FO: SOS Knit Along Meadow Stripes Socks

It seems I have caught the sock knitting bug, folks. I know this because I live in Florida yet I have managed to make myself 3 pairs of wool socks (yes, THREE) in just a few months time. Considering I only even wear socks a few times a year as it is, never even considering any made of wool, that's an exponential increase in sock appreciation. What can I say? They are a small project that is easy to see progress on, that are easy to carry around with you, and in a pattern like this they knit up very quickly. How can I say no to that?! Plus, these socks are WAY more fun than the rest of my drawer (except maybe my long socks with squirrels printed on them - squirrels!). Anyway, I present my recently finished pair of socks :)

I hadn't even thought of making more socks until I saw Susan. B. Anderson was hosting a knit along for her latest pattern. Last-pair-of-socks-ago, I was on the hunt for a simple sock pattern with an afterthought heel so I wouldn't break up my stripe pattern. I didn't manage to find anything that appealed, so I decided to wing it and they turned out ok (I'm referring to my Arne & Carlos socks) but after wearing them I noticed that the heel still tends to slip down telling me that area isn't long enough. It's ok since I will probably just be sleeping in these come winter time, but still. I wanted to find a pattern that would show me what I did wrong. Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson is just such a pattern.

The knit along was a super fun group of folks all making socks. It was very low key - you didn't even have to complete any socks to win anything, just hang out on the Ravelry board and have fun. While you didn't have to finish, I had set a personal goal to do so since these are such a simple knit (seriously, it's just stockinette stitch) so I did manage to finish before the August 22nd end date. I find myself with very little knitting time lately even though my sewing has been surprisingly steady. Maybe it's the blistering heat and soaking humidity (ugh, please end already...), but I digress. My lack of knitting time meant that I took 3 weeks to knit these up, working almost exclusively on Sundays at church - this in spite of the fact that the first sock only took me 3 days to make.

The pattern is really handy and you choose your size based only on the circumference of the widest part of your foot and then just making every section whatever length you need or choose. The real reason for buying this pattern is the heel instructions. Susan gives a really good tutorial on how to make the heel along with tips for making sure you don't break up the stripe pattern of your socks with the heel either. Once making the heel, it's done with just k2togs! Crazy how simple it is, but it works. This is my first time every managing to get exact matching socks :)

I think the heel turned out pretty cool on these. I dug through my stash of sock yarn to find an appropriate striping yarn to make mine up in only to see how lacking my stash was in self striping yarn (lots of variegated and solid, but only a few striping). In the end it came down to a beautiful skein of Opal Le Petit Prince yarn that I'm hoarding for the perfect pattern and 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Sock in the Meadow Stripe colorway. I went with the Kroy yarn to treat them as a pattern muslin. I wanted to make sure I really liked this pattern before I use my beloved Opal, you know? Funny enough I was inspired to get this colorway of the Kroy after admiring a pair that Susan made for herself earlier this year, so really it was meant to be. The colors are so fun!

I'm seriously so proud of the fact that both socks match! I mean they are completely identical - even when I ran out of yarn in a few spots, I actually made sure to begin the new yarn at the same place in the color pattern to keep with the design. I have several tiny balls of yarn leftover, but I also have a matching pair of socks :)

Now you get a couple creepy ballet position photos, lol. I was trying to be visually creative here. Too bad the right sock slumped down a bit *sigh*. The pattern now even includes an alternate heel and toe variation that does not involve kitchener stitch if you are so inclined. Personally I enjoy kitchener, so I made these with the original instructions.

And there you have it - my new pair of socks :) I'm actually pretty impressed I was able to wear these socks for photos out on my porch in the middle of the day and not feel like I was walking through a fire, so that's something. I'm really happy to have found this pattern and participated in the SOS knit along. I now have a great go-to simple sock pattern for striped yarns! Hooray!

*I just found out today that I won a prize in the knit along! Yahoo! It was just drawn at random, but I won a lovely skein of Morning Bright fingering weight yarn in a light gray. I can't wait! Yay for knit alongs!*

Summary:
Yarn: 2 skeins of Patons Kroy Sock in the Meadow Stripes colorway - $10.00
Pattern: Smooth Operator Socks by Susan B. Anderson - $3.50
Knit With: Knitter's Pride Karbonz size 1 DPNs (love these!)
Time: 3 weeks
Total Cost: $13.50