Further Proof of Insanity

For those of you playing at home, one more thing to prove that I'm a little left of center.   

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!