The Fastest Pair Of Socks…EVER!
Welcome to 2013!!
Owen, my brother and sister in law’s cat, ringing in the new year in style!
Some projects seem to just fly off the needles, as if the yarn has been sitting and waiting to be turned into something useful. This pair of socks that I’ve just finished is one such project. I started the first sock 2 days ago while waiting for my freshly dyed fleece to dry. Craving the variagation and uniqueness of handspun yarn, I knitted up some of my stash handspun with Kroy yarn. I was feeling rather smart when I divided up the handspun into two equal portions before I started. It worked out really well! I really like how the stripes break up the handspun’s long and unpredictable colour changes. The blue also join the pair nicely together by virtue of the contrast presented.
For me, socks, and particularly striped socks hold a particular memory for when and where they were knit. I will be able to recall with each change of colour what was going on at the time, who I was with, and those memories stay lovingly locked away in those stitches.
These particular socks have wrapped up the last moments of 2012, and the first of 2013. They knit together moments spent with friends and family; moments spent listening, and helping, celebrating and being together. These moments of connection will be cherished as I wear these cheery socks through the cold winter days.
Here’s my recipe (as much for my own reference as for anyone else)
These are toe up socks, Toe: I started with a figure of 8 cast on 20 stitches in blue, increase on alternating rows to 60 sts.
Foot: 7 rows handspun, 4 rows blue. I did not do any heel gusset increases.
My feet are pretty big, so I worked 6 stripes of handspun before the heel.
Heel Placement: knit 2 rows of blue (of the 4 rows expected), knit 30 sts in waste yarn for an afterthought heel, knit remaining 2 rows of blue.
Leg: I continued the striped pattern until my handspun ran out, the socks are a bit shorter than I’d like, but that’s ok. I worked 2.5 inches of K2P2 ribbing and cast off loosely.
Afterthought Heel: Carefully take out the waste yarn, keeping the 60 sts on 3 needles. Knit a toe (decrease 4 sts every 2 rounds to a total of 20 sts, graft with kitchener st)
