Hand-knitting socks/hose

**Tobus** · 28th April 23, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by Verity

My grandfather would put the skein over a chairback and wind it off into balls

That's exactly how I do it. It's actually kind of fun! I learned the hard way that twisted hanks of yarn have to be carefully looped over something, unwound, and rewound. I start wrapping the yarn around my thumb, twisting the ball every 8-10 wraps, and end up with a nice ball to knit from. I take that opportunity to weigh it so that, for instance, I can split a 100g hank into two equal 50g balls for making socks.

When I knit from the ball, I put the ball into a small glass bowl and knit from the outside of the ball. So as I pull the yarn, the ball just turns in the bowl. My bulldogges always want to grab it when it turns!

**Verity** · 28th April 23, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by Tobus

When I knit from the ball, I put the ball into a small glass bowl and knit from the outside of the ball. So as I pull the yarn, the ball just turns in the bowl. My bulldogges always want to grab it when it turns!

The glass bowl is a great idea, I do that sometimes too; more often than not I keep the knitting in a little bag on my wrist, then I can walk around with it. But if you're wanting to go historical the wool basket
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/2346...-unclear-1814/
Or knitting table
https://www.bruceofballater.co.uk/ou...knitting-table
Are always fun. I have plans to make a quilled paper wool basket one day, maybe even gild some of the papers.

https://www.pinterest.com/quillingwo...ique-quilling/

**stickman** · 29th April 23, 06:56 AM

Yes Verity, there are a lot of good memories from long ago. I see you are in Alaska. The only time I was there was in February years ago. I was working in Mexico, temperature was in the 80s. I finished the job I was working on and called my boss. His reply was, Oh good! I have another job for you. Asked where. Prudhoe Bay. Flew back to Raleigh dumped the summer clothes out of my suitcase and filled it up with winter clothes. Caught the next flight to Anchorage. Spent the night, next day got a flight to Deadhorse. It was -40. My body wasn’t ready for that. I remember the sun had just started to come back. At noon it was two fingers above the horizon.

**Verity** · 29th April 23, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by stickman

Yes Verity, there are a lot of good memories from long ago. I see you are in Alaska. The only time I was there was in February years ago. I was working in Mexico, temperature was in the 80s. I finished the job I was working on and called my boss. His reply was, Oh good! I have another job for you. Asked where. Prudhoe Bay. Flew back to Raleigh dumped the summer clothes out of my suitcase and filled it up with winter clothes. Caught the next flight to Anchorage. Spent the night, next day got a flight to Deadhorse. It was -40. My body wasn’t ready for that. I remember the sun had just started to come back. At noon it was two fingers above the horizon.

That sounds like quite the experience. If you ever contemplate venturing north again you might try to time your visit for the Highland Games at the summer solstice.

I call myself a generational expat; have lived on every continent except Antarctica. But I've been here rather more than 20 years and like it very much.

**Verity** · 29th April 23, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Verity

The glass bowl is a great idea, I do that sometimes too; more often than not I keep the knitting in a little bag on my wrist, then I can walk around with it. But if you're wanting to go historical the wool basket
https://www.bonhams.com/auction/2346...-unclear-1814/
Or knitting table
https://www.bruceofballater.co.uk/ou...knitting-table
Are always fun. I have plans to make a quilled paper wool basket one day, maybe even gild some of the papers.

https://www.pinterest.com/quillingwo...ique-quilling/

I showed my husband the pics of wool basket and knitting table. He suggested the divisions in the little 'basket' below the tabletop might be useful for feeding different coloured yarns through, to keep them from getting tangled when knitting something complex like tartan hose.

**Verity** · 11th July 23, 11:38 AM

Reporting back on some of the topics touched on earlier in this thread:

Son-and-Heir moved back home and was much taken with Papa's kilt hose, so I guess I'm making a couple more pairs. Might enter the whole lot in the craft competition at the Kenny Lake Fair next month. Anyway, Son-and-Heir likes the same 3D braid, so I'm doing another rendition of that. As we discussed previously, I hadn't liked the reverse stocking stitch in the original design because it tends to curl. I thought moss stitch would be a good alternative, and it is. BUT - I'm going to have to undo some rounds and finish the edge off with about 4 rounds of ribbing, because knitting moss stitch all the way to the cast-off edge makes the piece flare! Sigh.

For specifics - I picked up 5 stitches per repeat of the braid, knitted one round plain (so I didn't get any nasty bi-coloured stitches on the right side), then 3 rounds moss stitch in the ground colour. Then three rounds of garter stitch in dk green, and returned to the ground colour with one round plain before resuming moss stitch for 7 rounds - which will now have to be 3 rounds moss and 4 rounds rib.

When I have done a matching panel on the other side of the yellow, I will move my 'centre back' stitch marker about a quarter of the way round the circle of stitches, so all the joins and row changes of the fold-down top will be on the inside of the leg. I'm working on the other stocking at the same time, so I can be sure I'm doing the same number of rows, etc, but I will have to move the centre back stitch in mirror image so I end up with a right stocking and a left one.

I'm going to do the leg in the same fascinating V-shaped decreases from Ryder's book that I used for some of my husband's hose, but I plan to add a damask pattern to the broad part of the rib.

IMG_20230711_095329.jpg

Also, I found my (work in progress) rendition of the stag's head. I always draw my patterns on graph paper. I'm not satisfied with this one yet; it's 15 sts wide by 19 sts long, so it will have to be in very fine yarn to fit inside a lattice pattern such as the Gairloch. Maybe I should remove some of the tines. Clearly there's too much antler at the top to fit neatly into a diamond.

Sorry this image is upside down, I can't seem to figure out how to rotate images on this device.

Screenshot_20230711-102158_kindlephoto-7765439.jpg

Verity

**Verity** · 1st August 23, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Verity

I'm going to do the leg in the same fascinating V-shaped decreases from Ryder's book that I used for some of my husband's hose, but I plan to add a damask pattern to the broad part of the rib.

Verity

The hose are coming along nicely, but I was reminded of an issue with Ryder's pattern: after the decreases for the calf, he says to keep knitting until the whole thing measures 22" , including 4" turnover. The full-size photo in the front of the book reflects a total measurement of 19.5" including turnover, or a lower leg measurement of 16". But I don't know very many people who measure 16" from bottom of knee to where you start knitting the heel-flap, let alone 18" . So I have had to put a sticky note to myself in the book, to knit only to the length the wearer actually needs.

Verity