operation sock yarn // the finale

A little over a year ago I started #operationsockyarn to motivate myself to use up all those bits of fingering weight yarn I had. Today I'm sharing my (for now) last pair of scrap socks.
Is my scrap stash completely used up? Nope. But I turned all those small bits and pieces into scrap socks which only leaves me with 'big' leftovers (we're talking 50 grams plus...) which I'll turn into small toys eventually.
But for now I'm calling this project done because I have other things I want to focus on right now. Of course that doesn't mean I won't be knitting any scrap socks in the future. But I'm focusing my knitting energy on other projects.

So here's the last pair of scrappy socks. You might notice that they are not quite symmetrical. That's because I was working with very, very small scraps and didn't want to throw away any yarn simply because I'd have two more rows than on the other socks.

Is this my favorite pair of socks I made for this challenge? Definitely not. But it's a happy pair nonetheless because a) it got me my creative mojo back and b) it means I get to cast on a new pair of socks using one single skein - this will make knitting in the subway SO much easier.

Check back tomorrow for a 'project planning post' - I have lots of awesome projects in the pipeline that I can't wait to get started on. But first, let's get some sleep.

operation sock yarn // two more

I took two pairs of recently finished scrap socks with me to the USA/Canada so I could have pretty backgrounds to photograph them. Taking interesting pictures of socks can be rather challenging, especially if you live in a small apartment in the city.

I took them with me on a small hike in the Yellowstone NP and found this awesome dead tree. It must've been a very tasty tree because there were many traces of woodworms and other bugs that carved patterns into the tree. Perfect backdrop for a sock photoshoot, right?

Ravelry project page can be found here.

The next pair was knitted at the end of the last semester when I needed something small and mindless to take to the library each day so I could squeeze in a couple of stitches during lunch break.

The blue and the green yarn is malabrigo sock and it's awesome to work with. The stitch definition is great and the colours are very vibrant and kind of shimmering. Too bad the yarn is very (veeery) expensive over here (and pretty much everywhere in the world?) so I probably won't be working with it again in the next couple of years.

(The picture above has a terrible lightning and the colors are off but I just loved the woven bison on the couch at the Yellowstone visitor center.)

And one work-in-progress shot:

The colours of the sock match my knitting needle cave perfectly. I love it when my knitting matches my project bag/knitting needle cave :)

operation sock yarn // vacation socks

I cast on these scrap socks in the car during one of those looong drives from Seattle to the Yellowstone National Park. I took about 85 grams of fingering weight with me. When I left Germany I was convinced I'd use them all up or leave the tiny scraps behind. Well as a yarn lover I can't seem to leave any yarn behind. Thus, almost 10 grams of sock yarn leftovers of the leftovers traveled back home with me.

I finished these socks in the Yellowstone (and kind of regretted not having brought more sock yarn because the other WIPs I brought were a Molly hat (that I finished rather quickly) and a complicated cable scarf (Elfreide) that required my full attention and wasn't ideal on a road trip.). My mom took these pictures of me/the socks at the Moraine Lake in Banff NP. I love them, even though the last one isn't exactly sharp.

Behind the scenes: this cute squirrel came jumping towards me when I checked the photos on my camera screen. Luckily, I was able to take a very quick snapshot of it when it was literally 20 inches from my face. Do you sometimes get unexpected visitors during a photo shoot?

operation sock yarn // catching up

Since I started this project, I completed one pair of scrap socks every month: March & April. I forgot to post the socks for May, but here's a picture:

There are more pictures and information on the ravelry project page, if you're curious.

Here is the June edition: they are more neutral than the last pairs of socks. I used seven different kinds of fingering weight yarn yet only managed to use up one skein. Oh well, I guess there will be many more blue-ish #operationsockyarn socks in the future.

My two sock yarn boxes are still pretty full but at least I'm able to close them again. The worst part of using up scrap yarns is this:

So many ends to weave in!

Are you also working on diminishing your (scrap) stash?

operation sock yarn // tricolor socks

Sometimes I start a knitting project thinking I'm not gonna like the final result. Usually that leaves me very unmotivated and I frog the project. Same story with these socks. I grabbed three balls of scrap yarn from my (still very big) sock yarn stash and a couple of needles to have a mindless project for Wollefest Leipzig. During the craft fair I got a bunch of compliments for the socks - and with each compliment I started to like them a little more.

I finished a whole pair of socks during the craft fair weekend - all that was left to do when I got home Sunday night was weaving in the ends(my least favorite part about scrap socks!) and the toe seams.

Didn't they turn out to be gorgeous? I'm definitely a block stripe fan (at least in socks). These socks are a (very late) birthday gift for a friend - I hope she likes them!

operation sock yarn: introduction

The other day I reorganized my yarn stash because my recent yarn purchases were living in different plastic bags instead of one of my yarn boxes because they simply didn't fit in there anymore. So I gave some yarn away (to a charity knitting group and some more expensive yarns to friends who will knit beautiful things using the yarns). All my yarns fit into my yarn boxes again but I found a bunch of sock yarn scraps.

Years of sock knitting have left me with 1111grams of fingering weight yarn. Where did all these scraps come from!? Clearly I can't just ignore them and keep accumulating more and more fingering weight scraps. I'm on a mission to use up all of my sock yarn scraps before buying new fingering weight yarn. Please remind me of this when I enter the next yarn shop and see squishy soft merino yarn... ;)

To get started I made a pair of scrap socks. I love how these turned out! What I didn't love was weaving in all the ends...

They didn't turn out to be exactly alike but I love them nonetheless.
I'm gonna make many more scrap socks because they make gifts and you can't ever have too many hand knitted socks, right?
What do you do with all your scrap yarns?
Do you have pattern suggestions to use up some of these scraps?