Friday, January 6, 2012

Finished Object Friday

mmmm

Now that my CoffeeMates socks are done I plan to wear them today. After trying them on once they immediately became my favourite socks - they're are so soft and lovely.

I've devised this simple ribbed toe-up sock with an after-thought heel figuring that was the best strategy to use the Katia Darling yarn to the most dramatic effect. I wanted to show off the long colour repeats without a busy pattern to distract. And an after-thought heel seemed like the best strategy to avoid breaking up the colours. Knitting toe-up, I used every last yard in the ball to make the socks as high on the calf as possible.

A couple of warnings though, if you come across Katia Darling at your LYS and consider purchasing it. The yarn is brush plied which makes it very soft, fuzzy and splitty. Really splitty. The eastern cast on to start these socks was a definite challenge with this yarn. And picking out a bind off proved impossible without scissors. Also there was a really poor splice without regard to colour continuity in each of the two balls I used. One fell a couple of inches above the heel and one a couple of inches past the toe - you can see the hard lines where the colour shifts suddenly in my photo, I think? Based on what I read in Ravelry I was lucky; others have found multiple splices in their yarn. Annoying! But even with all of that I can only repeat that now that these are done, these are my new favourite socks and that's all down to the yarn.
wonky

Yesterday I also finished another dishcloth - this one based on Rhonda White's Bobbles the Sheep cloth pattern. I made some modifications to the pattern to make it a bit smaller and to eliminate some of the stockinette field in which the sheep motif sits. But as you can see, my modifications weren't terribly successful. My dishcloth is not very square and my sheep sits a bit low in her field. Back to the drawing board! Don't expect to see another soon though. There's one more dishcloth on the needles to finish and then I think I'm dishclothed-out for the next while.

I'm heading over to Tami's Amis for some inspiration and entertainment. Take a few minutes to check out the variety of finishes!

14 comments:

Isaida said...

Love your coffeemates! would be great to wear while drinking a good cup of coffee in pj's and handknit coffeemates :)

Andria said...

I love your socks. No one will ever notice the colour breaks you mentioned--only you. I look and see wonderful socks! I also like Bobbles the sheep, but I'm a sucker for a dishcloth!

Unknown said...

I love those socks!! I would go searching for the yarn, but since I no longer knit socks, why bother. I will just dream of them.

Dutch Hollow Acres said...

Your socks came out dashingly well! Beautiful.

Well at least the bobbles of your sheep look good.

Wanderingcatstudio said...

The socks are gorgeous. I find Crystal Palace's Mini Mochi is like that - beautiful colours but knots with no care given to sequence. The single ply also makes it hard to knit socks with.

Karen said...

Your socks are wonderful! I love the color.

Christy said...

Cool socks! The sheep is really cute too. I haven't tried bobbles yet.

Bonnie said...

I love the socks! That's a really cute pattern you chose for the dishcloth. The wonkiness isn't too bad, and I'm sure the dishes won't mind :-)

Anonymous said...

They are GORGEOUS socks! I love that color!

Congrats on the finish.

Delusional Knitter said...

Awesome socks, they look so warm and comfy!!

Alittlebitsheepish said...

The socks look lovely, but I know what you mean about knitting with fuzzy yarns. Enjoy wearing them :)

MarmePurl said...

Many thanks for the critique of the Katia Yarn. Its is always so helpful to know these things. The socks do look lovely!

Unknown said...

Love those socks! The sheep is adorable too!

Pearlin J said...

love the colour! beautiful socks