Socktopia! (Adriana)

(Today’s mantra is: 3 more weeks, 3 more weeks, 3 more weeks.)

This weekend something amazing happened: there was the perfect combination of nice weather and no activities which allowed Pete and I to head out to the courtyard and snap the pictures of various socks which I have been promising to you. These socks are so gorgeous that I want to evolve a few more feet to wear them on :)

Up first, SpillyJane’s Naïve sock #1

This was a joint effort as I got frustrated near the beginning. Luckily Spilly was in town and was able to get me past the fiddly part. The sock was a lot of fun to knit and so pretty! It’s a great pattern for getting familiar with cables as you can read where you are by looking at the cables. This was also the sock which taught me that the Kitchener stitch is not to be feared. I grafted that baby at lunch at work!

Pomatomus in progress

This is a seriously stretchy pattern. I still think that my YO’s are a little large but the consensus on Ravelry is that it’s not a problem. It’s so much fun to watch the fishy scales develop. I’ve got two more repeats to go on the leg.

And finally the Coupling-At-Sea Socks!!

These socks have been done for a while but then life exploded so there were no pictures.
This was a fun pattern and it is also very stretchy. Unfortunately I couldn’t quite memorize it which made it a little frustrating at times. The Sea Wool was lovely to knit with. I love that sheen!
Pattern: Coupling by Deb Barnhill
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool (birthday present from Heather and Gen), unknown colourway
Modifications: The pattern calls for a reverse heel flap but I wanted to do it my way so I followed Wendyknits' gusset heel. While not as much fun as the short-row heel it fits very comfortably. I’m using that heel for Pomatomus too and it is really nice.
I also decided to go with a picot edging (everything you wanted to know about picoting here) for the top which is adorable but not quite stretchy enough. I bound off the stitches first (using a sewn bind off which I thought would work) but next time I think I’ll just stitch down the live stitches and see if that’s better.

Sock in Progress (Adriana)

I've been working on some stealth projects lately which I can't show you (all will be revealed after they have been gifted). I have made some progress with my Coupling-at-Sea socks which I can show you :)


I love that pattern. It has such a great texture when it's unstretched. Also, look how much yarn I still have left. I was concerned about Sea Wool's scanty yardage but the lacyness of the sock seems to be helping it last longer.


Top view


Side view

Being me, I had to do some tweaking with the pattern. I wanted to try something different than my usual short-row heel which, while fun and beautiful, can give me some fitting issues due to my high instep. The pattern offers suggestions for people with high instep but they instruct you to do a reverse heel flap and I just don't find them attractive anymore (short-rows have ruined me!). I decided to combine the first part of the instructions from the pattern with Wendyknits' gusset heel which has gotten rave reviews. While not as much fun as my beloved short-row heel, I do really like the fit of this heel and I can see myself using it again in the future.

I think I'll do another 3-4 pattern repeats and then finish it off with a cute picot edge.

Candy Socks (Adriana)

I finished my Candy Socks this weekend!






(Taking pictures of your own feet can result in some funny angles)

Details:
Pattern: Spiral Book Socks from Summer 2007 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Deegu in the colourway formerly known as Tulip Garden
Needles: 2.5mm Addis
Date Started: June 2nd (ish), 2007
Date Finished: June 17, 2007
Notes: I fell in love with these socks in the magazine but I'm not big on knee highs. They are a lot of work and I have larger than average calves so that means doing extra math and needing more yarn... Then I saw a shortened version on Ravelry which used STR and I really liked the way the spirals broke up the colours, similar to Jaywalkers in that respect. I decided to do the socks toe-up since that is my way and I wanted to use some of my lovely Deegu. The pattern is really straightforward and lots of fun. This is a very stretchy pattern so I had to adjust my stitch count (to follow the actual pattern. I had sized it up slightly unnecessarily).
The pooling of the yarn was a problem so I had to alternate knitting with both ends of the yarn. It still pooled but people seem to like the swirly effect which was a happy accident.

Since I had faithfully finished the Candy Socks I was allowed to cast on for new socks using some of my fun birthday yarn. With so many choices it was hard to decide but with Heather's nudging I decided to start Coupling from the new Knitty with their recommended yarn, Sea Wool.


All prettily wound up


Toe and first two pattern repeats.
I am in love with the sock!! I'm not certain about the yarn yet (it's different than the 100% merino I'm used to working with so it's taking a bit of getting used to) but I absolutely love the pattern. It is very straightforward and oh so pretty!! I've christened these "Coupling-at-Sea" Socks which is just dirty enough to be fun :)
I foresee this socks knitting up really quickly, which is good because I've got lots of projects waiting in the wings!