Little Pink Socks

I made a bonus pair of socks this month. These tube socks were knit using two skeins of Baby Cashmerino in light pink (colorway #601),using size 2.5 dpns with the same stitch pattern as the May socks.


My favorite comic strip is Mutts and I especially like Mooch the Cat. Mooch has a little pink sock he loves and who can blame him? I love pink socks too. And I love pink. After spending more than 25 years living in a house with a husband and four boys there's just something in me that craves the color pink. I have a pink toothbrush. I buy pink flowers to plant in my garden. I make pink quilts. But, being a woman of a certain age and not really being a girly-girl, I don't wear pink. At least I don't in public. It's really a color for little girls. There may be some women who can get away with wearing it, but I'm not one of them.



However, every spring I buy myself a pink nightgown for the summer. And this year I decided that, because my feet sometimes get cold even in hot weather, I needed a pair of bed socks. In pink. Even better, in pink lace. So I knit myself a pair of pink lace socks.

Summer Sandals

I have ordered my sandals for this summer. And yes, I will sometimes be wearing them with socks. I know that this is considered a big fashion don't, but I live in the Pacific Northwest and we scoff at such nonsense. Rant, rant all you want, people who are horrified to see others wearing socks with sandals, but it's not going to stop me.

May Socks Finished

The May socks are finished! Yay!! Of course, I changed the pattern one more time.

This is what I ended up using:
Rnd 1: K5, P1
Rnd 2: K1, YO, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, YO, K1, P1
Rnd 3: K5, P1
Rnd 4: K2, YO, SSK, K1, P1
Rnds 5 and 6: K5, P1

Here is detail of the pattern:


I'm happy with how these turned out. I'm now working on a bonus pair of socks using the same pattern. Details later.

52 Pair Plunge III

For just one mad moment, I actually considered joining this Ravelry Group. The challenge is to knit 52 pairs of socks in one calendar year (midnight June 1, 2009 - midnight May 31, 2010). Looking at my calendar changed my mind.

I will be working fewer hours this summer, but I have committed myself to writing a chapter for a book, will be attending a conference in Chicago in July which may also include side-trips to visit my sons who live in Ohio and Vermont, need to study for and take the Certified Archivists Exam in August, and will be presenting at a conference in October. Along with my other commitments which include church fundraisers (a barbecue in June, an ice cream social in August plus Vacation Bible School in late August), I hope to get in some gardening and maybe some quilting. My schedule is filling up fast and I'll be lucky to keep my one pair of socks a month schedule up.

Sock Yarn Stash Additions

Well, yeah, like I need more yarn. But...you all know how that goes.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is what I bought in the past couple of weeks:
Two skeins of Koigu in denim #2320.

One skein of Araucania Yarn (colorway: Italia) made of super wash wool and bamboo.
I saw this knitted up and fell in love with it.

I bought both of these at my LYS, Fiber Nooks and Crannys, located in the town where I work.

One skein of Socks That Rock, lightweight (colorway: Footzey Foo). I will be using this to make the Spring Forward socks from Knitty.
I bought this from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.


And, finally, I bought these three skeins from The March Hare, AKA Meg Warren on Etsy. They are Pesto, Summer Sun, and Deep Water. The colors are exactly as pictured and I love all three.

Well, I said finally, but there's one more I ordered online. It's Pagewood Farms Chugiak (colorway: Rainbow) to make the Potpourri socks by Deb Barnhill. The pattern is from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarns by Carol J. Sulcoski.

Inspired

I've come down with a miserable spring virus which includes copious coughing and have been spending part of my knitting time perusing Flickr for sock photos. I came across those made by cauchy 09. They are just gorgeous. She is also on Ravelry under the name Chawne and has posted two "recipes" for socks--Socks of Kindness and Grasshopper Twists-- which I have added to my list.

She has other sets of photos on Flickr including embroidery, crochet, quilts, lace, handspun, spinning, and more.

Start Over

After knitting a bit more on the May sock, I realized that the stitch pattern made it much too stretchy. I tried a few other stitch patterns and didn't like any of them. I finally settled on this pattern:

Rnd 1-3 K4, P2
Rnd 4 YO, K2 tog, SSK, YO, P2

I've knit about an inch of the pattern. It's not exactly the look I was hoping to get, but it'll do.

Beginning of May Socks

Pattern Stitch for May Socks

I'm using a lovely violet colored Koigu yarn for these socks and have named them Lilacs in My Garden. I'm using the knotted openwork stitch pattern for them. It's an pattern that was easily changed to knitting in the round.

Rnd 1 and 3: Knit
Rnd 2 *yf, k3, with LH needle lift 1st stitch of the 3 sts just knitted over the last 2; rep from * to last st
Row 4: K2, *k3, with LH needle lift the 1st stitch of the 3 sts just knitted over the last 2, yf; rep from * K1.

This results in a stitch which reminds me of lilacs.