Friday, July 25, 2008

Project Profile: The Striped Socks

Knitting socks is somehow addictive. I'm really not sure why. I mean, you can go to any clothing store and buy socks. Store bought socks aren't expensive, in a lot of cases, buying the yarn to make a sock is more expensive than buying a six pack of regular socks. Socks are usually knit on tiny needles with pretty thin yarn, so they can take a while to knit. My favorite yarns to knit are the ones that are self striping. Its sort of magical how the stripes form.

I made these socks a while back, using a pattern I found at WendyKnits. She has a lot of free patterns available and some really beautiful patterns for sale at the Loopy Ewe. I'm pretty sure I used this pattern. I really like these socks and the instructions were very easy to follow. The thing I have noticed about these socks is that the more I wash them, the better they look and feel. The more they come together and look like a real sock and not just a bunch of stitches. It was made with some Regia yarn I picked up in Natchez while I was there for the Balloon Race.

Here are the socks I finished on my recent trip to Tennessee. This yarn is also Regia that I bought at Garden District Needleworks. I was surprised that I actually picked out such bright colors, I'm more of a neutral tones kind of girl, but I really do like them, and most of the people who have seen them really do like the colors. This pattern was from the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits Magazine. To be perfectly honest, I preferred the pattern from Wendy Knits. The cast on in the pattern is the Eastern Cast-On, which I did a tutorial about yesterday. I find it a little hard to keep the needles and the yarn together at a good distance apart. Maybe I just need to practice it more. It's on page 24 of the issue, in an article in their "Beyond the Basics" Section entitled "Working Socks from the Toe Up".

Both pairs of socks were worked on sets of double pointed needles. Those of you out there who knit socks, what is your favorite kind of needles to use? DPN's or Circulars?

Have a Great Weekend!

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