Finally! This is my 12th pair of socks for the year and my box of socks is finished!! I decided to end up on a festive Christmas note with some celebratory scarlet socks… they are quite plain, but… LOOK AT THAT COLOUR!! YUMMM!!
I bought this magnificently coloured yarn in Purl Soho in New York City during my recent holiday over there…it is a Koigu KPM 100% merino, hand painted sock yarn, dye lot 2227, but just says “solid red” on the label.
Actually, the thing I’m most proud of with these socks is that I finally managed to work out something I’ve been thinking of for some time… and that is to reverse engineer my sock pattern to be a toe-up design. So happy with this! I did it because the Koigu skein was a smaller one, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to knit two full-length socks, and wanted to make the best use of my yarn. I divided the skein into as close to half as I could gauge (haha, knitting pun), and knitted each until I ran out of yarn. You can’t do this with a cuff down design! As I got close to doing the rib section at the top end, I unrolled the remainder of each ball and measured and was really pleased to see I’d managed to get the two balls within 3m of each other! I cut the difference and joined it to the smaller ball to finish both socks off with an equal amount.
Even with all my careful and clever planning (ha!) … look at this!! I couldn’t believe I ran out right near the very very end of one of the socks like that! In case the picture isn’t clear, that’s about 8 stitches short! DOH!!
It’s funny; I finished these in the middle of a massive heatwave, the worst we’ve had in years! Literally a whole week of temperatures of 39C or 40C. It’s been almost unbearable… Anyway, posing for these photos with the socks on was not comfortable. One of the most common questions I used to get about the things I made was “but is it comfortable?” And in this case, for once I have to admit the answer was a hard NO!
Later on I was sitting in the pool and took the following photo, and had to laugh… now THIS is comfortable! basically the only kind of “sock” I can bear right now!!
And so finally… finally! here is my completed, and very squished up, box of socks… full to brim and spilling over just a little with woolly lusciousness… whooppeeee!
Congratulations! And you finished relatively early during the month.
What a lovely pair, I’ve loved reading this series too!
But, I how on earth did you pose for these photos?? What stage magic have you arranged??
thank Katrina! haha, no magic involved! we have a half wall in our lounge room adjacent to where we set up our Christmas tree and I perched myself on top of that! 🙂
This has been *such* a delight to follow along with, and I’m experiencing an absurd amount of vicarious satisfaction at the overflowing box, completed as intended. All the warm fuzzies (pun semi-intended)!
Are you going to share your sock pattern from the toe up? Please, please! I am not sure what you do differently but your heel always looks, in pictures, looks more polished than patterns I have seen. Not new to knitting but new to in-the-round knitting so there may be clues I am missing as to what you are doing that veteran knitters are seeing and knowing.
These are fabulous and what a collection you have now. Do you have any plans to make a specific thing each month next year? If so I might join in, if it is in fabric though, my knitting is not that good! x
What a great colour! Also, love the shot of your feet in that cool blue water.
When it is really important to divide a ball/skein exactly in half I use a kitchen or postal scale. Very easy.
The socks are wonderful!
Yay! You did it! A pair per month is a lot of sock knitting.
CONGRATULATIONS, & WHOOPIE!
Congratulations, that is quite a feat! I can’t believe they all fit into your small box. Well done.