Duelling pinatas

Duelling pinatas
Originally uploaded by Sophie_vf

I finally started knitting up this skein of Fleece Artist merino sock I bought last summer in Vancouver. Really, when I bought it, I knew that the vivid and extremely excited looking colorway (Pinata) was going to be an issue when selecting a pattern. I could have done plain vanilla socks like the CTH socks I did a while ago, but I really wanted something more entertaining to knit.

On the left, Jutta's socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia, on the right, Undulating Rib from Favorite Socks from Interweave Knits. I think I'm going to stick with the Jutta's socks, because they're basically vanilla with a lace detail going down the sides, so there isn't an overkill of investment in stitch details that won't really show.

And yes, in real life, the colours are actually louder than this.

a little summer vanilla

Nothing fancy here, just plain but fun vanilla socks, using up some leftover yarn. I might make these again, so I thought I'd better save the recipe. They're just a 64 stitch cast on, with 2 x 2 ribbing from the cuff down, increased to 38 sole stitches before beginning garter stitch short row heel, decreased back to 64 stitch circumference before knitting a plain stockinette foot. In Regia tip-top cotton, 2.5 mm KP circ.


And for a larger serving of vanilla:

Recipe: cast on 32 stitches for short row toe, stockinette foot increased to 40 sole stitches before beginning short row garter stitch heel, decrease again and begin 3 x 1 ribbing, and knit till yarn is almost done. EZ's sewn bind-off. These are in CTH Supersock in potluck jewel colours, 2.5 mm Inox circ.

I'm doing these mostly because I've found that 100% merino socks seem to wear a little quickly in the heel, and I'm hoping the garter stitch heel will be a bit sturdier.