First FO of 2010

I have a love-hate relationship with sock-knitting, emphasis on the "hate" part of it until very recently (as in, the past few days). In the closing weeks of 2009, I purchased a skein of Miss Babs Yummy Sport-weight yarn (in the "oyster" colorway) and a contrasting skein of the sport-weight toes (in colorway "terracotta") at a Miss Babs trunk show at fibre space. Over the holidays, I sat on G's parents' couch, improvising the first of a pair of two-tone cuff-down socks, using the oyster colorway as the main color (MC) and the terracotta colorway as the contrasting color (CC) for the toe, heel, and cuff.



And then I found the SolidSocks group over on Ravelry.

The SolidSocks group hosts a semi-solid color-based KAL each month, with black/greys' being the January color. I rarely buy black or grey yarn, and so as I looked down at the semi-solid grey yarn in my hands, I realized that I was fated to participate in the January KAL. The only question was whether I would have enough yarn to knit two pairs of socks from the single skein of grey yarn: the two-tone socks I was improvising, and a pair of Earl Greys all in grey.

At that point, I was past the heel turn of the first two-tone sock, and I would have been miserable had I had to frog the whole sock. So I decided to continue on and keep my fingers crossed that I wouldn't run out of yarn. I also figured it wouldn't hurt to follow my creepy internet friend (CIF) Elizabeth's advice to just knit faster. So I did.

On January 2nd, I cast on for the first Earl Grey sock, and three days later, I was done with these:



Cast on: 2 January 2010 
Bound off: 5 January 2010
Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy Sport-weight in "Oyster"
Needle: US2 / 2.75mm, magic-loop on 24" KnitPicks circular needle

Because the pattern is written for a fingering-weight yarn and I used a heavier sport-weight yarn, I had to modify the pattern to suit my yarn/gauge. I also did the heel turn a tiny bit differently than specified in the pattern.

Modifications:

CO 50 sts on US2 needles. Worked ribbed cuff for 10 rnds as foll: * k1, p1, k2, p2, k2, p1, (k1, p1) x 8; rep from * once more.

Set up rnd for cable patt:* k1, work first row of cable patt, knit 8, k2tog, knit 7, work the pattern, knit 7, k2tog, knit 7. (48 stitches total)
 

Next round: Knit 1, work pattern, knit 16, work pattern, knit 15.

Cont until desired leg length is reached.

Rearrange sts to work heel as specified, so that you work heel over 24 sts. Work back and forth over 24 heel sts, slipping first st of each row, for 24 rows.

Turn heel as follows:

ROW 1: With RS facing, sl 1, k16, ssk, turn.

ROW 2: Sl 1, p10, p2tog, turn.

ROW 3: Sl1, k10, sl 1, ssk, turn.

Cont until all heel sts have been worked, ending with a WS row. 12 sts left.

Sl 1, k across heel sts, then pick up and knit sts along slipped st edge. Work across held sts, pick up sts on the other side, and cont working as specified in the original pattern.

The major plus here is that I've rediscovered the "love" part of my love-hate with sock-knitting. Using a heavier-weight yarn definitely helps, because the knitting goes by so much more quickly. Also, my Dansko Mary Jane shoes are a teeny bit too large for my (women's) size 6 feet, so wearing slightly thicker socks really helps the shoes stay on the feet.

The other plus is that, according to my knitting math, I might have just enough of the grey yarn remaining to squeeze out the MC part of the second two-tone sock. I'll have to knit toe-up to make sure I have enough yarn to finish the entire sock, and I might have a slightly longer CC cuff. But I can live with that. What a fun(ny) pair of socks that will be: my mismatched (one cuff-down sock, one toe-up sock) matching two-tone socks!