The parameters were to use one of Jennie Cartmel's patterns in a tropical colored theme. I was anxious to try something new, since I had never seen any of Jennie Cartmel's designs. I chose her Magic Mirror Socks, a "toe up" construction. I had only knit one other "toe up" pair of socks and was looking to hone my skills and get a change of routine. The pattern offered easy to follow directions with large charts and helpful links. I used a Size 1 (2.25mm) needle instead of the recommended Size 0 (2.00mm). The Chroma doesn't give much stretch and I felt that a the 2.00mm needles wouldn't be large enough, even if I make the largest size.
For the yarn, I chose Knit Picks Chroma Fingering weight yarn in the Lollipop colorway. I instantly fell in love with this colorway and felt it was a perfect match for the tropical theme. Knit Picks Chroma Fingering is a soft, smooshy, under-spun yarn and one 100g ball will easily make two socks with room to spare. I was able to get a nice tight fabric, but because the yarn is underspun, you must be very careful as it's not easily unraveled. Unfortunately I had to do this several times when I got to the heel portion of the sock. I ripped out the heel of the first sock more than I wanted, but I refused to give up. After trying many different methods, I reverted back to the instructions of the pattern. The cuff was ten rows of ribbing, finishing with Jeny's "Super Stretchy Bind Off" which you can easily find on you tube.
I would love to do this pattern again with a completely different yarn to see what result I get.
