Cocoa Pebbles Socks

Cocoa Pebbles Socks
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

My latest office knitting project, the Cocoa Pebbles Socks, is now done. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in colorway "Pebbles" (now discontinued), but I kind of renamed it "cocoa pebbles" because it looks so chocolate-y.

These were knit cuff-down in Charlene Schurch's "uneven rib" pattern. The toe is a star toe and ends in 6 stitches. Instead of doing the purse-style closure, I kitchenered those stitches. I thought it would result in a nice tight toe like the one you get with the figure-8 cast-on in a toe-up sock. It's a little nipply, though. I'll have to wear these and decide if I want to do that again.

I reinforced the heel by running yarn through the columns of slipped stitches on the inside of the sock (Cat Bordhi mentions this technique in New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One). It's easy to do, and I think it does make a difference!

All told, these socks took about a month to knit - but I only knit on them at work and the occasional weekend social event. That's like getting extra hours in the day!

Cocoa Pebbles Socks

Cocoa Pebbles
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

You have not yet seen a photo of my current office sock-in-progress because I usually photograph knitting at home, outside, in natural light, which means during the daylight hours. In mid-November in Pennsylvania, the daylight hours are waning quickly. It is DARK by the time I get home from work in the evening. So how did I get this photo, which I think is kind of decent and actually shows you the true color of the sock and its stitch definition?

Well, it's all thanks to the ALA (that's American Library Association). Because I am a member, they send me a weekly email full of all kinds of random (but relevant) information. Today a post about how to take better conference photos caught my eye. I read it. Then I started thinking that I could use the same techniques to take better photos of library events. I usually use the flash (auto-everything) because if you don't, the photos are blurry and dark. This bit I read prompted me to mess with some settings. And look what I got!

For this, I set the ISO on "hi," which means the shutter should open and close very quickly, thus reducing blur. I made sure to brace my camera arm on a piece of furniture. I turned off the flash. I set the mode to "macro." There was very little natural light in my office at 4:15 pm, but the overhead florescent was on, as well as a floor lamp with an incandescent bulb under a shade (hmm, guess Facilities hasn't replaced that with a CFL yet). I put the sock on my Sigg bottle in front of my knitting bag on my office chair, and, presto!

What do you think? (I know Steven is going to be into this stuff.)

Now that I know this, you are more likely to see shots of office knitting. We have the same office camera as we have at home, so my settings should translate.

About the sock - size 0 needles (2 mm) and the stitch pattern is my old favorite, "uneven rib" (from one of the Charlene Schurch books). I just started the heel flap, which you can see curling toward you in the photo.

New sock started

Felici - pebbles
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

I am nearly done with Katie's 3-year-old socks (still no good photo, sorry about that) but I'm going to an event this evening that requires easy knitting. For that, I needed a new sock, since Katie's are too close to done. I picked some yarn from stash that I had knit before, thereby eliminating the need to do a gauge swatch. This is Knit Picks Felici in colorway "pebbles." Knit Picks sells a new version of Felici now, which has 6 colors in each ball but the stripes are of equal widths. I prefer the original Felici, which has only 4 colors in each ball but the stripes vary in width.

This will make a pair of socks for me that I can wear every single week with brown or khaki pants. I think I'll use the "uneven ribbing" as the cuff pattern. It's a simple rib, which is good for self-striping yarn, but it's slightly more interesting to knit than regular 2x2 rib. I used uneven rib for the Marine Pool Socks and the brim of my Slow Burn Hat - it's tried and true.

Here's to good Friday night knitting. I hope you have some, too!