Sock O Rama

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Thank you for fixing our blog graphics, and for cleaning it up in general!  Much improved!  Also, nice to have our header back...

Here is some sock yarn I bought back in May, in colors I wouldn't have normally gravitated to without my mom telling me to get out of my comfort zone:

It probably seems tame to you, but the green in particular seems odd to me, though I'm committed to making socks out of it and wearing them proudly.  Also, does anybody have any suggestions for patterns (other than plain stockinette) which would work well with the Kaffe Fasset stripes, shown on the right in the photo above?  I was thinking about Monkey socks, but the pattern might be lost in the colors/stripes?  (Also, Cindy G, that is a "top down" pattern, just sayin'.)

Second, you've seen both sets of these socks in progress, but now they are finished.  This pair is just a standard toe-up short row heel pattern using Trekking yarn, size 1 needles:

They don't match, but that is part of their charm, right?!   It's not clear to me that the yarn had actual pattern repeats in it, so it's not my fault  :-)   so the perfectionist side of myself is being forced to just "let it go." 

This next pair is the "Gusset Heel Basic Socks" from the book "Socks from the Toe Up" by Wendy:

A close-up of the heel:

To orient yourself, you are looking at a lateral view;  the part on the left shows the back of the heel, and the part on the right shows the bottom of the heel.  My 9-year old took these photos, and he told me that I would have to tell you exactly what you are looking at, because it's not otherwise obvious.  It is an interesting heel construction, and quite different from any others I've made, though it's much more straightforward than typical short row heels which involve lots of wraps and turns, so in that respect, this would be a good choice for less experienced knitters, or for knitters who are not overly fond of lots of wraps and turns (ahem).

I'm working on another pair of socks from the same book, called "Diagonal Lace Socks."  This pattern utilizes a more conventional heel style (Sl 1, K1 every other row, etc), though worked from the toe up, and I only had to wrap and turn 8 times during the whole thing (for eight short rows, while turning the heel). 

This yarn is TOFUtSies, made of 50% superwash wool, 25% soysilk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin.  I was curious about making socks out of something that came from shrimp and crab shells, and I don't know why that makes it antibacterial, but there you have it!  Nice yarn, to say the least...

I also have three sweaters which I dug out of hibernation, and which *SHALL BE FINISHED* before I even think about casting on for another sweater.  I hope to have at least one of them completed before my next post (which may even happen this week -- just warning you, because I know that it could catch you off guard -- but hey, I have no classes for more than two weeks!!)

More soon!

Have a great week!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)