About Those Socks

I did a drive by when posting about the Pin Striped Socks I finished a day or two ago.  They deserve much more attention than I gave them because there were a few things about them that I wanted to mention.

Here are the socks:

This is the first time I ever used the after-thought heel which was harrowing for me!  I found a tutorial on The Knit Girllls page which had a video tutorial and I followed it to a T for the second sock.  The first sock was a disaster!  Fortunately for me, I was able to stitch the gigantic hole at the heel flap for the first sock, and I smartly added two stitches on each side of the second sock which closed the hole completely.  Whew!

I don't like toe up socks because I worry about the socks not being long enough.  If I get it wrong, what can I do besides give the socks away?  That was the original plan, but I made them just long enough to fit me and they should have been longer for the person they were intended.  Talk about sock drawer enhancement!

The photo shoot happened at the Verizon store.  My son had to buy himself a new phone and while we waited for the process to run it's course, I told him to snap some 'live action' shots of my socks.

"Get lower so you can get the heel please." I say.
"I got the heel, Mom, what do you want me to do?" he says.
"Get lower!  You have to get a shot of the bottom of my feet." I say.
"You want me to get on the floor?" he says.
"If you have to in order to get the shot." I say.  "Unless you want me to get on the floor."
End of photo shoot.

With the socks done, I needed a palate cleanser - so to speak.  I needed something small, quick to knit, that didn't involve me balling up a skein of yarn.  Also, I wanted to make something with Heather V of Knits n' Things podcast to promote Diabetes Awareness Month.

Enter the My Toes Itch Cowl.  What a joyful knit!

I used Red Heart solids (white), Rowan Calmer (blue), and when I ran out of the Red Heart, I found a ball of white unidentifiable yarn found in my 'yarn walnut' bag.   It took a few hours to knit, et voila, a cowl for my niece.

When I have a moment, I will cobble together a hat using the same pattern - as soon as I find a skein of Red Heart in white which I don't want to buy, but will for the purposes of having a set.

If I were to make this pattern again, I would use a different main color (white is just too bright), and a multi-color yarn for the contrasting color.  This project was quick, easy and so cute.  It's a paid for pattern on Ravelry, and worth it because I have lots of yarn and it would be perfect for handspun.

Off to make more socks.  I'm trying to think who in my family doesn't want a pair.