"Awe Nuts" Treasury on Etsy

My yarn has been included in another treasury on Etsy by TheEarringBoutique:



Thanks, TheEarringBoutique!
 

Marie Antoinette Sock

The past week I've been knitting a pair of socks, the first I've made for myself in quite some time. I'm using another pattern by Anne Hanson of Knitspot called Marie Antoinette. It's a fun pattern.

I had a false start in size 1 needles using some pale yellow Dream In Color Smooshy yarn.



It's a very pretty colorway, but it's got kind of a hard hand, especially for a yarn called Smooshy, and I didn't really like the feel of the yarn, despite what its fans say. Unfortunately I have three skeins of it now - two in the same colorway bought at different times! - because I was beguiled by the photography online. Maybe I'll put it on destash. It was also too small on size 1 needles, or I'd probably have kept going anyway, but instead I pulled out all but the top bit. You knit the top of the cuff sideways across 8 sts back and forth, and then graft together before picking up sts along its side; I liked this as a little bracelet, so I rinsed it and blocked it and kept it.



I then went out and looked for some nicer sock yarn in a colorway close to that in the picture in Anne's pattern. I don't usually feel constrained to choose the same color as that shown in a pattern picture, but this was such a good honey gold color that I had to have it, or something like it. I ended up getting a great yarn that I can't remember the name of at the moment, but I'll add it here later. It's not exactly the same yarn, but its colors are in the same family, and I've really been enjoying working with it and watching its colors change. I also am using size 3 needles. I didn't have any size 2's, so I said what the heck. It's actually a tiny bit big around the heel, for me, so size 2's would probably have been better. Live and learn. Besides, they'll probably tighten up in the washer/dryer (no delicate treatment for handknit socks in our house).



The colorway appears a bit greenish in this light, but still very warm. I'm almost done with the first one. As you can see, we were driving (to work) when I took this picture, on Rt 3, behind a Honda CR-V.

This is the third pattern I've bought from Anne and I've really enjoyed them all. This sock is varied enough that you definitely never get bored; the various parts of the pattern are intricate enough to be a challenge, yet fairly easily memorized - I will probably be able to do the second sock without looking at the pattern. I've never done a pattern where you do yo's and then catch them back up in a knit stitch, the way the pattern does in the half moons along the cuff and down the back of the leg. My picture doesn't show this very well, but you can see it in the pattern. I am looking forward to the second one (none of the dreaded second sock syndrome here) and expect it to go by as fast as the first (if not faster)!