New sock projects

In addition to those hats I’ve been working on, my to-knit list also includes a new pair of socks for my mom.  The first pair I ever made for her popped a giant hole (bad photo taken with a flash! but it’s the only one I have…).  This doesn’t surprise me at all – that pair was made from Koigu, which is 100% superwash merino.  That, plus the fact that I knit these a long time ago when I was working socks on size 2 needles, made them not very durable.  I had a similar pair of my own (same Koigu, knit in the same era) that have been toast for a couple of years now.  When Koigu pops a hole, it POPS a HOLE.  Totally non-darnable.  I love the Koigu colors, but I will never ever knit socks with it again!  (Garments for other parts of the body would be fine, though.)

Anyway, she wanted another pair in a similar colorway.  She likes red, but red on the pinky side of red, not the orange-y side.  I kept my eyes open for the perfect yarn at MDSW this year, but didn’t find it.  Then I spied some Claudia on sale at SSYC, and emailed her photos of a few colorways.  I know, I know, Claudia sock yarn is 100% merino.  I’m sort of breaking my own rule. But at least it’s not SUPERWASH merino, and the socks I’ve made with Claudia in the past have held up very well.  Plus, her colorways never pool when I knit them.  I hate pooling sock yarn.

Mom picked Plumicious, which looks like this on the Claudia site:

Because I really liked the way a handpainted multi looked in my Pansy socks, I’m using the same pattern again for these.  Here’s what I have so far:Time to put a heel on!  I’m getting some striping action on these, but at least it’s not pooling.  I think Mom will like these.

I knit some of these at work, but frankly, I’m pushing it a little.  I need my little cheat sheet to keep track of which row I’m on. 

Last Saturday my family went to Hersheypark, thanks to the tickets my kids “earned” by doing Newspaper in Education activities earlier in the summer.  I wanted to take a sock with me, but it needed to be more mindless than the Plum Pansy up there.  So I grabbed some Felici and cast on.  This time, I chose a ball of the new(ish) Felici Sport.  This meant that I didn’t know for sure what size needle to use, or how many to cast on.  I guessed, then adjusted, and then adjusted again (third cast-on is the charm!).  In case you need to adjust, too, I cast on 52 stitches on a 2.5 mm needle (I usually do 64 stitches on a 2.0 needle for fingering weight Felici).  This stuff knits FAST.  Here’s what I got done on the drive and while waiting in line for a few rides: You know how I feel about Felici.  I am just as thrilled with Flici Sport.  These slightly thicker Felicis will feel so great in the wintertime.  I might have to stash another colorway!  (This one is Ecology, by the way.)

I’m planning to knit an afterthought heel on these, so that the striping pattern continues uninterrupted down the front of the sock (like I did for the Positively Pink socks last summer).