Friday 22 June 2012

FO Friday- Abstract rhombus socks

It is coming up to village show time, which means I need to make a pair of socks for the knitting competition. Well, it does not need to be socks but I like them. So far I have done socks each year, each time doing something a little better than the previous year as my skills progress. Last year was lace and twisted stitches so this year I wanted to do colourwork.

I started making Hold your seahorses by Rose Hiver. A lovely pattern but the long areas of a single colour meant float wrapping. Wrapping floats is fgine, and it is looking ok from a distance, but up close (as they would be for judging) the wraps peep through in places. These have been put to one side for the minute, they will be finished later.

I picked something with short floats to work on instead.



Pattern: Abstract Rhombus by Rose Hiver
Yarn: Regia silk 4 ply
Needles: 3mm for leg and foot, 2.25mm for heel and toe.

Not many changes with this one, I worked the whole leg/foot on 3mm needles, because I don't have 2.75mm ones and it seemed to work fine. I also slipped the first stitch of the heel flap on each row to make a neater edge for picking up stitches.

The pattern is easy to follow and well written. This would be a good starter for colourwork as the floats are short so do not need wrapping.

I reversed the colours on the second sock, this is purely so I could get both socks out of two 50g balls of yarn. There is a little of each colour left but I weighed each ball after the first sock and it would not have been enough for a matching pair.

The yarn may win the prize for the beautifully soft yarn I have ever used, it is gorgeous. It also blocked out well where the needle changes made oddly tensioned lumpy bits.

Not so good is that it is hard to get hold of and comes in a limited colour range. It also felt a bit saggy when it was wet. I would like to try it with some proper ribbing to see how well it works, the colourwork ribbing does not have a lot of boing in the first place.

Over lit colourwork close ups:


3 comments:

  1. I LOVE these socks! I really need to get past the mosaics and start colorwork knitting. You always inspire me...and my sock love.

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  2. They're fantastic! I'm queuing those right away! I think they deserve the blue ribbon, for sure!

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