A quickie

I got my Felici yarn order last week and immediately pulled out the Positively Pink yarn to make a pair (a PAIR, not a trio) of socks for a little girl I’ll be seeing this weekend.  They went so fast that I’m now done!  This isn’t the greatest photo in the world (I think this particular sockitecture looks best on feet) but you can see that (a) they are done and (b) they match perfectly.  I think this will please the little miss. I wanted the stripes to continue perfectly down the front of the sock, so I elected NOT to do my typical favorite flap-style heel.  Even a shortrow heel worked between the leg and the foot would interrupt the striping.  Instead, I made an afterthought heel.  I started at the cuff and knit a tube until it was time for the heel.  Then I knit half the total # of stitches onto a piece of waste yarn, dropped the waste yarn, and resumed knitting in the round.  Here is a shot of sock #2, sans heel, before I went to knitting group last night: Then I just picked up the stitches with 2 circular needles, pulled out the waste yarn, and knit the heel using the exact same structure that I used for this toe.  I kitchenered the last heel stitches at the very end.

I’m pleased with the results, though I want to fiddle with the technique a little to better avoid little gaps at the gussets like this one: I picked up an extra stitch at each side of the heel opening and knitted that stitch through the back loop, which helped but didn’t totally eliminate this.  The hole pictured above is on sock #1 and I’m happy to report that this looks better on sock #2.

Look how perfectly the stripes lined up on the fronts!This pair came in at under 1 ball of yarn.  Now I have another ball for something else. 

After I finished that off at knitting group last night, I got my spindle out again.  I have fallen off the 15-minutes-a-day plan since finishing the first batch of yarn, and it was high time I got back on the wagon.  I grabbed some dyed Polworth roving I got at MDSW earlier this month and divided the 4 oz on half.  I took 2 oz with me and started spinning.  Here is how far I got: When I finish this 2 oz, I’ll wind off and spin the other 2 oz, then ply.  I love this rich mustardy color, which is labelled “Sand Pebbles”: