In progress:
Rrribb-it! Socks - 0% complete, using Lizzie-Anne Yarns Sock Set in "Blue Jeans"
Not yet started:
Alfrick Socks - using Sandnes Garn Sisu in grey and white
Twisted Flower Socks - using Hikoo CoBaSi yarn in Egyptian Blue
Feny Socks - using Lang Jawoll Superwash in turquoise and chocolate
Double Heelix Socks - using stash yarn TBD
Somewhere Socks - using various shades of blue scraps
Glass Slippers Socks - using stash yarn TBD
Not surprisingly my second Merripog Sock is done. Having obstinately decided that I should not and would not cast on anything else until they were done, I knit monogamously on that second sock until it was done. Long ago when I had many fewer sets of sock needles I had no choice but to finish one project before starting another. Maybe I should go through my needle inventory and clean house?
They are lovely socks now that they are finished. There is something very satisfying about a simple, smooth and unfussy pair of socks knit at tight gauge with smooth lightweight fingering yarn. Before starting the ribbing of the cuff I increased from 72 sts to 80 sts to avoid having the ribbing pulled snug where my calves widen. They're straight off the needles in the photos, so I expect the colourwork will flatten a bit after a wash. Fingers crossed!
When I started the socks I wasn't sure that there was enough contrast between the two yarn colours, but I'm happy with them now that they're done. I imagine the patterning on the leg would be helped if I had knit white or cream rather than grey but grey was the yarn I had, so decision made. Is it just me, or is there a dearth of solid or mostly solid sock yarns these days?!
With those socks off the needles I turned my attention to the MKAL socks. I had remained on the sidelines through clue 4 to await clue 5. But with the release of the final clue on Friday I thought I'd better knit at least some of it to see how it went and then make decisions.
With this knitalong each section is provided as two options - with Option 1 being generally colourwork and Option 2 being generally cables and lace. You can combine the options however you like to make your own unique socks.
For my first sock I knit Option 1 (colourwork) for each of the 5 clues.
Clue 1 (toe) was a garter stitch toe which was cast on with a provisional cast on (Judy's Magic Cast On), worked as a square of garter stitch, then folded up into a toe with short row shaping. This was my first experience of Judy's Magic Cast On. It's okay, but I found it very fiddly on DPNs. As for the garter stitch toe, I found it very shallow; it doesn't fit my long pointy toes at all. As a final nail in the coffin, I find it quite unattractive.
Clue 2 (foot) was a simple colourwork pattern which could be worked in two or three colours. I always struggle with my colour choices so I picked up a good tip here... photograph your choices in B&W to see if there's enough contrast for the combination to work. My grey yarn choice is too close to the main colour purple, so it doesn't really pop. All that being said, I didn't love the colourwork pattern so I switched to a vanilla foot after finishing one repeat.
In Clue 3 (heel) gusset increases on the foot opposite a zig-zag slipped stitch pattern on the instep, lead to a garter stitch heel worked in german short rows. I didn't like anything about this and again found it all quite unattractive. I find the garter stitch heel looks lumpy and distracting. There are puffy areas through the gusset area, perhaps because of the uneven fabric from the instep opposite. And the idea of adding bulk to my instep with a smocked stitch pattern just bewilders me. Ugh!
Clue 4 (leg) sees the leg knitted in a slipstitch rib pattern. I'm ambivalent on this. I found the slipstitch rib pattern quite interesting and attractive. Some good ideas might be developed from that for a sock pattern to work with wildly variegated yarn. On the other hand, as written it binds and makes it hard to get the sock over the heel. It certainly wouldn't work for a leg much longer than an ankle sock because there's not much stretch.
Clue 5 (cuff) is a "Fusilli Cuff", which is really more of a knitted on ruffle than a traditional cuff. The border is worked back and forth across 4 sts, and is "turned" every six rows to create a twist or turn in the border. I'm pretty sure I've done a cuff like this before, or something similar. It's involved and uses a ton of yarn - well, you do work 30 sts for every 4 sts cast off! And the result is fussy and ruffly which might be cute on an ankle sock but not really my cup of tea. I think I'd like it better as a blanket or washcloth border.
Taken altogether you have a weird-looking ill-fitting sock, as far as I'm concerned. Presumably the design is intended to incorporate a variety of new and interesting experiences for the knitter rather than producing a practical sock. If you have short toes and like an ankle sock, you could make this work for you I suppose, but pretty much none of this sock worked for me. I guess I'm set in my ways. Sock one has already been frogged.
By next week I'll finish the second "Cables and Lace" option to see what I think of that. I'm not really holding out much hope: there are bobbles on the leg and a picot cuff.
