Harvest Socks

Note: OOPS! I wondered why no one had commented on this post. It's because I posted it to my book group blog, not my knitting blog. Does that tell you how crazy my week was last week? I just now noticed it myself. So, here is a bit of a time machine, taking you all the way back to last Friday, 10/10.

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I have been wrestling with this sock yarn for about a week, but I think I've finally got it under control. This is a recent acquisition, Paca Peds (alpaca-wool-nylon) in color "Harvest." The colors are a little less bright than in this photo. By the time I got outside this evening, it was dark enough that the flash went off.

Because I ran out of yarn on the last pair of socks, I decided to do these toe up. I divided my big hank into 2 equal balls. I wanted to use Charlene Schurch's "faceted rib" stitch pattern, which contains slipped stitches on 2 out of 4 rows. I thought this would help prevent pooling in this variegated yarn. I think it does!

But... the first time I started these socks, I did the stitch pattern on the top and plain stockinette on the bottom. Because of the slipped stitches, the top fabric was much denser - and shorter - than the bottom. About an inch into the pattern, the sole of the sock was 50% longer than the top. I thought this would cause a problem by the time I got to the heel.

In the end, I used the stitch pattern as written on the top: And I modified it slightly for the sole. Here's the sole. See the difference? No purl bumps.

It's pretty subtle.... I went to an all-day library meeting today, so I got lots of knitting done.

That's Cat Bordhi's whirlpool toe, which was begun with a figure-8 cast-on. I love that beginning. I used it for both pairs of my sidestream socks (red for S, green for me).