on a craft/tea/chilling weekend away with some friends. Which, followed by some further but unexpected travel (funeral on my husband’s side of the family), has been growing in leaps and bounds while poor sock has lived forlornly in my bag.

But. The cardigan has now reached the ‘can not be knitted on the commute’ stage, so forlorn pink sock will be back out on the commute so I anticipate having it done by the next OUaS. At least, I certainly hope so! It is only a trainer sock, after all!

We have been doing further organising in our spare room/craft fleapit so I hope to have a proper shuffle through the yarn stash for something to be an actual full sized pair of socks. We shall see!

I have been in a bit of a crafting slump recently – lots of ideas but not a lot of practical enthusiasm for doing any of it. I wouldn’t say that I was out of the slump now but I do have some sock related content for Once Upon a Sock‘s September edition.

First up, some actively knitted socks. I grabbed the remains of my SparkleDuck socka in Cloth Cat and some needles as a small portable project for the International Guide camp I was at for 8 days in late July/early August. It was here in Sussex so the location wasn’t international but some of our guests where – we had Guides from all over place as well as UK guides from in and out of Sussex.

I didn’t get a huge amount of time to knit – as a media team member, I was out and about taking photos most of the days – but I did get some done.

But. And there is always a but. I also realised that I had less leftover yarn than I thought so as you can see, sock number 1 has a contrast toe. Sock number 2 is underway but may have more of a…contrast foot. Oops! Still, short socks are always good for this kind of yarn shenanigans.

I will finish it shortly at any rate so I hope to go back to a stalled project, which is Kat’s Swirls and Stripes which I was happily knitting away with some rainbow yarn and a light silver until I realised that I’d done something weird with my tension and ended up with a sock that was getting increasingly narrow as I approached the heel. Erk!

I suspect I’ll end up ripping back and starting from scratch again as I don’t enjoy trying to figure out where the tension went wrong and ticking back to that. They look so good though! The photo doesn’t really give it justice – the swirls are a lot clearer in real life. (and it is a lot further on so you can see the full rainbow!)

I’m definitely hoping to get back out of my crafting slump soon, especially now that the weather is starting to shift towards more suitable for sitting on the sofa with a cat in my lap and some knitting!

It is Once Upon a Sock time, where crafters get together and talk about socks we’ve made or are making. It’s kindly hosted by Paula at Spin a Yarn, so pop over there to join the link up! 

Look, it is an actual sock that has actually been worked on, instead of being shunned in a bag. It is the sibling sock to last month’s Hortensia with my additional, uh, Design Choices. As you can see, I am actually all the way down to the toe stripes, so perhaps I will finish it this bank holiday weekend.

Then I will have to pick a new sock and see if this whole ‘small needles/small yarn’ thing keeps working for me. I can’t attend a mini-OUaS meet up with no socks on the needles! 😉

Yeap, hopefully next month I will be able to bring you photos of OUaS socks and their knitters in the flesh. It’ll be great fun, I’m very much looking forward to it.

In non-sock news, my cowl is finished but still needs seaming. Unfortunately, due to “helping” from one of the cats while it was blocking, it may need another block to remove the signs of a snooze from it. Oh, cats! I thought it would be too damp for them but apparently not!

My Sweetpea crochet blanket continues; I may have fallen asleep while under it (and a cat), mid-crochet. Ooops. One and a half stripe sets to go!

It is Once Upon a Sock time, where crafters get together and talk about socks we’ve made or are making. It’s kindly hosted by Paula at Spin a Yarn, so pop over there to join the link up! ETA: Paula does have a question about the continuation of OUaS so definitely pop over and have a think about that!

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I actually have some sock related content this month. How exciting! Behold, one completed sock! It is a Hortensia in Socks Yeah! using Chart A. I have cast on for sock 2 and had started it off with Chart B as per pattern (they’re fraternal socks, I guess?) but I think I am actually going to rip that back and just do Chart A again but with the flipped colours as Chart B is doing my head in and I really like the vine-y look of Chart A.

I also oopsied and didn’t change colour for the toe so I’ll be repeating that Deliberate Design Choice (do it once and it is a Mistake, do it twice and it is a Design Choice, eh?) on the second sock.

I do have to admit that after (and well, tbh, still in) a bit of a snit with sock knitting (something about small yarn on small needles isn’t working for me right now), I have cast on for a cowl (using the No More January Blues! cowl pattern – originally a MKAL I didn’t manage to do at the time – with the yarn I picked up as part of the Blacker Yarn’s EYF related Lucky Dip), which is currently occupying my commute knitting time but as I have completed the cast on and made a decision about the chart choice for the second sock, I do feel much happier about my likelihood of completing this pair soon.