Scrappy socks and sunshine

It’s a Finished Object Friday, I have some new socks and after what feels like weeks of rain we have some sunshine. It’s a good day!

This isn’t the first pair of scrappy socks I’ve shared here and it certainly won’t be the last. There is something so satisfying about knitting socks out of sock yarn leftovers that I don’t think will ever get old.

Partly it’s the fun of being able to use up scraps from other projects, partly it’s the way you get a chance to play with colour and design your own self striping colourways.

These purples and greys had been sitting around in my workbasket for ages looking for a home, and I still have lots of grey left over so there’s plenty more for other pairs - or maybe a pair of striped wrist warmers instead.

In case you are wondering about the ends - never fear. I used the Clasped Weft Join method which means there are no ends to worry about. It’s so quick and easy to do, and with me scrappy sock count well into double figures at this point it hasn’t failed me yet.

Scrappy socks have to be the ultimate feel-good project and they make ideal travel projects too. I’ve never been able to embrace the fully random colour selection - mine always have to be regular spaced stripes or at least to have some kind of regularity to them - but I have huge admiration for those who can.

Given the amount of leftover yarn I have I was thinking about knitting a long tube - like a sock snake - but making it into a looped cowl by grafting the two ends together at the end. It could be a fun project and will hopefully make a substantial dent in my leftover yarn stash - watch this space for details - I’ll let you know how it goes.

Other blog posts you might like:

Super Sock Snake

Try a different toe increase

How to work the clasped weft join

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you’ll know that I suddenly developed a passion for knitting scrappy socks with leftover sock yarn. Having previously shunned them for fear of having to weave in All The Ends, I discovered the Clasped Weft Join and became positively evangelical about it.

Simple to do, no needle is required or any faffing. You don’t even need scissors if you can just snap the yarn by hand. It takes less than a minute and you are up and running with your new colour.

Sounds too good to be true? Just try it - and I’m sure you’ll be a convert too.

I uploaded a short video of how I do it, as it really is easier to see it in action than to try to write out a tutorial. It’s the first time I’ve ever uploaded anything to YouTube so please be kind - I may need to hire my teenaged sons to be my social media managers at this rate.

The joys of scrappy socks

If you’ve seen any of my Instagram photos recently you will be under no doubt that I have recently become a tiny bit obsessed with scrappy socks - using up odds and ends of scrap sock yarn to create delightfully odd and mismatching stripy socks.

We all have those tiny bits of sock yarn lying around - too small to be made into a mitered square on the memory blanket (each of my blanket squares needs about 3g) but too much to bear to throw away - and these are the perfect project to make use of them.

Thrifty and colourful - talk about a win win!

If I’m totally honest though the one thing that has put me off scrappy socks in the past has been the words feared and dreaded by all knitters - “Weaving in the Ends”. But, after my friend Tash recommended a life changing new technique to me I have become a total and utter convert to the world of scrappy socks.

The Clasped Weft Join achieves the Holy Grail of the knitting world- being simple to work, super quick and requiring absolutely no end manipulation. Just a quick snip and away you go with the next colour.

I originally learnt the technique by watching the YouTube tutorial filmed by Boston Jen and I highly recommend taking a look - it’s super quick and you’ll have the method down pat after just a few practices.

This makes it the ideal project for when you are travelling or out and about. Just grab a few tiny scraps of yarn (more for a long journey) and a pair of scissors or travel snips and you are good to go.

I’ve knit one sock already and am already well underway with the next. Unusually me for I’m not trying to match them and I can say with some surprise that it really is quite unexpectedly freeing. I am drawing from the same batch of colours and each stripe is 7 rows deep but these are my only ‘self-imposed’ rules.

It's really quite addictive, just to be able to reach into my little bag, grab a new colour, quickly join and away you go. I can predict many more of these colourful, fun socks in my future now.