Slip Jig Socks

Well, I know I've been a bad monkey and haven't been posting very much -- I finished my Aeolian Shawl, like, a week ago, but haven't been able to coordinate with my photographer to get some photos. Today I finished my Slip Jig socks, and I can manage photos of those, myself, so here we are.


This yarn and pattern come from the second Rockin' Sock Club kit of 2010. Again, there were two pattern options with the yarn, and these socks were the ones that cried out to me. A very simple pattern to knit (and to memorize) -- but that doesn't mean that there weren't a couple of bumps in the road.

I chose the large size, of course (because of my much-bemoaned amply-sized feet) and the leg is nice and roomy. The foot, however, turned out too large. As I mentioned previously, I had to rip it back to the heel flap and make the heel flap shorter, then do a handful of decreases to make the gusset circumference a bit smaller. After that, they fit pretty good. If I did these socks again, I would probably do a few decreases in the leg portion, just before the gusset, to go from a Large to a Medium. Then I would knit the foot in the smaller size.


At the toe, I moved the toe decreases one stitch over -- the original pattern has the decreases in the stitch next to the little cable pattern. I liked the look better when it was the cable itself that ate up the stitches next to it. It was a little fiddly (particularly on the slipped-stitch rounds) but I think it is more aesthetically pleasing.

If you are worried that I've finished all my knitting projects, don't. I have two more on the go that I haven't even gotten around to showing off, yet.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I finished the first Skew sock, and while it was certainly weird, I have to admit that I love the final product! The heel turn is a very strange thing, and until a row or two after it, it's hard to believe that it will really be a heel -- I tried it on as soon as I felt like the rows above it were stable enough for that. As others have said, it's a bit of a squeeze to get your heel through that bias strip of knitting, but once you do... what a lovely hug all around your foot. Very very cozy sock.


In the meantime, I turned the heel and finished the gusset on the first Slip Jig sock, only to realize that it's too big in the foot. I've ripped back to the heel flap, where I'm going to try a combination of shortening that and decreasing a few stitches around. Then we'll see how it goes with the altered gusset. I have to admit that a little bit of frogging isn't as unpleasant when you end up with such a pretty pile of yarn to re-knit.

This Week in Knitting

After finishing Sophie, I picked up the Skew socks I've been knitting on, and let me tell you, they are getting interesting. There are some sort of Zimmermann-ish contortions about to happen, which are somehow supposed to turn all those stitches bulging off to the side of the heel into the back leg. The mind boggles, I know. I'll show you the finished heel once I've made that turn, but don't count on it making sense.


I also got the March Rockin' Sock shipment, and of the two lovely patterns that came with it, I chose the one called Slip Jig. It is a much more straightforward pattern than Skew, so when my brain starts to hurt too much from the strange construction of Skew, I just resort to knitting on these ones. Aren't the colours lovely? It is a very springtimey yarn, and they are very fun and quick to knit.


Lastly, despite being distracted by so many socks, I made a bit more progress on the Aeolian shawl in the last day or two. I am just past the first row of nupps, and they turned out so nice (even though you can't really make them out in this photo. Trust me.) I just did a row with nearly 70 beads in it, so it is also very sparkly.