Nothing new under the sun

Recently I knit a pair of socks for myself, without the aid of any pattern other than my own understanding and acquired knowledge of how a sock is knit.  This is nothing ground-breaking or particularly clever of course. It's just simply a by-product, an accumulation, of the construction of the hundreds of patterns I have knit over the years and held within my mind and hands. Regardless of all that, it does still give one a pleasant sense of achievement, knowing it can be done.

The motivation came as I unexpectedly finished the project I'd brought into work that morning, so at lunchtime I grabbed a skein of Colinette Jitterbug in Vatican Pie (oh, that saturated red!) and some needles and cast on ready for the train commute home.

Granny's Lucky Red Longjohns
Colinette Jitterbug - colourway: Vatican Pie

To alleviate boredom I added a 1x1 garter stitch rib, which pleasantly formed a lovely snug sock that fits my foot beautifully.  It's also rather warm as garter stitch rib has a waffle-y texture similar to that used in thermal underwear amongst other things.  

I took a calculated risk and cast on many less stitches than I would normally for socks - 54 on 2.5mm needles, instead of my usual 64.  This decision was influenced by my experience of Jitterbug as a "hefty" sock yarn and the anticipation of stretch in the ribbed stitch pattern.  Turns out it was a great decision - go me!  

As I finished the first sock and started the second, I thought to myself "these are such great socks, how could it be possible that nobody else has ever written it up before?"  They are simple enough to knit whilst other things are happening like conversations, meetings, TV-watching, and I discovered they are also an excellent choice for gift knitting as the rib pattern is very accommodating when you are working with unknown foot and leg dimensions.  

Knowing that there was an excellent chance there probably was this very pattern out there, I had what I thought was quite a thorough look on Ravelry and was surprised that I couldn't find one that was quite the same. There are many patterns utilising this stitch pattern, socks included, but none in the specific combination of 1x1, gauge and yarn weight that I could see. 

a gift pair, for Mum (photo credit: Mum!)
Colinette Jitterbug - colourway: Caramel

So I got excited to share. I wrote down my notes into a more coherent format, made a couple more pairs, and was just about to upload them as a free pattern....when I started reading my copy of Sock Architecture which was given to me by a friend recently.

And lo and behold; there they were!  Strie socks, by Lara Neel.

Photo credit: Lara Neel

Reading through the patterns they are not exactly the same, but close enough to make me laugh out loud right then and there. 

As the saying goes - there's nothing new under the sun! 

In case you hadn't heard...

Ugh, the weather in Melbourne has turned dramatically.  Gone are my beautiful warm Autumn winds and sunshiny days, and in their place is the bitter cold that is usually attributed to deep Winter here in Melbourne.  

As a result, I'm definitely feeling the need to start knitting sweaters.  The annual planning has begun with a vengeance, and I can't wait to get started on my 2015 collection of garments.

I'm trying to live a bit lighter as a general practise at the moment, and this correlates to my knitting by the aim of working through some more beautiful stashed yarns, so I initiated my search on Ravelry based on the yarns on hand and started tagging them with "winter2015".  I narrowed it down to these six, and after much (oh so much!) deliberation, I have settled on starting with Daelyn (bottom LH corner) - a simple relaxed pullover with some lovely textural detailing.

Blank Canvas, Ysolda Teague; Ommegang, Thea Colman; Airbrean, Isabell Kraemer; Daelyn, Isabell Kraemer;  Mailin, Isabell Kraemer; Portage, Melissa Schaschwary

This lovey Berroco Ultra Alpaca in the "Lobster Mix" colourway, which is a rich plummy-brown heathered colour, is a great pairing for this pattern, and so far it's knitting up so beautifully.

Warnings of the stretch of this yarn I have heeded, and will be knitting it at a slightly tighter gauge than required. This works well however, as I am kind of between sizes so I'll knit the larger size and tweak to fit as required.  It's designed to be worn with positive ease and I'm basing the measurements off my Beeline which is a great fit and similar style.

The yarn is already proving to be as delightful as I had hoped, with all those tones coming together to form a beautiful, complex heathered colour that chameleons with every change of light and angle.   The texture and knitted hand of the wool/alpaca blend is equally satisfactory to the tactile senses.   Can you tell I'm a bit enamoured by this project?

I'd love to be monogamous on this one but unfortunately the dark yarn is a bit difficult to work on at night, and it's too big to transport on the train with me each day so I'll do a few rows each morning before I leave, and dedicate my weekends to it. 

To fill the gaps I've got some more socks on the go (I know, you're shocked right?!).   These are for my Mum, who has a birthday coming up at the end of May.  Originally I thought I'd give them to her for Mother's Day then we all decided that we wouldn't do gifts this year, just nice cards and a lunch, so I will now keep working along and be well prepared for her birthday instead.

I'm using some Colinette Jitterbug in "Caramel" that I picked up when Sarah Durrant closed up shop last year.  I'm a big fan of Jitterbug, both as a yarn base and for the colourways.  It isn't everyone's cup of tea, mainly due to the absence of nylon for durability, but I've never had an issue with the wear of this high-twist pure wool yarn and I do find it keeps toes nice and warm.  This is one of my own basic sock patterns, a simple waffle rib that forms a nice snug fit on the foot so I hope Mum likes them!

Another sock yarn favourite of mine is Regia, and the recent limited edition Arne & Carlos collection they've released has been high on my radar, especially these two colourways.

Summer Night #3657

Fall Night #3655

After a little initial trouble finding it in stock my order finally arrived  today, and as soon as I finish Mum's socks I'm planning to knit these toe-up and use up every last scrap of yarn, so they will probably be close to knee-hi stockings. Which, of course, will work perfectly with the faux fair-isle, Scando theme they've got going on.  They look quite similar in these photos, but in reality they are very different.  The Fall Night is quite dark overall, with bright orange pops and the Summer Night is very teal blue, cream and coral.  

So there you go.  Soon to be toasty from top to toe in preparation for Winter.  Because it's coming.  In case you hadn't heard.