Sock Blank Knit-A-Longs

As we played around dyeing sock blanks preparing for the grand introduction of our sock blanks it became clear that these little bits of knit fabric are addictive. You just can't stop dripping color on them and then the urge to knit up the socks to see how the colors will express themselves. If you have trouble stopping your knitting when you are knitting a fair isle pattern, you will begin to understand how obsessed you can become with sock blank knitting.

It's even more fun to share your experiments with other knitters. So, we have set up two Knit-A-Longs. One is in Ravelry and is called Sock Blank Artists. The second is in our Knit Picks Community site. It's called Sock Blank Knit-A-Long.

As you can see from yesterday's entry, there are plenty of adventures to be had with these blanks. Tina is a perfect example of someone who absolutely hated one of her blank dyeing experiments but the socks knit up beautifully. I love the surprises offered in both the dyeing and the knitting. It keeps me interested at every step. Be sure to check out Tina's toe-up, magic loop pattern for knitting two socks at the same time. She designed it particularly for the sock blank knitting so that the colors can smoothly continue on up the gussetted heel rather than having to go back with an afterthought heel.

Comments

[DebbieT]

Are those socks in the photo knit from the blank? What did the blank look like before knitting? I love those colors!

Hi Debbie,

We have a tutorial set up for the sock blanks. You can see different ways to dye them and what these socks looked like in the "blank" stage.

http://www.knitpicks.com/images/PDF/dyepatterntutorial.pdf

Enjoy!
Kelley

[Katherine]

Kelley,

I'm totally psyched that you are on You Tube! Good job! Those sock blanks are a great idea. I have never knit two socks at one time, so that is a bit of a hurdle, but this might just put me over it. How about a man's sock that is not totally boring? Yes!

As I listen to your interviews, I learn that my favorite authors also have blogs. Besides the Yarn Harlot, it just never occurred to me. And I really enjoyed your interview with the book lady - she was a normal knitter! It was refreshing not to hear from an expert - maybe I did not learn a lot about knitting, but it was still nice. I'm not big into audio books, but my mom has a Kindle (sp?), and she just loves it. She has trouble seeing, so she enlarges the type - that's her favorite feature.

My birthday was last Saturday, and my brother-in-law wanted to know what I wanted. In no short order I gave him your 800 number! I say, if you love someone, say it with sock yarn!

Hi Katherine!!

I knit the socks with the horizontal striping on the dye blanks and Bob loved the look. Just stick with dyes close to each other in tone and I think they would be good "guy" socks.

I'm so glad to hear that you enjoy the podcasts!!

Kelley

[Jordan Hydro]

Your post are so good, I suggest that you can add some videos or something like that!

[Jordan Hydro]

Your post are so good, I suggest that you can add some videos or something like that!

[Jordan Hydro]

Your post are so good, I suggest that you can add some videos or something like that!