Now with 6 grams less!

I finished these plain vanilla Felici socks last May, after wool-sock-wearing season had passed us by.  When I pulled them out this fall, they seemed big.  Quite long in the foot.  So I resolved to shorten them before wearing (when the ripping would be easiest) but only just now got around to doing it.  I ripped back and started the toe decrease 14 rounds earlier than I did the first time – and it turns out that was a bit too much.  The socks weren’t unwearable, but they might have misbehaved in my shoes.  On the second sock, I only shortened 12 rounds.  Pretty good.  I decided that 11 rounds less was the perfect amount, so I pulled out the first sock toe AGAIN and knit 3 more rounds straight and then put on the toe a third time.  Sheesh.  You can see that the yarn looks a bit different in the toe area now, but I think that will disappear after a wear-and-wash: I thought about just giving these socks to S1, as her feet are longer than mine… but this colorway (called “Marsh” in Knit Picks Felici Fingering) is perfect for about half my closet and for little of hers.  I’m glad I salvaged them.  This particular colorway was one of the retired colors that got a lucky encore appearance a while back, so if you like it, now’s the time to buy!

Speaking of “time to buy”… I presume you all saw the NEW Felici colorways that were just released?  No?  Go now.  I will wait.

• Felici Fingering here
• Felici Sport here

Lately I’ve been into the Felici Sport.  It makes a lovely squishy sock that still fits into my shoes and with only 52 stitches around, they knit up quickly.  I’m planning to get:

• Sunny Day – a color S1 requested after seeing on of Neil’s auction donations knit in it (this is not a new color)
• Too Cool – another non-new color that I quite like and am not sure why I haven’t bought it yet
• Monochrome – should go with anything “greige” – the Knit Picks site describes it thusly: “Monochrome is a neutral lover’s delight! Transitioning from light to dark, Monochrome features stripes of black, charcoal, dark and battleship grey, silver, and then finally reaching the lightest shade with a pale shade of rose quartz. A no-nonsense neutral, Monochrome is the perfect unisex shade…” 
• Stream Bed – here is the official description: “a wonderfully earthy color palette that works wonderfully for mens, womens, and childrens projects! A variety of browns, included stripes of a warm and light taupe, bark, and a pale raw umber, are mixed with stripes of a flowing light blue.”

If you’re looking at the site, be sure to click on the thumbnail photo so that you see a larger one with the enticing narrative description.  It’s so much easier to get a sense of the colorways with a larger photo.

In the fingering weight colorways, I’m oddly drawn to Building Blocks: “Building Blocks features a fun range of colors that are sure to conjure up images of children’s play toys! Showing off neutral stripes of charcoal, medium grey, and warm ivory really makes the bright stripes of red, yellow, and dusty sky blue stand out, while mottled spots of grey throughout time all of the colors together.”  Actually, that color would go with a lot of Boy 1’s clothes. 

And that’s just if I’m thinking about socks.  If you need a baby gift, some of these would be stunning knit into a BSJ!

My plain vanilla office knitting right now is NOT Felici (gasp!) but instead a vintage (for me) ball of Regia.  I had a frightening 8 hours of time one day last week with NOTHING on the needles, so I asked S1 to pick something from stash for vanilla socks.  These are looking quite nice: