Saturday, March 19, 2016

A Feast of Firsts

Sock Madness 10, Round 1 is over. While knitters advancing beyond Round 1 (including your truly) await their team assignments, let me ponder in serenity and with decent pix the many firsts I encountered while knitting SlipStripeSpiral by Mylene Pijpers.

Perhaps the first thing to note is there was Enough Yarn. I'd been fretting about that, so much so that I knit the toe-up sock with 60 rounds for each foot, but only 50 rounds for each leg. While that certainly satisfies the Sock Madness regs for this round, I coulda had taller socks, as I prefer. It would seem I had the yarn and I think I had the time. Oh well. One of the lessons of Sock Madness is not to tarry.

SlipStripeSpiral FO modeled

Now that the pair is finished and photographed, I just realized how well the color progressions on the feet match. The legs, not so much. Neither was planned. It's also more apparent that while this new-to-me spiral toe is a better fit than many, it still isn't the best fit for my Frankenfeet. I'm glad I learned it, though.

The Cat Bordhi Sweet Tomato Heel also was new to me. I worked the first heel keeping the slip stitch chains in pattern, which made the ones closest to the heel distort rather badly.

Sweet Tomato Heel, with chains

Then I noticed others in the KAL did not keep the chains, so I worked the second heel without the chains. Rather to my surprise, it doesn't seem to have made much difference for the sock fit.

Sweet Tomato Heel, without chains

As previously mentioned, I liked working Japanese short rows (another first for me), even if I can't explain them.

I also liked working Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off (not a first for me). It's a bit involved, with yarn overs and reverse yarn overs, but what I especially value about it is how nicely it works for ribbing. See how nicely? That crenelated appearance means the ribbing is, well, ribbing.

Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off

Overall, I'm pleased with the socks and happy to advance. Bring on those late night, bad light, in pajamas FO shots!

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