Socktober 2013

It's that time again...time to celebrate Socktober. No, this is not another excuse to drink beer in October. It's just an excuse to knit more socks. (Needless to say the crowds are smaller at this event, but the fun usually lasts all month.)

I knew I had a skein of Pagewood Farm's Chugiak sock in "Really Red" that had been waiting for a long time to be put to use. I decided this was the time. But not plain red socks (as if red could ever really be plain), but I wanted to do some colourwork with it.

I did a mental search for some coordinating sock yarn, and I had none. But I did have a wool/angora sweater that I bought some time in August. It's white and I thought it would be perfect to practise dying (when I get to it). Meanwhile, the white would be perfect to work with the red.

So last week, I took off one of the sleeves and raveled it. The angora makes it "sticky" and a little tough to take out, but this piece wasn't too bad. I had a couple breaks in the top shaping, but after that it was clear sailing.

It still took the entire evening, however; in part because the sweater is done in brioche stitch and that means a lot of yarn. I got about 400 meters from just the sleeve. (That would be enough to do a pair of socks right there--even my long ones.)

I now had to find a pattern. I haven't done a pair of colourwork socks before but I've looked at a few patterns. My favourite so far is the "Water for the Elephants" pattern by Rose Hiver. I'm just a little obsessed with elephant patterns and add them to my Ravelry queue often, and I had just finished reading the book, Water for Elephants, that inspired the pattern. Seemed like a good choice.

I'm knitting without a net and am going to start the socks without a swatch. Besides being my first colourwork socks, I am also going to depart from my usual routine and follow the pattern in knitting the socks from the cuff down. I considered knitting more on top so they would be longer (I hate the draft short socks don't stop), but I'm just going to follow the pattern. I decided I have enough going on and am going to give myself a break. (Following these charts will be work enough!)