I decided some time ago that if I could knit 2 socks at a time on 2 circulars, then I could knit more. 4, 6, 20, hell I could knit 500 if I could find a needle long enough. OK, 500 might be a bit ambitious. Let's keep it fairly simple and not have to find a 500" needle in size 2. I decided on 6 pairs, 12 socks at one time.
I'm by no means a pioneer, Meet Brian. 14 socks on one 120" circular needle. I read the blog, looked at his set up and tried to figure out what I could do to make it work for me. For about a year I have thought about it on and off. Six months ago I had accumulated enough pattern ideas and sock yarn to seriously contemplate the idea. So I started researching.
2 major issues arose:
1. Keeping the yarn from tangling.
2. The weight of all these socks on my wrists.
The weight I realized would pretty much solve itself. Because of the length of needle I would have to use most of the weight would be resting in my lap. (this certainly isn't something I can walk around and knit) But the tangling issue needed further thought. Even knitting 2 at a time you can have a bunch of pain in the ass twists. Brian's set up was nice, but I wanted something that was a bit more portable and since jobless bum is jobless, something cheap. I had been talking to the roomie about this idea and he surprised me one day by bringing home a small wine box from work. A cardboard box with an insert dividing it into 12 small compartments. BOOYAH! I set to work.
I cut the box down to 4" and the inserts to 3.5". I covered the rough top edges with duct tape. I collect interestingly shaped paper clips and have a bunch of spiral shaped ones that I clipped on to the side of the box to use as guides for the yarn. I also couldn't just work from both ends of the yarn like I normally do, so I had to divide the skeins into 2 balls. With a little help from a scale this was a fairly easy task.
Divider with yarn and 47" addi turbo needles:
Next was finding patterns that would work. I wanted all cuff down patterns because this is just what I prefer. The patterns must all have a gauge of 8-9 sts per inch and most importantly, no shifting of stitches. I'm not one to knit a pattern more than once so each sock was going to have to be different. I searched the Ravelry database for hours on end and finally found the 6 patterns that I would knit.
So here we have it.
Top Left: Dizzy Up The Girl in Gotta Be - Pattern: Summer Lovin' Socks by Dawn Matkovic
Top Right: Madelintosh Sock in Port - Pattern: Gentian by Lisa Stichweh
Middle Left: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 in Spice Market - Pattern: Unraveling Rib Socks by Amy Tyszkiewicz
Middle Right: Colorbug Yarns Stella Sock in Beautiful Butterfly - Pattern: Jekyll & Hyde by Sarah Wilson
Lower Left: Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Silky Sock in Peacock - Pattern: Harvest Dew by Rose Hiver
Lower Right: The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Sharpshooter Leafhopper - Pattern: Twisted Mockery by Lisa Stichweh
My goal is to cast on before Black Friday. Wish me luck!
