Let's face it. I love knitting socks. It's my most favorite thing to do. It offers me the most variety and challenge in what I feel is a relatively short project. I always get compliments on my knitted socks. Even though I haven't completed my goal of the Cookie A Sock Innovation project, I have decided to try my hand at the Sockdown 2013-14 on ravelry.com. Every month for a year, you are given a color theme. You can knit their mystery pattern or "mock," choose your own pattern or a pattern from one of their suggested designers. Participants are not allowed to cast on until the first of the month and must have their project completed by the end of the month. This is a great motivator to get your project done.
Since the September '13 theme is "tropical," I chose this beautiful colorway from Knitpicks. Chroma Fingering is a 70%/30% wool blend and feels great. The colorway, "Lollipop," has a great mix of yellow, green, rose, orange, and a bit of light purple. It reminds me of a summer fruit salad.
For the pattern, I am choosing the "Magic Mirror" pattern from Jeannie Cartmell, one of the chosen designers. It's a great asymmetrical pattern which includes techniques such as a turkish cast on as well as a short row heel. These are two techniques that I have yet to master. This pattern can be found on ravelry.com for free. I will use size 1 bamboo needles for the project and will be casting on tomorrow.
Here we go........
I began these socks while I was home on vacation in Tennessee. The "Jaywalker Sock" pattern is a very good beginner pattern for the new sock knitter. The yarn used was some wool/bamboo blend that had been given to me a while ago through a swap. The original idea was to use this yarn to make Cookie A's "Monkey Socks." I didn't like the self striping pattern of the yarn because it detracted from the pattern of the "Monkey Socks." The yarn is super soft and feels great against my feet. The socks could have been more stretchy, though. I can see me whipping these up for a swap or a quick gift.
