Grey B&L Socks

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

It’s Friday again, and time to show off some knitting.

Here’s a new pair of socks I just finished for Mr. Math. The yarn is Briggs & Little Tuffy – I bought the grey, which is called Smoke, and used up the blue (Blue Jeans) from the ends in my stash. You can see that I miscalculated a little and didn’t quite have the same amount of blue for the left sock. That’s why it has a bit more grey on the toe. There wasn’t a pattern for these – I just cast on and knit. The yarn does want to felt a little over time (because I don’t hand wash socks) so the ribbing ensures that the socks maintain some stretchiness.

Briggs & Little is an old Canadian mill, located in the Maritimes. I like their sock wool a lot. It’s tough and wears well, plus it has character. Mr. Math was pretty glad to see these come off the needles, given how cold it is here right now. They went straight onto his feet!

I’m determined to use up the bits and ends of Tuffy in my stash, so there’s another thick sock on my needles now. What do you think?

Socks in Tuffy and Regia

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Deborah Cooke

I haven’t posted about my knitting for a while, mostly because I’ve been knitting gifts. Since they’re surprises, I don’t photograph or talk about them – that would spoil the fun!

But I’ve also been knitting socks for Mr. Math. I have this idea that I can clear out at least one corner of my stash. It’s a bit of a quixotic goal, but can’t hurt to try. He really likes these ones.

They’re ribbed socks knit from Briggs & Little Tuffy, one of my fave sock yarns (and spun right here in Canada). The dark grey is called Oxford, and I used up some bits for the red (also Tuffy) and the black (mmmm, something else from the stash!) to jazz them up.Also, here are the socks for him that are currently on my needles – one is done. You might remember that I knit a vest for him from this yarn – it’s Regia six-ply, with colourways designed by Kaffe Fassett. Well, there were three balls left, so he gets matching socks. Here’s the first one – the second is knit to the heel and will be just the same (because I have fussy knitter disease).I also have some lace on the needles (because winter is coming, and I knit lace in the winter) but right now, it just looks like a lump. I’ll show you after it’s blocked.

Tuffy Socks and Easy Peter Vest

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

It’s been a while since we talked about knitting, so today is the day. I have a couple of things to show you. They are both man-knits.

First off, new thick socks for Mr. Math. These are knit from Briggs & Little Tuffy. He loves to wear these around the house in the winter and inside his rubber boots. The colour is a wonderful purpley blue with red flicks – it’s called Blue Jeans.Secondly, a bit of a surprise. I knit a vest for my FIL for Christmas. He’d lost a bit of weight over the past year – whereas once I would knit something to fit Mr. Math and know it would fit his dad, this time, I knit a bit smaller. It was snug for Mr. Math and I figured we were golden. No. My FIL has gained back some weight. This is all good, but the vest doesn’t fit him.

So, now I have a new vest, and I need to knit another one, in the next size bigger. 🙂This is the vest from the free Berroco pattern called Peter Easy. (The other Peter has some fair isle flash, which evidently makes it less-easy.) The pattern is for a pullover, but I split the front to add a zipper so it would be easier for my FIL to put on and take off. Then I decided I should add a 4-stitch cable on either side of the zip to fancy it up. They turn in opposite ways, to make a V. I also added I-cord on the zipper side of each cable, to ensure that there was a nice edge for sewing in the zip. (Thanks to my brilliant photography skills, what you mostly see here is the plastic teeth of the zipper. Yippee.) The vest came out well, and I’m not that disappointed to end up with it myself. The yarn is Patons Classic Wool in a nice flecky variegation that they only seemed to have at the mill. My Ravelry project page is here.

Another man-knit coming off the needles this weekend – a new sweater for Mr. Math. I should be able to show it to you next week, with all the ends sewn in. No seams with a top-down raglan, which works for me in a big way. Lots of plain knitting in the man-knits, which is good for tv knitting but makes for some pretty dull photos. I’m ready to work on one of my more adventurous projects. Winter is always a great time for knitting lace IMO and I have a shawl whispering that it wants to be finished.

Chevalier Socks

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been a bit wild around here lately, but I have been knitting. (It is a sanity preserver!) I think a couple of things might get frogged for gauge and fit issues – phooey – but these socks are getting done.

I love them. Fortunately, so does Mr. C. who will get to wear them.

The pattern is by Mari Muinonen and is called Chevalier (This is the Ravelry link, which might not be visible to the world at large.) The pattern is free for download on Ravelry and there’s a matching Chevalier pattern for mittens. Mari’s blog is called MadebyMyself, but a lot of the content is in Finnish.You can look at the pictures, though – she’s an incredibly talented designer. (She seduced me utterly with her pattern directions for these socks. It says “Pattern of the Chevalier Socks is written both english and finnish in the same file. Try to manage.”)

The yarn is Briggs & Little Tuffy, which Mr. C. loves for his house socks, and which is spun in New Brunswick. The colourway is Greystone. It’s actually kind of green.The bonus of using such thick yarn is that the socks knit up super-fast.

Here’s the first sock. Don’t you love it?A bit of a blurry shot because I had to do it without the flash to show the cables better. Also, the colour looks more blue here than it really is.

I made some modifications. I knit 24 rows of ribbing before starting the cable stuff, while the pattern specifies 10 rows. And I fiddled with the toe so that there’s a whole diamond ending there, instead of just cropping it off and doing a regular toe. Since these won’t be worn under boots, cabling on the top of the toe isn’t going to be an issue.

What do you think?

Thick Winter Socks

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Deborah Cooke

These are the socks I finished most recently. My husband put them on as soon as they came off the needles!

The yarn is my favourite for hard-wearing warm socks. It’s called Tuffy and is from Briggs & Little, a mill in the Maritimes. This marl – one ply off-white and one ply grey – is called Granite. I had some Tuffy in Red Mix left from another pair of socks, so put it on the cuffs and toes. Although there are a few yarn stores local to me that carry B&L yarn, they don’t tend to have all of the colours – or the colours I want. What is nice is that you can order B&L yarns directly from the mill, even if you aren’t a wholesale customer. They just charge you the postage and pop it into the mail.

The pattern is from an old Patons book, although it’s been included in many other Patons books since. It’s called Ribbed Sports Socks. I followed the pattern, except I changed to 3×1 ribbing after my striped cuff. The pattern has most of the sock knit in 1×1 ribbing.

I like them. He loved them! What do you think?

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