SKA May 2012

Well, I am sorry to be so late to actually discuss this as May has already been going on for a while, but I'm getting around to it! As most of you probably know already, there is a group on Ravelry called Sock Knitters Anonymous. Every month, they release a prompt and we have to cast on a sock in that month and finish it by the next month. This month's pattern was lace. Last month, the theme was literary and I ran across this pattern called Octarine Socks. It's part of a sock club based on the Discworld novels. I was pretty put out that I had not noticed it and gotten to sign up in time, but I was happy to purchase the pattern and get to work on it. Anyway, I did not have the yarn that was included in the sock club, but I have always envisioned a bit more orange in the color than the original sock yarn, so I decided to use up the orange malabrigo from my stash.

There was just one problem. The cable panel in the back made it somewhat impossible to really do well with DPNs and I had to go to Yarnivore to get a circular needle of small enough size to knit them up using the Magic Loop method. I have always been chuffed about my master of DPNs, and honestly was afraid of doing magic loop but... Wendy walked me through it at the store and I went ahead and did it. I'm pretty happy with the results and love that it's easier to try my socks on as I am knitting them, especially in the leg portion. I tend to have bigger calves than most people, apparently, so there's nothing more frustrating than knitting socks all the way down to the foot and then finding out that my fat legs just aren't going to let it be. This makes it much easier to try socks on as I'm going, plus it's pretty nifty. A lot of people say they fiddle with the needle too much but I think it just takes practice on pulling the right loop, etc. It really is much more simple than most people seem to think it is. Anyway, it worked for me and I know I will be doing magic loop again.

The right sock is done and looks AWESOME!

I will get better pictures when I knit the left sock, but I LOVE this pattern. I really, really do. I had some problems mentally wrestling with connecting the foot pattern to the leg pattern, but after some lace surgery and beating myself over the head, I got it. Her pattern is exceptionally well-written, it's just that I sometime haz a stoopid and did not read a few lines here and there. I would suggest any of her patterns and she has a very interesting blog, if anyone is interested. Anyway, I should be done with the leg portion of the pattern either today or tomorrow during my knit night, so hopefully I will have a picture of both of them up soon!