FO Friday- L socks

FO Friday today will not be featuring anything from the WIP Wednesday pile, because none of it is finished. This is not really a surprise, and some of it is well on the way so maybe one will be done by next week.

Instead we have the socks for the L part of the A-Z sock knitting challenge (in my colour of the moment of course).

Pattern: Leyburn socks by MintyFresh

Yarn: Artesano Hummingbird 4 ply

Needles: 2.25mm dpns 

Mods: Quite a few changes on these, the pattern has a lot of comments about poor fit so I worked them top down with a heel flap rather than toe up with a short row heel. The leg was done over 72sts and the foot over 66sts.

The stitch pattern has floats which reduce the stretchiness a bit, I did a higher stitch count than usual and made a concious effort to keep the floats loose. This is actually really good practise for colourwork as you are making the same kind of floats and as they are on the front they are easy to see and keep loose.

It is a super pattern, only a little slower to do than a plain vanilla sock but with a great finish. It also mixes handpainted yarns up well or looks equally good in a solid colour.

The yarn I used is fantastic. It is 100% alpaca and so soft and squishy. It is a little hairy, but not so much it obscures the stitch pattern, this could make the socks a little tickly but they seem ok so far. It is also a little thinner than typical sock yarn so I will have to see how it wears. Hopefully it will be ok and not felt or rub through into holes as I would love to use it again, it is that soft and delicious.

Yarn diet free pass 5- Lots of blue

This is the last free pass of my yarn diet, in two weeks it is due to end and I will be free to buy yarn whenever I want. Still lots to use up from the stash though so I will not be doing too much in the way of shopping.

I needed some plain coloured sock yarn to start the lovely colourwork pattern the Wonder Why Gal sent me. I opted for Regia silk in blue and white to give a snowflake type effect.

Since I was shopping I also picked up two balls of Artesano Hummingbird 4 ply and a pair of slipper soles.

Both the Regia silk and the Hummingbird are wonderfully soft, it was a delicious squishy parcel of lovely.

The 4 ply is destined to be my L socks, I have fancied trying the Hummingbird for a while. The slipper soles are going to be combined with my alpaca fluff once I have spun it to make some cozy slippers.