Monday 18 October 2010

Work socks - aka Oh, My Aching Hands

I finished a pair of work socks for my hubby on the weekend... I make a fair number of socks, they are one of my favorite things to knit, but these socks are different from most socks I knit. Usually, I make fingering weight socks, which take a long time for a large foot like my T has (and you know what they say about big feet -- yep, big ... socks!)

These ones are made of thick, rough and scratchy Briggs and Little Tuffy (and I think they chose the name wisely! LOL!). It knits up very fast because of the size/thickness of the yarn and having fewer stitches around the socks, but it makes my hands hurt, so I can't work on the socks for more than a half hour at a time, then I take a break. Lexa suggested bamboo needles might help, but I haven't made my way to the store to get a set. Soon!

I finished the first pair on Friday or Saturday - they are Cocoa, with Ecru and Red Mix stripes. He loves them, so the ache in my hands is worth it. :) (this is what I got when I asked him to "do something exciting with your feet" ... pretty darned exciting!)

I am currently working on a second pair. These are Greystone (which is actually a blue-green), with stripes on the cuff in Ecru, Cocoa and Greystone.

I sewed a bit today, and will show my results later in the week - I got a super-duper cool new sewing machine, because I was sick of my 25 year old Singer breaking all the time, and let me say, the new Brother is wonderful! I love it, and it is so easy to use :) I should have bought a new one years ago, but I am so glad I waited until now (this has a 1/4 inch foot, a zipper foot, a walking foot, a button sewing foot for sewing buttons on, a button holer and a bunch of swanky stitches that I have still got to figure out -- it is pretty neat, and I have a sore back from sewing all day today!). I will show pictures of my forays into sewing when I next post.(by the way - seriously, Walmart (of the Damned)(*phase courtesy of Marti, thanks ;)) has suddenly gotten rid of their fabric section - WTF?!?! my choices for buying fabric within a 50 km radius has now dropped to 2 stores)

3 comments:

lexa said...

I always kinda scoffed at people who said that knitting with bamboo needles didn't make their hands hurt (when normally it would with steel needles). The only yarn I've come across so far that bothers my hands is the B&L. The first pair of socks I made for Hubs killed my hands, so I tried the bamboo and couldn't believe the difference!! I take all of my scoffing back. :)

Wanderingcatstudio said...

I feel your pain about knitting socks for me with large feet!

I always use bamboo or wood needles for socks - i just find my stitches don't fall off as easily.

I love the work socks - I should make something like that for my Dad

Dorothy said...

I just finished a pair of tuffy socks - got to get myself some bigger bamboo needles before I do any more knitting with that.
Congrats on the new sewing machine. I spent a portion of my morning fighting with my serger ... will have to make a trip to Bridgewater sometime to buy needles for it ... my closest "real" fabric store :(