Year of Projects 12: Week 8

 

That's the first sock done; the second sock is underway. What a lovely sock! Did I mention how much I'm enjoying this pattern? I just adore that column of stitches - it's cleverly made by pulling stitches over each other so there's no cabling and it's very quick and easy to work.

Someone familiar with the pattern might detect the mistake I made. The tile pattern is meant to start and finish with a contrast colour round. I guess I was in such a hurry to dive into the colour work that I wasn't paying close enough attention. I only realized at the end of the tile pattern when the pattern called for a round knitted in contrast colour, but once I was that far, I decided to leave it as is and omit that contrast colour round at both top and bottom of the tile pattern. And you know, it might have been even nicer with those contrast colour rows to frame the colourwork, but it's water under the bridge now.

I'm sure you've realized that I'm generally in favour of lengthening sock legs until they are at least as long as the foot, if not a touch longer. I just think the sock looks better proportioned that way. But in this case I didn't want to do anything to move that tile pattern up the leg. It's not stretchy enough to move up onto the wider part of my calf. I settled for making the ribbed cuff about 25% longer than directed. I think it balances nicely with the length of the colourwork below.

It looks like I will have time to finish this pair before the Musselburgh KAL gets underway on September 1st. Happy crafting everyone! If you'd like to join our Year of Projects group, look for us here on Ravelry.

Year of Projects 12: Week 7

Nothing better than having a finished object to post! These Kroy Turquoise Stripes Socks are done and I'm quite pleased with them. 

Although all that vanilla sock knitting was pretty dull, self-striping yarn like this usually fights with fancy stitch patterns, so vanilla it would be. I like the colours and the stripes, but it does frustrate me that Kroy yardage is so skimpy. I'd have been happier to complete the socks entirely in the Kroy Stripes rather than having to add bands of black to lengthen the leg. 

Oh well, never mind all that. They're done, the ends are sewn in, they fit perfectly and I like them more than I thought I would. That's a win. And finishing without leftovers is very satisfying.

For the last few days I've been continuing with my Palace Volturi socks, and really enjoying the pattern. Thanks to Knit Companion I was able to pick up where I left off without missing a beat (or a row) after more than a year. The stitch patterns are interesting but not so complicated that I can't binge watch The Sandman at the same time. I can hardly wait to get to the colourwork "tile" pattern towards the top of the leg. It's making me think that I should have another look through Rachel Coopey's patterns to see if I should add a few more to my Year of Projects.

Have a great week! See you again next Sunday for my next Year of Projects 12 update. Year of Projects is a group on Ravelry - you're very welcome to join us if you are interested.

Year of Projects 12: Week 6

 

My Kroy Turquoise Stripes Socks aren't done yet.  Almost, but not quite, done. I'm about half way through the ribbing on the leg of the second sock and expect to finish them in the next day or two. And then on to Volturi Palace Socks as my focus for the remainder of August.

I've got an exact time frame in mind, because I've signed up for the Monster Musselburgh KAL on Instagram (#MonsterMusselburghKAL). Two knitters that I follow - @circletoes and @smcarn - are hosting the KAL. Every year they run a Monster Sock KAL, but this year they're doing a hat rather than socks. The pattern is Musselburgh by Ysolda Teague. The KAL runs from September 1 to October 15. Participants must use scrap yarn and/or mini sets. 

The Musselburgh pattern is written for your choice of 9 gauges, from light fingering to DK, to make a reversible double-layered hat in your choice of 6 sizes, from baby to adult extra-large. That should work with ALL my scraps. And I suspect these will make good Christmas gifts!

In anticipation of the September 1st cast on, I've organized three collections of sock yarn scraps as shown in my photo. At the top are blues and greys, at the right are greens, browns and neutrals and on the left are pinks and purples. The tough part is choosing where to start. As I was sorting the scraps I thought that I'd be starting with the blues and greys, but seeing them in collections like this I'm now leaning towards the greens, browns and neutrals. Hmmmm. What do you think?

In other news, I had a slight stumble in my Austere August plans. At a garage sale on Saturday morning, I picked up two 50g balls of Regia 6-fâdig sock yarn in a tweedy charcoal grey and one 100g ball of SRK On Your Toes Sock with Aloe Vera yarn in a tweedy brown - for $2 each and a grand total of $6. That was too much of a bargain to pass up! The garage sale had bins and bins of crafty goods - quilting fabrics, embroidery kits, needle felting supplies, beading supplies and tools, sewing patterns, and yarn - so I really think I controlled myself pretty well in the face of a great deal of temptation!

Have a great week everyone. To find out more about the Year of Projects, have a look here on Ravelry!