Brief sock interlude

The thing about lace stoles that I find so difficult is the repetitiveness. With triangular shawls or otherwise shaped pieces of lace, even if the stitch pattern remains the same, you still have the shaping itself to contend with. I’m primarily a process knitter and, to me, boredom is death. I can stick out some repetitive sections, but I need to have milestones in sight. And, even then, I sometimes need to knit on something else.

Maybe that’s why I end up knitting so many socks, and knitting socks so quickly: for cuff-down, it doesn’t take very long before you’re past the cuff stitches and into the leg pattern. Just as you’re starting to get bored with the leg pattern, it’s time to turn the heel. Then there’s gusset shaping to contend with, after which it’s just a hop, skip and a jump to the toe shaping and eventual grafting. Toe up socks have a similar progression, but in reverse. Everything moves quickly, with varied techniques. If lace is epic poetry, socks are like the action movies of the knitting world: fast-paced, engaging and just the thing for a brain vacation. I love knitting socks, and I don’t tend to worry about them clashing with my clothing or not being my personal style. After all, they’ll usually be hidden by pants and shoes, right?

This weekend, I’ve set down the Queen Silvia Shawl for a spell. Instead, I’ve been working on these:

Some Leyburns in STR lightweight, colourway Jewel of the Nile. (Rav project page.) I don’t tend to knit a lot of toe-up socks, but I’m doing these pretty much as-written, with short-row toes and heels. I love the way short-row heels fit me — I’m kinda lucky, that way — and the toes are comfy and free from rubbing spots. The only caution I have is that the stitches picked up from the provisional cast-on can be pretty tight and look weird, so, for my second sock, I adjusted the pattern slightly so they’d end up on the bottom.

I’m loving the shaping of these socks, and the stitch pattern is fantastic for variegated yarn:

It involves long floats, which help prevent the pooling and striping I so often get with STR. I may just end up knitting these again, which would be unprecedented.

So, until I muster the fortitude to once again stare down the stole, I’ll be knitting some cheerful socks. And, maybe, spinning a bit…

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~ by aislingeach on May 17, 2009.