Socks for Christmas

 The first Christmas knitting project is done.

Pattern: Spring Bloom Socks by Dolly Laishram

Size: Ladies Medium

Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot (no longer available)
Content: 60% washable wool/25% Mohair/15% Nylon, fingering weight
Color: Ruby River

Yarn: 2/12 Acrylic (no longer available)
Content: 100% Acrylic (?)
Color: Red

Yarn: Red Heart Heart and Sole (no longer available)
Content: 70% wool/30% Nylon, fingering weight
Color: Ivory

Needles: ChiaoGoo Circular size 2

Started: November 9, 2023
Finished: November 29, 2023

I love these socks. They turned out so cute! The yarn comes from my stash, which is why I've used discontinued yarns. Any fingering weight yarn will work just fine.

I learned some new things too. Learning new knitting skills is always good. First, they're toe up. I've done toe up before, but it's been several years so I felt like I was relearning it. The socks start with the Judy's Magic Cast On, which I've done a lot. I love this cast on if you need to start with a closed tube like a sock, or baby booties.

I also learned a new heel, called the Mock Short Row heel. The pattern has the German Short Row heel, which is new to me, but I didn't like it, so I looked for something else and found this one. Not a very fancy looking heel, but it's super easy to knit. Wow! I've learned two new heels!

The stitch pattern is so cute. Made it fun to knit.

I also learned a new bind off. It's called the Tubular Bind Off. It's done with a tapestry needle and is similar to back stitching. If you've ever done the Elizabeth Zimmerman Sewn Bind Off, it's a bit like that, but just a couple steps more complicated. I like how it looks, though these socks are just a bit sloppy because it's the first time I've done it.

I made these socks with a short leg part because that's what the receiver wants. I think she'll like them. It's such a funky little stitch pattern.

It's been cold and wet. We got about six inches of snow between Friday and Saturday. Then it warmed up and we're having a "Storm River". It's rained like crazy the last two days and still raining today. Most of the snow is gone. We're having flood watch warnings for the local creeks and streams because the snow on the mountains is melting very rapidly. It's definitely a warmer winter this year, so far.

I've been letting Zoey wear her sweaters rather than shivering in the corner of the couch. She was sleeping by my chair in her Houndstooth Check and looked so cute. She loves her sweaters so much. I've bought yarn to make her a new one after the Christmas knitting is done.

I've been working on the second Christmas present, a hat with Octopi on it. I knit one but had a bit of a gauge problem. The gauge was supposed to be 5 stitches to the inch. The pattern called for size 5 needles, which mad me laugh. There's no way I'd get that gauge on size 5. I usually get it with size 7. I'm using a yarn I'm familiar with so I didn't bother to do a swatch. Well, the hat turned out super small. It's a small child size! I got 6 stitches to the inch! Heck! What is up with that. Well, I had enough yarn to make at least 2 more hats, so I started over. This time I used size 8 needles. Got perfect gauge. Yay! However, after doing a little math, I found the hat was still going to be a little small. Only 19 inches around. The average adult head is 21-22 inches around. So I added 16 stitches-two on either side of each pattern repeat, of which there are 4. I'm about half way done and it's perfect! It will fit very well.

If I'd taken the time to read the comments on Ravelry it would have saved me 3 days of useless knitting. Over 200 people have knit these socks and the majority of them have written that it's too small in their comments, along with the modifications they did to fix it. Oh well. I have a hat that will fit one of my little nephews. Or maybe I'll take it to the Post Falls food bank. They could use it.

Live long and prosper. \\//

P.S. I want a maid/cook for Christmas, please.