Sunday Knitting

Here's how I've spent my bus commute for the past month or so:

This is the first of 3 skeins of practical-colored sock yarn I purchased at Windsor Button recently after finishing my decidedly-impractical bright orange socks (which, incidentally, I *have* been wearing.)

These socks are the Twin Rib pattern from my go-to sock book, Sensational Knitted Socks. Here's a close-up of the rib pattern.

The problem with practical-colored socks is that they are hard to photograph. The next pair, which I've already begun, will be just as problematic.

I used size 0 needles, but forgot to double-strand the heels for extra reinforcement. At least the yarn has a good amount of nylon content for extra strength (it's my new favorite - Cascade Heritage). I need to write myself a note to remind me to double-strand the heels on the sock I've just begun. This needs to become a habit!

My bus knitting is part of my plan to catch up on socks over the summer so I'll be fully stocked come fall. I failed at this last year, but then I was walking to work and then when I got a new job, driving. Now I can just knit away on a simple pattern while listening to audiobooks or podcasts. It's working very well so far! I'm afraid I won't have any very complicated socks to show off anytime soon though, as reading charts is too difficult on a bus (not to mention nausea-inducing.) The other part of my summer sock plan is catching up on darning - I mended 3 pairs of socks last night, and now just have 3 more pairs to go!

Madelinetosh Sock

Ages ago I promised you pics of my two socks in progress. One stalled after being ripped and re-started a number of times to deal with pooling issues, but finally I set that one aside to concentrate on the one that was going more smoothly.


But I never got around to posting that early progress shot, and now look where I am.


I'm very much enjoying my sock. It's Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in a shade called Pheasant, which is like a forest if a forest could be contained in a sock. (The color is pretty washed out in the second photo, but you can at least see the progress I've made.)

At first I tried to find a pattern from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, in which there are many patterns designed explicitly for yarns that tend to pool. Although there are many beautiful patterns in that book, none of them were exactly what I wanted for this particular yarn. In the end, I turned to my old standby, Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch, and chose the slip-stitch rib pattern, one that I have long admired and was happy to finally knit.