FO: Mint Socks

Project: Mint Socks (aka the 2012 Socks)

Pattern: Silver's Sock Class

Yarn: Knitpicks palette

Needles: size 2 DPNs

For: myself (because I knit selfishly in January and February after the Christmas making)

Notes: I cast these on just after the new year, and was determined to finish, because, well, I felt defeated by socks last year and I didn't want to miss my sock goal for a second year in a row. So I spent one whole day on the first sock and then found little bits of time here and there for the second (since whole days of knitting just don't happen that often). I grafted the toe of the second sock last Saturday for a total of 11 days on this knit.


The cuff is a little baggy for my personal taste (and if I would have swatched to check out the fabric type I was getting I would have seen that that would be a problem with this particular yarn on this particular needle size but I'm a notorious non-swatcher on stuff like this), and on the next sock I'm taking time to be sure that the gusset shaping turns out a little more narrow for the foot by decreasing a little more or starting with 60 stitches instead of 64.


I'd guess having around 25 hours in this pair (within an hour or two either way) but I did a lot of "knit for 20 minutes in the car" type knitting on the cuff and gusset so it's hard to really calculate((and I'm just not the kind of knitter to keep track of that sort of thing). It's been about a year since I knit a sock so while I'm familiar with the construction I did have to stop and think and calculate a little bit as I went.


Things I learned: I should have used a smaller needle for these. They turned out fine for size, but this particular yarn would have probably done best with a 0 for a denser fabric (and I know this is not the best yarn for socks, but I'm okay if they don't last that long). You'd think I'd know to swatch by now, but... not so much. Does it help if I promise to swatch for the next pair?


I really tried to figure out why it is that I've stalled out on socks before, and I couldn't really pinpoint that particular problem. Maybe I'm just not ready to knit fancier socks yet and need to spend some hours knitting a few pairs of vanilla ones so that I get to that "plain socks are boring; I need something more interesting than this" place that I've gotten to with other project types.


Overall: Good knit! I think I learned enough about what I want from the sock shaping to get my desired fit on the next pair.

Yarn Along

{Yarning Along with Ginny again as I do most Wednesdays...}

Sorry for the flash pic, but January sunlight is just not being kind to me this week! 

The mint green socks from last week are complete (more details later in the week), and I'm trying another vanilla pair, this time in worsted weight for a faster knit and thicker sock. I know it's nothing fancy, but I'm going to try the heel a little differently and see if I like the fit better. After this I think I'm going back to a bit of baby knitting, but I've got to take advantage of the sock knitting mojo while I have it, you know?


I'm reading on my kindle again this week- Organized Simplicity. I was just about to buy a copy of this book when I saw it come up for free on kindle and took advantage. (It's no longer free to everyone, but as of this writing it's free for Amazon prime members). I've just started it, but already found a lot to love.


My 4-year-old is responsible for the Knitted Monster book. He's in love with all things Stitch (as in Disney's Lilo and Stitch) so any kind of monster or alien thing is something he equates with stitch. When he saw this book on a highlighted knitting display while at our library the other day he said I *had* to get it for him. He looked through and picked a monster for me to knit on the way home- so maybe a knitted monster will be up next?