A Pair of Socks

I started these socks as a travelling project at the beginning of August and finished them Saturday. That is good for me. I like mindless knitting for toting around, so often my sock projects languish for months waiting for me to have an uninterrupted hour to turn the heel. I make a lot less mistakes that way!


I bought the yarn for these socks several years ago, when the owner of an almost local yarn shop was retiring. It is Fortissima Colori Socka Color yarn from Schoeleer Stahl. I bought it before I was into dyeing most of my own stuff. Once I actually started to knit it, I decided that I wasn't very fond of the colors. Each sock doesn't even have two full color repeats in the yarn. It is 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. I find that I love the socks that I have made out of handspun, but that I am constantly darning the holes I wear much too quickly in the bottom. One of these days I am going to experiment with blending nylon top into my wool with a drumcarder before I spin. Too much work goes into handspun socks for them to not last a really long time! Until then, I will continue to use commercial yarns to knit socks.

Back to these socks, the pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. I used the chevron pattern from the chapter "Cheveron Patterns for Self-Striping Yarns". I really like how the cheverons break up the stripes a little. The pattern had a two row repeat, so it was easy to remember. The socks had a "forethought heel" which is an afterthought heel planned for and done as you go along. So far, it is not my favorite heel to knit, but it is always good to try something new.

My daughter loves these socks, and since they are for her, it's all good. (Doesn't she have cute feet?)

On Saturday, I posted a "Magic Yarn Ball" on Etsy. It is a 100g. ball of hand dyed wool with surprises wrapped in as you go along. They fall out as you knit (or crochet). It was fun for me to make. We'll see if anyone likes it! It is in the colorway "marine" which is shades of blue and green. As always, you can reach my Etsy store by clicking the "Hollow Brook Handmade" link at the top.