Avoiding SSS or 14 socks in 2 days!

I hate to break it to you guys, but I knit the socks from the previous post in THREE days, July 2, 3, and 4! ;o) And - a) I was sock knitting starved, b) was sitting there with needles in hand, hand over sock yarn stash, waiting for the pattern to be released, c) wanted to get the cable socks over with as fast as I could, and d) they are not full length socks, but no anklets either. So there, no wonder I was fast! ;o)

These little babies were waiting to be knit, right after the Serpentine socks. My very first mini sock I gave to my mom, with the Panda Wool socks. As it turns out, all of her friends now want one of those cute sockies too. So I promised to send her a few.

(Opal - Knit Picks Dancing - German sock yarn)

It looks like, just right before my brain shuts down for the night, I get some light bulb moments. I was wondering how to connect the socks with the key ring. My first mini sock was connected with the sock yarn, and I hope it will hold up for some time. I wanted something else, when I came upon my stitch marker box, looked inside, and wouldn't you know it, they practically jumped out on their own, eager to please. Shannon, some of these are the ones you gave me! I rarely use those pretty stitch markers, but I like to have them and look at them. But I find these days, that I become less and less of a "hoarder". Why hide these beauties in a box? This way others can enjoy them too. Not all of my stitch markers were right for this job however, their time will come....

I tried to pair sock and stitch marker colorwise if possible. I made 14 mini socks. The one on the left is made from Koigu and will be MINE! ;o) I love it. It was the last one I knit, and I tried out a pattern on the leg part and did something different with the heel. I like it best.

The very left one is made with Lorna's Lace Rainbow color. Do you remember the socks I knit with this yarn? I hated the pooling. I was expecting striping like this little guy, I would have loved it!

Right next to it is sweet georgia's yarn, this seems to pool no matter what stitch count you have. Next is Trekking XXL, never a surprise, always pleasant to look at. The last one in this picture is Reagia something. Can't remember.

The far right sock was knit with Knit Picks "Pansy". Isn't it lovely? Want to see what grown up socks look like with this yarn? The other two are Trekking XXL 100 and some Regia in the middle.

While I was knitting one sock after the other, I was putting the finished ones up here. I should have washed all of them, but I forgot. Next time I will though.

The first few mini socks having fun with my poor little mannequin.

Oh, and don't let me forget # 14!

This one's very special to me. I was about to throw out left over singles from "Nightshade", when I remembered that I always wanted to knit something with an over twist, to see how the stitches lean to one direction. I wanted this to be a mini sock too, and used needles normally too small for this job. Added the over twist this knitted fabric was hard. The sock looked like a cork screw. I DID wash this one, otherwise I would not have gotten this into shape. I like the colors, but as it was wet, it rather looked like a dead rodent (and smelled similar). I would never knit real socks with singles yarn. It's just not worth the trouble, wouldn't last long, even with over twist, because I really DO wear my socks. Now I've got two mini sock key chains just for me! Wow!

I think I will make some more in the future, but for now, I've had enough.

This concludes my mini sock mass production.

Oh yeah, how about the SSS? It helped that I didn't have to make the same colored sock twice, but it still got boring in the end. And see how fast one can knit socks!

Here's a little recipe if you like to make your own:

Cast on 24 stitches. Knit 5 or 6 rounds (K1, P1). Knit 20 rounds. Start heel (whatever you like). Knit 15 rounds. Start toe (whatever you like). Weave in ends. Put a stitch marker on the top edge and a key ring on the other end of the stitch marker. Done!

You can do some stitch pattern, as you see on the Koigu sock, but it has to be an easy one, no elaborate pattern possible, because of its size (Duh!)

I have to add, that these socks were not my original idea. I saw them on this German website, the Sockenstricker Homepage.