Sunday, March 7, 2010

Sock Club #1

I did a somewhat foolish thing earlier this year.

I signed up for a bi-monthly sock club through Twusted Yarns.

Somewhat foolish in that it was an expensive investment and I have been doing fine with less expensive yarns and free patterns.

Not so foolish in that I felt I needed some challenge in my sock knitting as it was becoming slightly boring to keep repeating my self.

I finished my first pair the other night and boy, were they a challenge.

The first challenge was with the yarn itself.

It is a hand dyed merino wool from Mountain Colors called Crazy Foot. The color I chose was Ruby Red. The challenge is that I have never worked with such exotic yarn and was afraid that if I messed up quite a bit I would not have enough yarn to continue.

I did not mess up my knitting and have tons left over.

The pattern we used was designed by Anna Hanson of Knitspot called Woodsmoke. It knits up to a lovely pair of socks but there were a couple of adjustments I made to the pattern. First of all I made it an extra pattern repeat longer in the leg, one repeat shorter in the foot, made the back of the heel straight stockinette rather than the lacey pattern and I lengthened the toe to accomodate my pointy toes. My other major change is that I used size 0 needles rather than the required size1s as I knit somewhat loosely.

Imagine a picture of my socks here as I think Alex has taken my camera again. Note to self - buy another camera and put a tracking device on it.

Anyway, despite the lack of pictures, I hope you read into this narrative how impressed I am with myself that I got these socks made before the next pair is available at the beginning of April. The other thing I am incredibly proud about is that they actually fit.

Will wonders never cease?

Have a great week!

1 comment:

Kim Hood said...

I made my first pair of socks before christmas for my daughter. I didnt think she would be very impressed but she has requested more.
I think a phrase including 'rod' and 'back' fits. Just as well I enjoyed it even though they werent as pretty as the ones you have knitted.
Good luck finding the camera!

P.S. Have you thought of trying a fabric called 'cordura' which is used for horse rugs for dog toys? I think you can buy it in the UK so perhaps you could get it.Just another tough fabric thought.