Marine Pool Socks - FO

I finished knitting these back on October 2, but I didn't get around to photographing them. Here they are! When you want to wear the socks, you are more likely to get out the camera. When I Have shoes on, you can't even see that I ran out of yarn at the toes: But since we're all friends here, I will show you my toes. I decided to go with a yarn with coordinating colors rather than coordinating yarn base. Did you notice? (You're knitters, of course you did!) The yarn is leftover from these socks, which I like very much.

Wool socks feel good when it's 32 degrees outside and you're standing on flagstones... brrrrr!

Marine Pool sock... one down, one to go

I finished the first sock using Shibui Sock in colorway "marine" (a gift from Steven and Jeff a year or two ago). It's knit cuff down in a simple uneven rib. I knit most of this at the office... and I got a little carried away on the cuff. Did you notice that I ran out of yarn before finishing the toe? I found something in the leftover sock stash with similar colors (from these socks). But hey, the socks will be nice and cozy come wintertime. No chilly drafts around the ankles!
That's my out-of-control mint plant in the background. Good thing I planted it in a container rather than the ground. It's handy to have a spearmint plant when you want to make mojitos.


Seriously, that's what it's there for.

As the heel turns

Progress has slowed on several fronts, due to a busy schedule at work and knitting/spinning time diluted by many projects. Now that the first year students are all oriented, I hope to accelerate a bit.

However, I managed to turn the heel on this baby yesterday, thanks to one longer meeting (heel flap), a bit of extra time at lunch (heel turn), and a shortish meeting (picking up gusset stitches). That was the daytime progress.

Evening time was spent at the wheel. I have another spinning lesson with Gail Monday evening, and I want to have some of that gray Coopworth (scroll down past the hat) turned into actual yarn before then. I also want to try making a 3-ply yarn for the first time. I have 2 bobbins spun about 2/3 full, and I started the 3rd one last night. I need to finish that today and tomorrow so that I can ply on Sunday and be ready to share on Monday. It's taking me much longer to fill a bobbin now, because my spun thread is getting thinner and thinner. I've been trying to spin this batch a little on the tight side. If the 3-ply works out well, maybe it can be used for sock yarn. We'll see...

I have another kid hat on the needles and nearly finished. It's part of my Knitters' Day Out registration. Classes are coming up in 2 short weeks - I'm really looking forward to that! I should finish up that hat so that I can concentrate more on the Must-Have Cardigan.

Marine Pool

Man, this Shibui Sock in colorway Marine is made for pooling! Not much to do about it, though... just go with the flow.

I know some people swear by knitting from two balls, but wouldn't that just dilute your pooling? I want an easy mindless sock for office knitting - I can't be juggling and untangling two balls. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do nothing more than a simple rib-style stitch. The first 20 rounds are in 2x2 rib. The next 10 are an experiment that I decided not to continue (but did not rip back to that lovely dental floss, because I think you can hardly even see it). After that I went into what Charlene Schurch calls "uneven rib." It goes like this:

Round 1: *K2 P2*

Round 2: K1 *P2 K2* ... until one stitch left, then knit it

The result kind of reminds me of the garter rib I used in this sock. Still very simple, but not quite the drudgery of 2x2 rib.

Nevertheless, I think these socks are going to look good with these shoes this fall!