All the Small Things

Yes, I just quoted Blink 182. Moving on, it’s the last week of class before finals. Having finished my socks – and the pair I’m making for Matt having to be re-done due to sizing issues – I had next to nothing to work on. Sure, I’ve got that scarf for Eileen’s daughter that I haven’t touched since February, a scarf for my aunt that sits unloved in my desk drawer, and two half-done pairs of fingerless mitts. I needed something quick and fun and rather mindless. Enter miniature socks and sock yarn squares. I get to use up sock yarn scraps and, more commonly, sock yarn which I have only one sock’s worth (some funny stories behind that stash).

So far I’ve made three mini socks, all using KPPPM leftover from making my socks. The first was cuff-down using this pattern which didn’t turn out great. Not the pattern’s fault but my lack of cuff-down sock making skills. That sock got tossed in the trash without a moment’s thought. The second sock was toe-up using 8 stitches at the toe and 20 for the sock. The photos below are of that sock. The third sock, well, I used the same stitch pattern as my socks but it didn’t’ turn out great. That’ll become a gift to Jen DJ, at her request. The small socks are fun because they’re quick, easy, yet still socks. Small socks are so much more impressive to people who see me knitting at school than regular socks. It’s not like I use smaller needles – just my trusty size 1s – but they ooh and ahh like crazy. Hey, whatever, I’ll take the compliments.

My other tiny project revolves around what will become a very large finished object, should I ever actually finish it. A few months ago I saw this woman’s sock yarn scraps blanket. Decided this would be the perfect use of, well, other sock yarn scraps. I started out with the rest of the KPPPM scraps then moved on to others. I’ve already re-appropriated some of my single skeins of sock yarn for the blanket. Here’s my progress so far.