So Much for Getting the Sock Stash Down to Reasonable Levels

That's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock; Peace of Fleece, which I hope I like it since I bought enough for two pair; and Art Yarns Cashmere Sock, which I hope I like it since I had to sell a kidney to buy it. I also ordered Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in two colorways on-line. All of which means, I'm pretty much back to where I started from in terms of sock stack size.

Tools of the Trade

I finally caved and bought myself some Signature needles.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they're not currently available in circulars. They are available in single points but I chose 5 inch long double points since I'll be using them for socks. They're available in 4, 5, 6 or 8 inches long and come in all sizes, not just American. They're sold in sets of 4 with an option to buy additional needle. I bought the 3 sizes I use most frequently for socks; 2.25, 2.50 and 2.75. You don't get to choose the colors but you can't have everything.

Let's Just Finish These Already. Or Not.

Seaweed lace in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in blackberry are done:

The pedicure socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in rainbow have been given a reprieve:

The stranded socks in Bristol Yarn Gallery Buckingham in natural and lite Lime are getting frogged:

I've decided I'm not going to like the Lorna's Laces rainbow colorway in a different pattern any better so I may as well live with this. I'm going to rip out the toes and try something different but otherwise leave them alone. As for the second pair, I like the stranded pattern but I don't like it with a short row heal. I don't like short row heals under the best of circumstances. They're always too snug across the top of the instep because the sock has the same circumference all the down but my foot does not. It might work with something stretchy like lace but there's no give in stranded knitting so the socks are uncomfortably tight. A gusset would solve the problem but a Fair Isle pattern like this don't work with a gusset so I'm ripping it back to before the heal and will only use the pattern on the cuff.

Seaweed Lace Socks

These are made with Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Blackberry. I found this lace stitch in the most recent issue of Interweave magazine. It repeats over 8 stitches but the first 2 are purl stitches, so it's really ribbed lace.

I realized that there wasn't any reason why I couldn't do an odd number of repeats and then adjust the stitch count during the gusset decreases. I could have worked the top of the foot over fewer stitches than the sole since lace is very stretchy but I would've had to increase the stitch count before starting the toe and I couldn't think of a way to do that for this particular lace stitch. 

I cast on 72 stitches on size 2.0 needles, did 12 rows of  2/2 ribbing and then 9 repeats of the lace stitch. When I divided the stitches for the heal, I held 34 stitches, starting and ending with 2 purl stitches for the top of the sock and worked the remaining 38 for the heal flap, and then decreased to 34 stitches for the sole.

Travelling Vine Socks are Done

These are Louet Gems Fingering weight in teal.

They were knit on 2.75 needles with 54 stitches cast on. After ribbing, I decreased the stitch count by 6 ((K1, SSK, K7) 6 times)) to 48. Wandering Vine repeats over 8 stitches so there are 6 repeats of the pattern.

Traveling Vine Lace Socks

I love "Traveling Vine" and have wanted to use it for socks forever. There's a pattern in the latest "Interweave" based on it in teal so it all just came together since Louet Gems in teal was at the top of my knitting basket.

This pattern is super stretchy so the sock is knit over just 48 stitches on 2.75 needles. The pattern repeats over 8 stitches and 12 rows, which is really limiting since you need an even number of repeats. It was either 48 or 64 stitches and 64 was way too many. I worked the cuff over 54 stitches and did one row to reduce the count to 48. It's just barely stretchy enough. I probably should have started with 60 stitches and done 2 reduction rows but this was already the second pass at these and I didn't feeling like starting over again.

I love the pattern and I love the color and they knit up fast.

I've only finished one so I haven't blocked it yet but you get the idea.

Knitting and Basketball Do Not Mix

I looked at what I'd done on the Baltic Sea Stole during the UConn/Stamford game when I was putting it away after the game. Apparently I didn't look at it during the game because there are some glaring errors in there. Watching the game slowed me down significantly so at least it's less to rip than I would normally get done during an evening's worth of knitting.