Once Upon a Sock: September

Remember last month when I was being a bit smug about lifelines.  I claimed that if I put them in, I wouldn't need them.  Oh dear.

I was trying to use the short row heel found on the Arne and Carlos Youtube channel.   I had the idea that if I increased stitches, then I wouldn't need to make so many stitches after knitting two together.  Whilst the logic was good, because I increased the stitch count, the rest of the maths was thrown out of whack.  In the end, I decided to use a Fleegle heel instead.  To be honest, it's not my favourite heel, but so many things had gone wrong with this pair of socks I just wanted to get them finished. 

Yarn is Schoeller und Stahl Esslinger Sockenwolle in colourway beige-orange

The next pair I completed since last month, were a pair I cast on at the end of February.  I was going to use the short row heel used in the knitting expat vanilla sock pattern.  However, she has written the pattern over 64 stitches, and I only had 60 stitches. So, instead, I used the fish lips kiss heel and worked out how to do it in a contrasting colour.

Main yarn is Regia 4ply, colourway Brazil.
Contrasting yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 play, colourway Cayenne Pepper

Also completed over the last month, were the toe-up Hermione's which I cast on back in July last year.  The good thing about me having similar sized feet to Mr Knitty, is that I can get him to try on pairs of socks I have knit for me, and then work out any amendments which I need to make.  Luckily, these fit him perfectly.

Main yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Rum Paradise
Contrasting yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners 4 ply in Bubblegum

I also need to be less of a slattern when it comes to weaving in my ends.

Also on the needles at the moment are the candy socks and the mosaic socks.  Both of these have been made with the Sockmatician toe-up recipe.  The last time I made these, I got into a muddle with the heel turn.  This time, I have used lifelines , just in case.  I have managed one heel turn, so I know I can do it.  The second heel has gone wrong twice, so I'm putting it to one side for the time being.  This pattern uses German short rows, which are just as easy to use as people say they are.  I think I still prefer the shadow wrap short row heel used in the fish lips kiss heel, but I would definitely use of German short rows again.

As I have a hospital appointment today, I plan to cast on a new pair of socks, so I have something to do whilst waiting.  These are going to be my May socks for the box of socks challenge.  Once I've cleared another pair of needles, I'll cast on my socks for July and September.  Even better, all of this sock knitting has given me more scraps for my memory scrap blanket! 

There are a group of us who blog about socks on the first Thursday of the month.  If you knit socks, whether one pair a year or one pair a year, you are more than welcome to join us.  All you need to do is write a blog entry and add it to the link-up page which is here.  Alternatively, you can just click on the link-up and read more about other peoples' sock knitting. 

Just for today, I'm going to leave with a song.  No idea why this one is on earworm....