i finished pair #36 on march 17th so i could finally start the happy socks!
i've told you about the sock yarn leftover swap i'm doing with Rosemary in this post already (at the bottom of the post). last friday i started knitting the socks and i took the opportunity to try my first toe-up socks. since i don't know how much yarn i actually have, starting at the cuff would not make much sense...
this is a bosnian toe which starts out as a little square in stockinette stitch. all the stitches needed to knit in the round are picked up along the sides and the cast-on edge. you can find written instructions here and a video here (both by ColorJoy LynnH).
after knitting a couple of rounds with increases for the toes i started blending two yarns. i randomly knit one, two or three rounds in one colour and then the other. i don't have to cut the yarns when changing to the other colour, i only need to do that when i take an old colour out and add in a new one. when working with two little balls i just cross them on the inside to avoid gaps and carry up the one i'm not working with.
i love how they are turning out and how different they look even though i'm using the same sequences and yarns on both of them. i only do five to seven rounds at a time and then repeat the sequence on the other sock - that works okay...
as far as i'm now they cover about half of my foot, so i thought i'd do a sample of the heel i want to do: i've never done an afterthought heel before and i really don't want to knit too much or too little of the feet and risk the socks not fitting in the end.
it's always odd to take close-ups of feet, heels especially. but the heel (also in the written instructions and video series both linked above) was really easy to make and i like the shape of it. it fits quite well and will fit even better once there is more - foot and leg/cuff - to hold it in place properly. now i can basically "feel" where the heel starts in relation to my foot and knit the foot of the sock accordingly.
i'm still ill (grr - have been for about a week now! double-grrgrr) and was in need of a simple sock to knit - the yarn blending does require some concentration. so i cast on this one yesterday:
and by now i'm ready to decrease the first toe already... the colours sang me a wonderful song of spring when i opend the box looking for the perfect yarn and i just had to listen to it... it sang of the pink and copper flower buds of fruit trees, of red tulips and of fresh green birch tree leaves swaying in a warm breeze...
i hope you are all healthy and enjoy whatever you are doing... (and if you're not enjoying what you do, you should consider doing something that you do enjoy...)