Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sock club socks and socks and socks

The last three pairs of socks that I have finished have come from yarn sent to me from yarn clubs. One each from the three that I belong to, Blue Moon Fibre Arts Rockin' Sock Club, Yarn Pirate Booty Club, Sundara Seasons Yarn Club. The Sundara club is no more, but not to worry, I have replaced it with another, a Canadian club. I actual get the yarn the DAY AFTER it is sent out. It is bizarre and awesome. But I digress.

First up, the March 2009 Rockin' Sock Club kit. I like the colourway alright, liked it better in the skein than knit up. The colour is Gertrude Skein, mediumweight socks that rock and the pattern is Rogue Roses, by the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.



The socks are just OK. Not my favourite, but I don't really dislike them. Knitting the little rosebud was kind of cool.



I did leave out the yarn-over holes that were to run up the sides of the climbing rose pattern. I just wasn't a fan of it and I like the way it turned out.





Next, I finished a long term WIP. My traveling sock. I started this pair in December sitting in the gym at my boy's school waiting the 1.5 hrs between the primary Christmas concert and the Kindergarten concert.



The yarn is Sundara sock yarn in the Bronzed Sienna colourway. The Autumn shipment for January 2008 from the now defunct Seasons yarn club. I love this colourway and the yarn is really nice too. I just knit a basic sock using the Stephanie's basic sock recipe in Knitting Rules. Used 64 stitches, 6 inch leg, heel flap and gusset.

Not the best picture, but I wanted the beach and ocean in the background

I finished them up partly on the 16 hr car ride to Myrtle Beach SC and completed them sitting on the balcony overlooking the ocean. Perfect.





Finally we have the September 2007 Yarn PirateBooty Club. Merino/Tencel, colourway Butternut. I never seem to get the right yarn/pattern fit first off with Yarn Pirate yarn, but this worked. I've had Cat Bordhi's most recent book for awhile now and thought that this would be the right time to try one of the architectures out. So I decided to go with the Master Coriolis.



I don't like the toe. There will be no more star toes in my future. I do like the socks, once they are on my feet. Getting them there is a bit of a struggle as they are too tight around the ankle. My numbers are on my Ravelry page.



I really liked the different structure of the sock and it has made me want to try more from the the book. And I am current knitting a pair of socks using the Riverbed architecture, which fit like a dream. The thing I don't like about toe up socks, once you turn the heel there is no fun stuff to look forward to, it's just the slog of the leg and then try and figure out how much yarn you need to knit the cuff. Something it is becoming quite apparent that I'm not very good at. I do like being able to use up all the yarn though.



There you go, thanks for making it all the way through. Three new pairs of socks at a time of year when you need to pay me large amounts of money to put socks on my feet. Coincidentally, these three socks were all of a similar colour, I did not plan it that way, really.

My next post, through a series of yarn purchases (oops) and club shipments will also be all of a similar colour, I guess I'm in a colour zone right now. Just waiting on one more mailing and the sun to come out again so I can take pictures.

Any guess on what that colour might be?