Friday, November 19, 2004

Socks: Past, Present and Future


Remember my first pair of socks? The ones made out of beautiful Wildfoote yarn in Brown Sugar colorway? The ones that turned out SO honkin' HUGE? Well, that's them. Yup. Those two balls of yarn on the left are those socks. I frogged them the other night. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it might. I decided that even though they were a "lesson learned", I wasn't willing to just look at the awesome colors of that yarn or feel it in my hands. I want SOCKS! So they will be re-knit at some point in the future.

My Sockotta socks are done! I finished them Monday night and am pleased with the results. They are definitely identical as they could be. The color changes came within a couple of stitches of each other as I was knitting them. On my first socks I just was not "getting" the grafting part...but I realized I didn't have good Kitchener directions in front of me. With the help of one of the other knitting teachers at the shop, I was able to use Kitchener on these socks with great success. Whew, I feel better now that I "get it"! BTW, I knit these socks in 10 days, which I think is pretty darned good for my second pair, and considering the fact that much OTHER knitting went on during that 10 days too. It didn't hurt that there were a helluva lot less stitches on the needles than my first mammoth pair LOL.

I started my Trekking socks last night. That's them on the needles. I thought there was a color repeat in this skein, but I'm beginning to think the entire skein is totally random in its blending of colors. These socks will not be identical twins. They will not even be fraternal twins. We're going to call them "Second Cousin Socks". I have not seen one area of color repeat itself on the other sock yet. They are going to be very different, but that's OK! I LOVE this yarn. The way there are 3 colors stranded together and then one of the colors changes, and then another one changes....very cool! I am using the Fluted Banister pattern that is part of the Six-Sock Knitalong. I'm not doing the knitalong, but I did join the yahoo group so I could see pictures and read messages about the sock patterns. Being a new sock knitter, I want all the help I can get! I like how the pattern is turning out so far. I don't think it gets lost too much in the stripes of the yarn, and I really like how these are going to be leg hugging socks. Here is a better picture of my progress so far.


The untouched skein is the Lana Grossa Multieffects that I got on the Shop Hop on Saturday. I can't wait to get started on that skein too. I love watching the patterns emerge in the self patterning yarns. Whoever came up with the concept was a genious!

4 comments:

Jane said...

Knit On!! Your socks are wonderful. I loved making the Fluted Banisters. It's an easy pattern, and the finished socks are nice and stretchy. Your fraternal pair is also pretty - I like the bright colors. Hey, you are now officially a SOCK KNITTER. Yay!

Miriam said...

I'm jealous. I keep wanting to try the self-patterning sock yarns, but I'm unreasonably afraid of them. Maybe sometime when I have nothing pressing and can dedicate time to just being stressed over the socks and how the pattern will come out... which is definitely not now.

Good luck!
M

Anonymous said...

Hello,
I've been admiring your socks--2 socks in progress, on needles, Nov 19; What kind of yarn is that? I think you refer to it as Trekking, a brand I have not tried. Could you give me the name and style and color, if it's not too much trouble? Thanks, Dorothy

Trish said...

Dorothy, you didn't give me your email address so I'm going to have to post it here and hope you come back to read this!
It is Trekking XXL yarn, and the color # is 100.