Yippity doo dah, my first pair of socks is officially done!

I had the dreaded well-loved second sock off the needles nearly a week ago, but it took me a wee while to get around to taking and posting the photos.

Pattern:  Braided Cable & Broken Seed Socks, by Lauren Lindenman

Yarn:  Trekking Pro Natura (75% new wool, 25% bamboo), almost one skein in color 1512

Pretty happy with these pups.  For my first figure-it-out-as-I-went pair, they’ve drawn encouranging compliments, for a pattern that’s not too tough:

From one of the middle-aged TSA guys at Bangor International Airport (yeah, I’m guessing that it’s barely international; maybe a few planes prance across the Maine border to Canada):  “Ohhh, what’re you making, there, miss?  Ohhh, that’s very pretty.”  Since when do these guys notice knitting?

From Bidie-In:  “Wow, I can’t believe this is something that can be made my hand.  It’s so intricate.”  Thanks, honey.

From Squeezer:  “When you’re done with these, can I have some that are cropped low at the ankle?”  In other words, “You adults wear dorky tall socks.  I want cool socks, like all normal people.”

 

Maizy also requested socks.  When asked the color, she said, “Umm, red.”  When asked how long, she said, “Maybe…up to here [pointing at her toes].  No, maybeeee…up to here [pointing to her upper thigh]“.  Ah, yes, thigh-highs - this is a niece of mine.

I like the cables on these because…well, I like cables.  The broken seed stitch around them has a really nice texture and feels nice on the old peds.  Substantial-feeling without being heavy in weight.

The yarn was very nice to work with.  Not splitty, not scratchy, not easily knotted.  Nicely spun, with a very slight, barely distinguishable heathery effect (I had this fiber up close to my eyes for quite a while, so maybe I hallucinated that part).

The color I like, but this is not shocking because a) I picked it out, and b) everything I pick out lately is either this shade of green (between sage and olive) or baby blue.  Often both.  Note that the pics of my socks here include in the environs my bag du jour (it’s colorful cotton, compliments of Target; I put the leather on the shelf for a few months to give it a rest), which is - green and blue.  Also in the pic is my baby-blue-covered phone, and yes, the green knitted socks. Not an intentional set up for the photo, but I suppose this strengthens the point.

One skein (459 yds) was plenty for this project.  Had 50-60 yds leftover; could’ve made the socks a bit longer, but they’re fine the way they are.  I like the idea of doing toe-up socks so that you can determine how long you can make them (if you’re good at guessing the halfway point of your skein after one sock).

Even better, you could do the socks two at a time on a circular needle, that way they have to stay the same length.

Well, yee-haw, it’s a good thing I have a book to show me how to do this, because that’s how I want to do my next pair, the Raindrop Lace Socks.  Those poor things are still hanging around at 0% completion since I set them up for Ravelympics, but I refuse to take the socks off of In Progress status because I’m going to cast them on any day. 

Any moment. 

Or day.

I am learning the two-at-a-time method via Melissa Morgan-Oakes, whose 2-at-a-Time Socks finally got cracked open from its perch on my bedside table.

While I’m telling you about it, I might as well make it a book review.

I like the way Melissa writes, and I like her thorough yet I-know-you’re-not-dumb approach with photos and enough words of description to get the concepts across.  She’s not claiming she’s split the atom with this method:  obviously it’s been done before, but she’s just compiling her thoughts on the matter.  With some pretty pics.


There’s a nice feature included for each design:  a close-up photo of the stitch pattern.  Detail like this is often overlooked, but it’s very helpful. 

Although - I might have been led down the garden path here.  She talked about teaching at WEBS in her intro; and given my Pavlovian repsonse to the mention of WEBS, I may have been predisposed to like her.

Stay tuned.  I’m still learning with little practice colors.

Anyhoot, the book itself has a lot of cutesy patterns that I could see becoming holiday gifts.  I didn’t buy the book for the patterns, just the technique, but I do like what I see.  Anything that makes the process of churning out a pair of socks quicker, thereby motivating me to actually cast on and motor through a project, is probably a good investment.

There’s a nice pattern for men’s socks in there - a pair he could wear to work.  Here are a smattering of those and other photos that caught my eye in the book:

 

Upon paging through this book herself, Squeezer again commented on how all of the socks are “too tall.”  I reminded her that this was the joy of knitting, my dear, that we can stop knitting when we want the socks to not get any taller. 

No worries, Squeeze - I hear you loud and clear.  Cropped-at-the-ankle socks are what the cool kids are wearing - I get it. 

[scurries off to tell Santa to cancel that order for too-tall socks]