Finished a pair of Almondine socks by Anne Hanson from Sock Knitting Master Class. Funny, it wasn’t until I starting knitting my first pair of socks from that book that I found what truly separates it from all the other sock books I’ve knit from so far have…the fact that each pattern comes in multiple sizes, and those sizes aren’t simply determined by gauge (which has been known to happen…larger gauge will get you a larger garment, but I’ve found that to be slightly lazy pattern writing), but by stitch count. So, if you’re like me and your gauge is freakishly large, you can simply choose a size that fits your gauge, So I just cast on the size that called for 60 stitches, which seems to be my magic number, and ended up with a pair of socks that fit me very well, without much extra effort on my part.
The designer says in the descriptive text that the stitch pattern is easily memorized, but these socks are definitely sisters, not twins. Turns out that only knitting on them in spurts over the past few months makes you forget where you are in the pattern. Good think the yarn is kind of busy for the lace, so only I can tell that my yarn-over diagonal eyelets don’t alternate like they should. Anyone else with their face close enough to my feet to tell me I’ve messed up is in a perfect position to be kicked.
I used Studio Sock by Neighborhood Fiber Co., which is the same gloriously dyed yarn it has always been. I love the dyer’s vivid colors, even if I may hand wash these the first few times I wear them, just so nothing else gets dyed purple. Knitting on them for a while turned my righthand pointer finger blue, but that washes off, and it’s the price one pays for such stunning colorways. Knitting with this particular shade Shami is like knitting with berry-stained yarn. Every once in a while you get to a section of reddish purple that reminds me of a perfectly ripe blueberry. The base is different from the last time I knit with it, less bouncy, but it’s also been about ten years since the last time I knit with that yarn. They’ve changed their base to be totally organic. The resulting yarn is a tad splitty, though. It may behave better in crochet, which works because I had enough left over to be used in the crochet Sea Glass Tee by Wool and Pine which I had absolutely no business buying because I’m not done with the knit version yet, but I just couldn’t help myself. Haven’t cast on for it yet; I’m trying to exercise what little yarn-related self restraint I have and finish the knit version first.