So I finished the Elsinore socks last night, blogged about them, and went to bed. Today I wore them to work, with sandals. (The office is somewhat casual, but in weird ways -- wool socks with sandals are just fine, though.) They were much admired.
But when I got home from work, there was no more lying to the new yarn. It was right there, sitting on top of my knitting bag, watching me as I Kitchenered up the toe. It saw that the needles were no longer being used, and I think it had seen the needle cases in my knitting bag by that point and knew that I had lied to it about only having one set of needles. So I handwaved away its accusations and put it on the swift.
The label is marked "Short - 3.5 oz" -- that's still close enough to 100g, and there's enough there for a pair of socks. I usually knit hand-dyed and self-patterning yarns into socks from the toe up, because it makes it easier to use up the whole yarn. So I split the ball into two smaller balls.
The yarn seems fluffy and splitty -- I separated the plies on one end while I was untying it from the hank. This is a new yarn to me, so a gauge swatch is pretty much required. The label says "Needle Size 1 or 2, 7 stitches per inch" -- I'm going to try with a 2.75mm (US 2) needle first. The yarn looks like it might work well for me with anything from a 2mm to a 3mm yarn, but it's a fluffy yarn, thicker than Opal, so I'm going to try it at the larger size first.
(Incidentally, I really like the colors. Ray at Knitivity had no way of knowing this when he offered me the yarn to try, but I think red and black look great together, and I have a couple of other self-patterning and handpaint yarns with colors like these.)
I'm also planning to try a couple of new things in this sock - a friend highly recommends the Turkish cast-on, and a heel flap construction designed to look just like a top-down sock with a French heel, designed by Judy Gibson and used in her "You're Putting Me On" sock pattern. In the best-case scenario it will be fun; in the worst-case scenario, I'll find out how this yarn handles being ripped out and reknit....
More news as it happens.
Post a comment