This past weekend, I began the Tangled Garden socks that Pam won in the Get Out the Vote contest. This pattern grows slowly, but it’s growing! I’ve set myself a daily goal of 10 rounds. (Told you it was slow.)
Things I like about this project so far:
- The yarn! Allison’s Simply Sock Yarn Solids are wonderful to work with. The blend is 80/20 wool/nylon, and I really appreciate that she added nylon for strength. But the yarn doesn’t feel like it has nylon in it – it has the spring, sproinginess, and softness of a superwash merino. Lovely.
- The color choices. S1 did a great job of selecting a pink and a green that work well together and are very “Pam.”
Things that are challenging me so far:
- I am tied to the chart. The colorwork is not regular, so I can’t glance at the chart and think “3 pink, 1 green” and do that all the way around. I have to be very careful to follow the chart.
- I’m still getting the hang of managing floats. I have trouble “turning the corner” between needles and I’ve got some tight spots there. I’m trying to compensate, which may mean I have some loose floats. And there are some very long stretches of pink on some rounds (as many as 10 stitches!), which means I have to catch the float behind a stitch every 4 stitches or so to keep them from getting too long.
- I’m fretting that it won’t fit. Normally for a woman’s sock, I cast on about 64 and use 2.0 mm needles. This is colorwork, so it can be a bit less stretchy (if the floats aren’t long enough), plus you have the added bulk of the floats on the inside of the sock. The pattern calls for 72 stitches, which is good. And I used a 2.25 mm needle. The sock looks big to me, but I think that’s because there is no ribbing to pull in the cuff. I’ve tried it on and I think it will work. But just to be safe, I’m going to put the stitches on waste yarn after finishing the cuff and MAIL it to Pam for a fitting in Cleveland!
This project is definitely a technique builder for me. If anyone has any colorwork tips, I’m listening!
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Sounds like you're doing all the right things. The colorwork I did in those patent stitch socks did draw in the fabric quite a bit -- good idea to go bigger. You want them as loose as possible, but without the yarn "hanging." It looks awesome from the outside, so you must be doing it right. Knit on!
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