Missed It Monday

I had a FO Friday post this past Friday but I hadn't gotten around to any photographs. Just that I had finished my Skyp Socks...and yay that I had finished them! Instead, I give you Missed It Monday...a day for those things you missed (forgot?).

So, now that it's Monday and all the events of the weekend have worn off (not that there were many, mind) and my Year of Projects update was done yesterday, I can show you pictures of the aforementioned socks and give you the specifics on them.

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock (Mediumweight) in Chickabiddy
Needles: US #1 Blackthorn DPNs
Size: Men's Medium
Modifications: I think I added one extra repeat of the chart to the leg (which was only two rows), I picked up 18 stitches for the gussets (instead of the 16 in the pattern), and I changed the foot decreases to: following the every other row decrease until there were 44 stitches, then did every row decrease until I had 8 stitches left (instead of 16), then I did 4 k2tog (4 stitches left), cut the yarn and looped it through the remaining four stitches. That's why the toes look a little pointy. It's okay though.

The socks almost turned out like identical twins...I swear I didn't plan it that way! The yarn is so busy that it's difficult to tell that they're not identical anyway.

The recommended needle size for the yarn is US #1.5-2.5 which I found odd because it's classified as a sport weight yarn but it worked out pretty well. I went down to a US #1 because I didn't have US #1.5 needles when I started this project (I do now).

I wasn't sure about this yarn. I purchased it from IrishGirlieKnits when she was doing a destash because I wanted to try BMFA yarns and we don't have them around here. But it wasn't the yarn I was unsure of...it was the color. I tend to stick to greens, blues, purples, and neutral colors...and these socks are so not in those colors. But, I figure, why not? They're just socks...and I only wear handknit socks in the winter or with long pants/skirts because I'd look silly with them while wearing shorts. Just sayin'...so, I got some wild, so-not-my-colors yarn and went ahead...and I love these socks!

Now, we'll just have to see how the yarn holds up to washing...in the machine. I did handwash them in the sink with a bit of Eucalan and the water in the sink turned an interesting shade of pinky-orange. I'm hoping that it was a one-time thing. I was scared that the colors were going to bleed and all the yellow in the yarn was going to turn orange...and while some bleeding did occur, the yellows are still mostly yellow. Oh well. In the photos, I hadn't even washed or blocked or anything...they went straight onto my feet! Currently, they're on my sock blockers in the bathroom. They were almost dry yesterday so I'm hoping that they'll be dry soon enough and I can see how bad the bleeding really was.

So, overall, good pattern, good yarn, love the results...I may even make these socks again in a different color. Oh, and I had some yarn left over, too...not sure how much...probably should figure that out.

In other random knitting events, I frogged my Lothlorien Hat that I was test knitting. It was originally written to be knit flat and seamed and I talked to the designer about converting it to the round (I hate seaming)...she took a quick look at the pattern and figured out how to work that. And then I started...and things weren't working out. There were some math problems with the increases at the beginning (which I just fudged to make work properly), an extra stitch in each row that was making a fake seam at the beginning of each round, and the decreases weren't going to work out very well. So, I sat down last night and typed an e-mail to said designer about how to convert said pattern into the round. I looked at each facet of the pattern from the CO, to the increases, to the chart, to the decreases and I think I figured out how to convert it into the round without losing the integrity of the pattern itself. The only part I'm not positive about are the decreases at the crown...and that I'm just going to have to play by ear when I get that far. I'm not sure what she's going to say about it but we'll see.

This is why people have test knitters for projects...just sayin'...