Adventures in Sock-knitting

Last week (on the 21st) Summer of Socks 2012 started. It's basically a group of us that think sock knitting is a great activity in the Summer. There are rules if you want to be eligible for some of the great prizes but either way, it's a fun time. I've had a great time so far, just chatting with other enabling knitters in the group. We encourage and tease each other so much and we just started!

The theme this year is Independent Artisans so Indie Dyers and Designers. The first month you are to use either an Indie Yarn or Indie Pattern. I started off with both! I have some lovely Yarn Pirate in my stash (it's recent. Shhhh.)

This is a skein of Superwash BFL in Harmonia. It's lovely subtle shades of a deep burgundy Red and Grey. I love it! I debated a lot about which Indie Dyed Yarn I wanted to use for the first month and finally, finally landed on this one. I wound it into a ball.

Then began the long, tedious process of finding just the right pattern for it. I read through what others were choosing, browsed my queue and put a lot of thought into the pattern. I eventually, finally chose Medallion Lace Socks by Andrea Fox. It's a free pattern and a very lovely one.

I cast on and knit my little ribbing rows and started to notice something.

See how it's striping so lovely? I was in love with the stripes and they were so unexpected. I really didn't think yarn like this would stripe at all. I started to second guess my pattern choice. Eventually I did start the pattern but just about halfway through a repeat I realized I wasn't loving it. I think the pattern is lovely and the yarn is lovely. But not together. I think the yarn striping the way it does hides the pattern and that lovely pattern really deserves to be shown off. I will knit the pattern someday but not with this.

At this point I had some choices to make, do I rip the whole thing or just back to the ribbing? Do I start over from the toe-up or top down? Eventually I decided to restart and do a toe-up sock so I recast on and got to knitting. My sock had some adventures this weekend too.

I went down to my parents' house and we did all sorts of wonderful things.

I went to my niece's swimming lesson. It's sort of just play time in a pool since the kids are so young.


Isn't it striping beautifully?

We went to the 3M Family day tour where sadly, cameras are not allowed and got to see where my dad worked before he retired and where my brother works when he's working there too. It was great fun but lots and lots of walking!

I played 4-wheeler Tag with my brother and lost because he's way better at it than I am and also, I was "it" when we ran out of gas.

I sat by the bonfire with coffee and knit for awhile

 I even knit in between hands of Skip-Bo and my turn at Farkle.
 
 I really had a blast at my parents' house and I got lots of knitting done.

In this last picture you can even see the line of waste yarn where I'm going to place the Afterthought Heel. I haven't done that type before but since I want the lovely stripes to continue up the sock, I thought now would be the perfect time to try it out.

Of course I'm home now and back to the 'grind' as it were. I'll continue knitting away though and hopefully have a sparkling new pair of socks to show off soon!