FO Friday- Q socks

Another Friday, and some more socks. I think by the end of this challenge I will not need to knit any more socks, my sock drawer will overfloweth! That is a good thing though and I suspect I will always have some kind of sock on the go since they make good travelling knitting, I just won't be trying to get them done in a fortnight.

Anyway, this time it is the turn of the Q socks and some beautiful yarn I won on the Playful Day podcast giveaway.

Pattern: Quartzonite by Rose Hiver

Yarn: Knitting goddess superwash merino and nylon in Forest Green

Needles 2.5mm

The pattern gives lots of detail and the stitch pattern is complicated enough to keep you interested, but still easy enough to memorise after a few repeats. There is an interesting heel band feature which actually makes a lot of sense as it means you have a smooth stocking stitch section where your shoe sits, rather than a patterned lacy bit which would be more likely to rub and harder to darn when it wears through, I will be repeating the heel band section on other short row heel socks. 

The pattern is well written and would be suitable for a sock beginner apart from needing to follow a link for the cast on, which means you need to start when you are near a computer unless you know how to do it or have another source for the information.

I may also now be a toe up, wedge toe, short row heel convert as apart from feeling these could be a little more snug around (a few less stitches, smaller needles or a pattern with a little ribbing) they are one of my best fitting pairs of socks. A big change from my top down, heel flap preference at the start of the year.

For some reason I got a little bored as I was working on the second leg (these are toe up), I don't know if it was the pattern or if I am reaching a point of being socked out and ready to work on something different, I will see how the next pair goes.

Once they were finished I was back to loving them, it was just the last little bit of knitting, so I have strong suspicions it was not the pattern's fault at all.

The yarn is lovely and smooth, knits nicely and tinks well. The smoothness give great stitch definition which combined with the semi solid colour makes it good for lace or other patterns which rely on teh stitches for interest. It is very much a sock yarn. Some 4 ply/sock/fingering weight yarns are not really sock yarns at all, they are wonderful and contain fibres possibly stolen from a unicorn on a moonlit night and are really for making shawls, scarves and other non foot based lovliness. This is not one of those, but that is good, because socks are what I wanted, and it is a super sock yarn. More important than the yarn base is the heavenly colour, which I am very much in love with, I will be putting every leftover scrap of this to use becasue it is truely lovely (I like the colour, can you tell?).

Close up to show the stitch pattern and the super stitch definition of this yarn.

I have my R socks pattern and yarn ready to go, I just need to track down a little more sock mojo, perhaps it is under the sofa.

Beautiful yarn

I have beautiful new stash to show you all, and what makes it even better is that I won it (dances with happiness). Mmmmmm, yarn.

I never really got the whole podcasting about knitting thing, because knitting is something you most definitely need to look at and squish but I thought I would give the playful day podcast a go, and I am pleased I did. The knitting chat is good plus there is talk about food and drink (ah, knitting and food, two lovely lovely things!). I have since tried another podcast and still like this one the best so will be going back for more.

You can find the blog and links to the past podcasts here. Go listen, enjoy and tell greentrianglegirl she is wonderful.

The yarn itself is a lovely semisolid sock yarn from the Knitting Goddess. It is lovely, soft and squishy merino and nylon in shades of green, I even got to choose the yarn and colour I wanted. I need to choose a pattern for it now, it will be part of my A-Z challenge, but needs to be something with some lace or cables to make the most of the lovely colour. You will see this again in sock form within the next few months (if I can resist it that long and don't accidentally cast on an extra pair of socks).

The Knitting Goddess's shop can be found here, it is filled with much loveliness, maybe hide your credit card somewhere safe before you follow the link?!

FO Friday- J socks

More socks! By the end of the year I will have enough socks to clothe the feet of a centipede.

Today it is the turn of the J socks from the A-Z challenge.

Pattern: Jaywalkers by Grumperina

Yarn: Same difference in Menace by the Knitting Goddess

Needles: 2.25mm dpns

This is one of the famous patterns on Ravelry that everyone seems to have tried, 8379 projects in fact. It has been on my to do list for a while, and I even printed the pattern out months ago but was put off by all the talk of checking gauge and taking measurements so I filed it away until I got to the letter J. Since I do really like the funky pattern I thought I should give it a go, I took gauge off the base of a sock knit in a similar yarn on the needles I intended to use, which is cheating and lazy but there is no such thing as the knitting police so ner! (and yes, I do realise it would serve me right if they don't fit).

The self striping worked really well on the leg, and gave a crazy pattern on the foot, on the whole I am quite pleased with them, although I haven't tried them on to double check the fit yet, I think I am a little scared to.

The yarn is a nice smooth merino. It is a discontinued line that I got in a swap at Christmas, I am not sure about the whole fraternal sock thing, I generally try to make my socks match so this is quite a step in the opposite direction. The dyeing on the back with red sock is not wonderful, there are a few patchy bits and some fat lumps, but generally it is nice yarn (and for all I know was picked up as a second). I would check out the Knitting Goddess yarns in the future, it is definitely not enough to put me off (also, I have looked at them before and the colours are so very pretty).

I have been busily bashing WIPs this week, so plenty of ammo for a few FO Fridays and scrap downs.