WOYWW – creative socks

18/03/2015 by UKMA 10 Comments

Hello WOYWWers!

I have been considering why we do homemade.  You wouldn’t be here if handcrafting SOMETHING (cards, layouts, Project Life albums, art journals, home decor, etc etc etc) wasn’t a big part of who you are.

Why *I* do homemade is that I want to create something unique.  It’s a given that your scrapbook is going to be unique as it is filled with YOUR photos, and your art journal too.  Your cards, possibly, if you are creating from scratch and not just following a tutorial. But sock knitting?  OK sure, you can pick a fab yarn, but is it really going to produce a unique item?  Maybe it will, but is it unique ENOUGH?

So I wanted to knit some socks for DS.  I wanted them to be so unique to him that he would overlook the possible knee-jerk reaction to any colour other than Black or Grey.  So what is on my desk, or more rightly in my hands, is the first of a pair of socks that I designed.  I used THIS tool.  All you do is upload an image, give it some specific info on what you want it charted for (beading, knitting, x-stitch, etc) and have at it.  What I designed was a simple snippet of text to surround the sock, and a small pixel art image that I will add with duplicate stitch (frankly after watching a bazillion intarsia-in-the-round videos, I agree with the one stray comment I saw on some Ravelry pattern, which was “do duplicate stitch – life is too short.”)

DS loves League of Legends, playing, watching, casting.  And the champion I’ve seen him play most is Graves.  You may recall the canvas I made for him at Christmas a couple years back:

OK, so the pixel art image is not nearly so detailed but then it has to fit on a SOCK, and the front only,  so at most about 36 stitches of 4ply yarn.  I found this graphic out there on the web, originally a design for Minecraft, which I simplified to B&W.  That free charting site worked well, although getting the original text in the right font for such a small area was tricky

I’ve actually hacked up the chart, altered a few areas, and am working from that altered chart.

The text is what the character says at various points in the game.  The plan is to have THINK I’M then BLUFFIN’? as a two-line phrase on one sock with TRY ME! and the image on the other.  The text is knitted in, stranded, and duplicated on the front and back, so the yarn can carry round.  I accept the fact I may have to frog them, as I am using the FLK heel template and it may not work.  But I am determined to give it a go.  Doing the longer text sock first, as you see above, although in hindsight it MIGHT have been a better plan to do the minimal text sock first, have DS try it on, then if it fits, add the duplicate stitch and do sock two.  Oh well …..

I am s l o w l y getting to grips with a series of annoyances, the first being a month with crappy internet, followed by a mystery noise from under the hood of the car (I seem to be the only one who can make it happen and never when DH is in the car!) and most recently {shudder} a rat from the fields invading the house.  That has taken far too long to sort out – but frankly 10 minutes would be too long – and unfortunately, a smell lingers on.