FO: It's Sunny Being a Kid

Ahh, plain vanilla socks, they are great knitting a comforting friend in times of stress and boredom and with with stripe-y Felici they become something greater than just vanilla socks.

I have been enjoying working with Felici, I have made 2 other pairs of Felici socks (Groovy and Recess) and I wore them all winter.  While I have enjoyed the pattern I was working, I wanted to try different heels, and when I ran across the garter short-row heel of the Up + Down Socks in Simply Sockupied eMag (which as a side note is a great publication for learning basic sock stuff and a great format) I was sold.  However it has a short-row toe and wasn't designed to be two-at-a-time so I decided to hijack the heel and act like old Frankenstein and make myself a hybrid/mutant sock.

I think this, with a modified slightly more roomy heel that I just figured out yesterday, might be my new go to vanilla sock.

In addition to being awesome, these are my May entry to my Year of Socks. I have a pair of patterned socks on the go, but with my lacy test knit cowl (that I hope will be released soon-ish), a crocheted cowl, some handspun yarn and two woven scarves, I'm only on the leg repeats of the patterned socks right now.  So these will be my May socks and hopefully I will get my patterned pair done for June.

- Details -

Project Name: It's Sunny Being a Kid

Pattern: Proto-Casserole Socks (a plain sock pattern I have been designing), but are a hybrid of the Up+Down Socks and the Kid Stuff

Recipient: Me

Yarn: KnitPicks Felici Sport in Sunny Day, a 2011 Color

Modifications:

  • Well, these are hybrid socks, so I took the toe and leg from the Kid Stuff and the heel from Up+Down Socks.

New Skills:

  • Short Row Heel: LOVE IT!  I find that the arch/instep fit more tightly than a heel flap sock.
  • Garter Short Rows: LOVE IT TOO!  I'm finding myself more and more in love with Garter Stitch, I may feel differently about Garter Short Rows after I make my own Color Infection Affection Shawl

Feedback:


  • Yarn: Felici Sport is one of my favorite yarns, it makes for interesting plain socks and is so soft and wonderful. No knots or big jumps in this one, so that is a good thing.
  • Pattern:  I want to make the heel cup bigger, and I have my proof of concept so my next pair will have deeper short-row garter heels.

Re-Knit?: Yep, next pair is already on the needles and I have an impressively large stash of Felici.

Check-in on Year of Socks

So back in January I committed to making 12 pairs of socks this year, now that we are in April, 1/4th of the way through the year I though I would check on my status.

With the completion of the Staked socks a week ago I have managed to finish three pairs of socks, however, not quite by the end of March.

I do have two more pairs on the needles and one of them should be done by the end of the  month. But both are nice plain socks, after the tiny twisted cables on the Staked socks I need some nice easy socks.

So I am on track, with the latest pair of purse socks and fancy socks, I should be fine, but my list of patterns have been blown completely out of the water with the release of such amazing sock patterns all winter, like The Knitter's Curiousity Cabinet by Hunter Hammersen and also discovering the trove of sock patterns hidden away in the nooks and crannies of Ravelry.

At the rate I am making socks, it would take me 4 years and 7 months to get through all the patterns I have in my queue (and not counting plain vanilla socks) .  And to knit all my superwash fingering weight yarn into socks would take about 3 years.  Yikes!  I guess I need to get knitting.