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A couple weeks ago, I got a knitting email that offered free sock patterns. I am a sucker for sock patterns, and fell in love with one instantly; Caspian Sea Socks:
So I printed the pattern and went to my local yarn store, Stitch DC, where the owner, Marie, helped me find the right weight yarn and suggested color combination (as neither the yarn nor the colors in the right weight from the pattern were in the store, but improvisation is one of the many joys of knitting). Her sister, Nora, took the many skeins I picked out and very kindly and patiently spun them into wonderful little balls:
It was tough to start, and even though I am a fairly experienced knitter, I was intimidated by the pattern, the new techniques, and all the sticks:
After two or three evenings hunched over the pattern and speaking the colors out loud to myself ("light dark dark dark light light"), I had a toe! The top of the foot:
and the sole:
After that, I was a bit more comfortable, but I still had to pay close attention to the pattern because, as you can see above, the top and the bottom are almost completely different patterns. But I got the whole foot done:
The calf actually starts at the horizontal gray and blue line. On the opposite side was a green line that was just a place holder. Once I completed the foot and leg as a tube, I went back and removed the placeholder and put the now "live" stitches on needles for the heel:
I'd never done this before and put it off for a few days. Once I took out the placeholder and put the stitches on the needles, I glanced at the heel instructions and went to bed, deciding to leave it for a couple of days.
Last night, I finished the heel. And it looks pretty darn cool:
and so does the sole:
Now I just have to block it ... and make another one. For the second one I was thinking of either reversing the colors or using the same palette but changing the placement of colors altogether, like making the foot gold and green and making the leg blue and gray. I'm about to start the second one, so I should probably decide.
The Flickr set is here if you want to see bigger pictures.
So I printed the pattern and went to my local yarn store, Stitch DC, where the owner, Marie, helped me find the right weight yarn and suggested color combination (as neither the yarn nor the colors in the right weight from the pattern were in the store, but improvisation is one of the many joys of knitting). Her sister, Nora, took the many skeins I picked out and very kindly and patiently spun them into wonderful little balls:
It was tough to start, and even though I am a fairly experienced knitter, I was intimidated by the pattern, the new techniques, and all the sticks:
After two or three evenings hunched over the pattern and speaking the colors out loud to myself ("light dark dark dark light light"), I had a toe! The top of the foot:
and the sole:
After that, I was a bit more comfortable, but I still had to pay close attention to the pattern because, as you can see above, the top and the bottom are almost completely different patterns. But I got the whole foot done:
The calf actually starts at the horizontal gray and blue line. On the opposite side was a green line that was just a place holder. Once I completed the foot and leg as a tube, I went back and removed the placeholder and put the now "live" stitches on needles for the heel:
I'd never done this before and put it off for a few days. Once I took out the placeholder and put the stitches on the needles, I glanced at the heel instructions and went to bed, deciding to leave it for a couple of days.
Last night, I finished the heel. And it looks pretty darn cool:
and so does the sole:
Now I just have to block it ... and make another one. For the second one I was thinking of either reversing the colors or using the same palette but changing the placement of colors altogether, like making the foot gold and green and making the leg blue and gray. I'm about to start the second one, so I should probably decide.
The Flickr set is here if you want to see bigger pictures.