Plain socks with Fish Lips Kiss Heel, in Shibui Sock "Orchid" colorway & Kroy Sock Yarn "Black" colorway
I finished two sock projects last week - my Christmas Socks in Shibui Sock and my Hermoine's Everyday Socks.
Shibui Sock was one of the first non-acrylic yarn I ever worked with. It was when I sample knitted a hat for Anne Kuo Lukito, of Crafty Diversions back in 2009. I was so amazed with its elasticity, so I bought myself a couple of skeins when I really got into sock knitting.....but then I made myself a pair of fingerless mitts with one skein just because. =X
So I had one 50g skein left in my stash, as well as some 15g leftover from the fingerless mitts. I decided to use them all up in my Christmas socks, and use a contrasting yarn for the toes, heels, and cuffs.
This was taken when I was almost done with the first sock. I tried to use short-row heel on it, and as the result, the front of the sock showed that black contrasting yarn. I didn't mind it too much since the socks were for me and not a gift for someone else.
Then I learned about Fish Lips Kiss Heels, and I decided to try that on the second sock. The result was amazing. I never really hated the short row heel but these were perfect since it didn't require me to go around the sock after the first half of the heel, which mean no black contrasting yarn showing on the front!
After some consideration, I decided to rip back the first sock to the heel section, and re-knit the heel with the new technique. I'm so glad I did! I love them, and they feel so warm!
Pattern: No pattern, just plain Stockinette.
Needles: US 0/2.0mm Chiaogoo steel DPNs.
Yarns: Shibui Sock (now discontinued) in "Orchid" colorway + Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in "Black" for toes, heels, and cuffs.
Hermoine's Everyday Socks in my own handdyed Cascade Heritage Silk.
A while ago, I overdyed some yarns in my stash. One of them was this Cascade Heritage Silk sock yarn in "Citron" which is a lime green colorway. I overdyed with some orange and green, and the yarn came out perfectly autumnal.
Finished Hermoine's Everyday Socks!
I think this pattern is just perfect for variegated yarns like this. The texture is really squooshy and interesting. It does get a little monotonous after a while though. I used the stitch pattern only, and improvised for my own short-row heel and sizing (I have skinnier ankles and feet, even though the WIDEST part of my feet are still 8").
Pattern: Stitch pattern based on Hermoine's Everyday Socks; number of stitches and heels are my own pattern.
Needles: US 0/2.0mm
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Silk in "Citron" overdyed with orange and green.
WIP: Plain Stockinette Socks for Marty
Currently my favorite WIP is these plain Stockinette socks for Marty (He's been getting a new pair of socks from me almost every week since last month!)
I tried this new heel technique, "Thumb-Joint Hat Top Heel" by Lara Neel. It's in the free pattern that is supposed to be used with her new book, Sock Architecture. I just purchased this book last week! I haven't really sat down to read each page yet, but I flipped through it and the book has SO MUCH information and different techniques that you can try on socks. It even comes with patterns, so I think I'm going to work on the patterns and read the parts of the book that are applicable for each pattern at a time.
Anyway, this heel technique is supposed to be perfect for self-striping yarn. What do you think? It was super simple, and fun way to do an "afterthought" heel before the foot section.
Marty just looked at me funny when I just measured his thumb joint without any explanation while he was playing his video game. He didn't ask. He looked at my knitting, my face, and back at my knitting, gave ma an awkward chuckle, and then went back to playing his game. =D
I can't wait to try other types of heels from the book!