Year of Projects 7: Week 42

In progress:

Rrribb-it! Socks - 55% 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 leftovers from Feny Socks
Somewhere Socks - using various shades of blue scraps 
Glass Slippers Socks - using stash yarn TBD 

Completed: Petty Harbour Socks • Vanilla is the New Black Socks • There & Back Again Socks • Crosshaven Socks • Somewhere Socks • Tuxie Love • Brigit Socks • Crenate Socks • Mad Mix Socks • Ringwood Socks • Hearty Man Plaid Socks • Mojo Socks •Yaacov Socks • Leyburn Socks • Gschnitztal Socks • Merripog Socks

I was entirely caught off guard by how much I am loving these Rrribb-it! Socks. 

The yarn - Blue Jeans Sock Set by Lizzie-Anne Yarns -  was an impulse buy. It was kind of speckled and quite pastel and very much not my usual thing. Seems like speckled yarn is everywhere these days, and so are patterns with contrasting heels and toes, so I decided to take a ride on the band wagon.  

The yarn base is absolutely wonderful for socks. It's smooth and lightweight with excellent yardage and lots of twist. As well, it's got a lovely lanolin-rich feel to it. 

And look how nicely that heel and toe mini-skein coordinates with the main colour thanks to spots of the lilac-purple scattered throughout! It's really charming. I also like how there's lots going on with the yarn, but not so much as to overwhelm the pattern. 

The pattern is quite simple - just a mash-up of ribbed patterns - but there's just enough going on to keep it interesting. And with all that ribbing a good fit is about guaranteed. In consideration of the generous yardage of the main colour skein, I decided to add an extra pattern motif to lengthen the leg of the sock. After binding off I was relieved to find that I still had 57 grams left of my original 104 gram skein, so there should be enough to work a matching second sock. After a bit of thought, and a bit of time perusing other completed projects from this pattern, I've decided to knit an almost matching sock... I'm just going to shift the order of the ribbed motifs to make it similar. Barring anything unforeseen, I should have the second sock completed by the end of the week.

Our friend's baby was born at the beginning of April and the happy couple were kind enough to send me this lovely picture of Kailea rocking the little cardigan that I knit for her. The cardigan was gifted to her parents at a baby shower in November. The pattern is In Threes, which is a very nice easy knit for a baby gift. 

I had knit the pattern before for another set of expectant parents but at that time I knit a larger size thinking the baby would get more wear out of it. I'm a terrible judge of baby sizes - they all look impossibly small to me, and there are no babies around here to try things on - so that first cardigan was much too large. It ended up at more of a toddler size than a baby size, so she's finally getting some use of it now. To be fair, she's a wee little thing so she'd be swimming in anything age appropriate.

In light of that I decided to knit the newborn size on a smaller set of needles. I checked all the online charts about baby neck circumferences and baby chest circumference and concluded that the neck of the newborn size might be too narrow. So I started at a larger size for a wider neck, then cut back the increases through the yoke to end up at the newborn size by the armpits. Based on the photo, I think that worked out pretty well. Kailea is about a week old in the photo, and I'd guess that there's enough room for her to get several weeks wear. Hopefully the warm weather will have arrived by then, but there's no guarantee if you consider today's wintery hail and ice storm!

Towards the beginning of the week I finished the second of my MKAL socks - the Cable and Lace option. I'm not a fan of a spiral toe, but it's not horrible and it fits okay. The german short row heel with the added gusset increases and decreases is fabulous. The cable and lace patterns across the top of the foot, the instep and the leg are very attractive; I especially like how one pattern transitions into the next. So although I liked this sock more than the other one, I still didn't like it enough to knit a second sock so it's been frogged as well. 

I am not a fan of the garter stitch cuff and picot cast off - it's more decorative than functional. It flares out from the top of the leg making this sock look like a jester's slipper. 

The patterning at the back of the leg starts very abruptly with some very unfortunate misalignments to the heel and foot. 

Bobbles on a sock? Why?!?! I can't even imagine wearing these socks in shoes with those bobbles positioned at top of the heel at the back!

The 7 stitch cables are very lumpy and the sock is very inflexible. The sock pretty much stands up by itself. And all cabling makes the pattern very yarn hungry, so knit as an ankle sock with one leg repeat the sock had already eaten up 50 grams. If you wanted a longer sock - and I always want a longer sock - you'd need an extra skein and a plan about how to fit the increasing width of your calf in pattern.

To me this sock feels more like a decorative slipper than a practical sock. I might try again starting with a turkish cast on and a wedge toe, preserving the central cable motif over the foot instep and leg, but replacing the outer patterns and lacy areas with some combination of seed stitch and ribbing, and working with a thinner yarn and/or a larger needle for a more relaxed fabric. I'd want at least three repeat on the leg, and I'd finish it with a ribbed cuff. Oh, and no bobbles. Maybe I'll put that on next year's project list?