Sockin' it

It's a good thing I only have so many pairs of 2.5 mm needles, because if I had more, I'd have a lot more socks on the go. They are just so easy to cast on and set aside for other projects.

Currently I have three pairs on the go (as many as I have needles for). I've been working on them intermittently and I'd probably have more accomplished if Dave didn't make me drive every time we go out - I still haven't mastered that "driving with your knees" thing yet.

First up is a sockette of my own design in Top Cat.
The colour is Misty Highland (look for it, or something close, in the shop soon). It may take me a little while to get to the second sock on this one, as you will notice, it has a picot hem, and well, I've had enough picot for the time being. But, when it is finished I will be offering it as a free pattern, so keep your eyes peeled.

Next is the Traffic Island Socks:
These are Alley Cat, colour is Wood Nymph - Light. There is Wood Nymph (regular) (in Slinky Cat) up in the shop and it's even prettier than this. Nice little pattern that is similar to the Jay Walker, but with out all the fit issues.

And, as you may have noticed, I make a lot of short socks. There are several reasons for this:

1) I like short socks.

2) I'm a pretty lazy knitter and some days I'm all about the instant gratification - being able to knit a cuff and a heel in just a few hours eases that need.

3) When we get our yarn, it comes on cones and we wind it into several 400 yard skeins. After doing that there is usually only about 300 yards left on the skein. It's not enough to put in the shop, so I usually dye it up and keep it for myself. In some cases, we use them as test skeins to try out new colours. That was the case of Misty Highland. We were using it to test out a bunch of different dyes, and when it was done, it was pretty darn gross - what Mom would dub a "pooz yarn". I had some leftover dye from another colourway, so I dunked the whole thing in to see if I could even out the colour a bit. Both Mom and I were quite surprised and pleased with the result. I'm going to attempt to recreate it - or something close to it.

But, that's not to say I never knit full length socks. I've also got these on the go for Dave:
Of course, I cast on for these just after finishing up my Christmas socks, and I'm still not done the first one - I'd much rather work on socks for myself. Maybe I'll get them done in time for Dave's birthday in July - but they are just so long..... sigh...