PORTFOLIO
OTHER PROJECTS
ABOUT
RESUME
OLLY OLLY SOCKS-EN FREE
February 2, 2022
These socks are a bit late. The holidays were more hectic than I anticipated and unexpected events transpired in January, and these socks quickly dropped in my priority list. But I did finish them. One sock I finished in December and the other in the early days of January.
For this pair, I once again strayed from a pattern. I wanted to combine some elements from other socks I’ve made this year. I wanted to do a corrugated rib details (like the cuff on October’s socks) and some lace detail, primarily. Originally, I thought I would use the lace from Amanita’s Buds & Flowers Socks, but decided on something much simpler. While pretty, I wanted something a bit easier on my nerves and fingertips. I don’t remember the exact place I found the lace pattern, but it is essentially an abbreviated gingko leaf lace stitch pattern. I just ended my pattern before the rows of purls and yarn overs (round 11).
The yarns for these socks are ULA+ LIA’s sheep wool yarn in Natural Dark Melange and some remnants of Black Cat Custom Yarn’s Workhorse Sock yarn in Midas that I still had from January (and April).
These socks came together pretty easily. The hardest part was probably finding a lace pattern I liked and that would work in the round with my stitch count.
Some details that I am not super fond of with these socks is that the stitch count is divisible by 4, which means that when splitting the stitches in half, the result is still even. This is normally not something I put much thought into, but with the colorwork I was doing, it meant that I would start and end on different colors for the heel and the toe. It’s an easy enough fix for next time, and once I have them on I barely notice it.
I’ve worn these socks several times in the past few weeks and have enjoyed them a lot. And with these socks I guess I’m done with my year of socks.
I could do an in depth reflection of the past year’s knitting, but I think I’ve already kind of moved on. But to cap it off: I set out to make 12 socks, which I sort of did. I made 14 pairs. Not all of the socks were for me. Not all of the socks I started for this project I finished (May and June). I learned that I prefer knitting for other people; it’s hard for me to be a selfish knitter. I learned that I’m a process knitter; knitting brings me more joy than the resulting item, and focusing on the end product introduces more stress than I like. I enjoyed this year(ish) of knits, but I’m ready to work on other things with less self-imposed deadlines and pressures.