Feathery Socks

Yes, it’s another sporadic blog post, but I wanted to get these posted this month to show that I *did* knit something in July.

Pattern: Feather and Fan by Judith Sumner
Source: Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Regia Silk 6-ply; color 0005
Needles: Knit Picks 24″ circulars size 2.50mm (1 1/2US)

Modifications: I knit these from the toe-up (like that’s a surprise to anyone who knows me) using Judy’s magic cast-on because really, there’s nothing better. I also omitted the “purl one round and knit one round” section right before you start the heel. My personal opinion is that the sock looks better without it.

I was very surprised at what an easy pattern this is, but the sock looks very intricate and difficult. It’s a 16-stitch repeat over 4 rows, so it is easily memorized and it was a very quick knit. I liked the yarn, I loved the pattern and even though I love handpainted yarn, I’m glad I chose a solid color to really bring out the beauty of the pattern.

I know I mentioned a few posts ago that I was going to rewrite the Monkey pattern toe-up, but I ran across this little gem awhile back and thought I’d share it with you all. Momma Monkey has developed a conversion tutorial for how to convert a sock from top-down to toe-up, and she has also designed 3 Harry Potter Soctopia patterns (Nagini, Fawkes, and Bellatrix) that you can download for free! Now if you want to convert a pattern, you can refer to Momma Monkey’s guide!

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NOT Eye Candy Friday

Since every Friday in blog-land (or blog-ville if you prefer), I see AMAZING photographs for Eye Candy Friday, I decided that since I don’t take amazing photographs (yet), that I’d start “NOT Eye Candy Friday” for myself. This may be a weekly thing, or it may be a one-time fluke for today, who knows.

I’ve now discovered that I live under a rock and that Amber is my neighbor. She posted about the jogless bind-off in the round and it is brilliant! I’ve never seen it before (because I must live under a rock) or if I had, I must have disregarded it. This is exactly the type of bind off that is perfect for toe-up socks and I can’t wait to try it on my current pair.

This pair of socks has been tossed aside and ignored for about a week though. I’ve either been burned out on sock knitting (perish the thought) or got so tired of ripping out the heel that I couldn’t stand to look at them any longer. Now I have renewed energy to complete them so I can try that bind-off. Thanks Amber! Now these socks may be finished in time for my March knitalongs. Just in case you’re wondering, this is the Zephyr Socks pattern knit in Regia Bamboo yarn.

The winner of my blogiversary contest, Abby, got to meet the Yarn Harlot on Thursday. I’m really happy for her, but I’m sooooo jealous. I found out the Harlot is going to be stopping in Northern California for her book tour, but not southern California. She didn’t come here for her last book tour either. Maybe I should move.

I have the BEST husband. The other day I was looking at my Amazon wish list when DH walked up to me and asked what I was doing. After stating that I was just adding books to my wish list, he asked me which ones I want. Why all of them, of course. I showed him my top five and next thing I know there was some button clicking going on and all the sudden there was a page about my order being sucessfully placed. WOW! And here’s what he bought me!

Most of you already own Socks, Socks, Socks so I won’t go into any details about it other than to say I was pleasantly surprised that there were so many sock patterns that I really loved and could actually see myself knitting about half the patterns in there. The No Sheep for You book really deserves its own review. I normally don’t review books, but of the blogs I read I haven’t seen anyone review it, so I thought.. why not me? So as to not “bore” you with it today, I’ll save the review for another day.

This weekend involves a library book sale, visiting a new knitting store,watching the grandsons at itty bitty t-ball, spending some much-needed time with DH, and of course knitting! I should have some fun things to blog about next week. Have a great weekend!

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