If I had to come up with a knitting new year’s resolution, it would be to decrease the size of my stash. I think of myself as having a medium sized stash-it’s nothing in compared to my mom’s, for example-but I found my pet sheep (see pic) staring at it the other day, looking overawed. So the goal is to use yarns from my stash, which is what this pair of socks is. I’d been given these mini skeins several years ago, and they just sat there unloved until now. The US government shutdown is making it a bit harder to work, as I can’t go into the office, so instead I’ve been forced to stay at home and knit. I cast on this pair of socks on Jan 1.
white sheep and grumpy sheep
The yarn for these socks is Lorna’s Laces Shepard Sock. It came as five mini skeins. To change from color A to color B, I knit with color A, then did 1 row B, 2 rows A, 1 row B, 2 rows A, 1 B, 1 A, 1 B, 1 A, 2 B, 1 A, 2 B, 1 A, and then continued knitting with color B. I think, in hindsight, I’d do at least one more 1 A, 1 B alternation in the middle, particularly with the more different colors. Still, I’m pleased with how the colors blended together, and I think they look okay. I used the same style of decreases after the heel that I’ve been using for the mosaic socks, so that I could see what it looked like without the mosaic hiding it, though it turns out the speckled yarn does a pretty good job of hiding the decreases too! I used just over half the stitches for the heel flap, as I wanted the heel to show up more visually, since it’s in the different color. In past I’ve sometimes been unhappy with how small the toe and heel look when they are the only thing in a contrasting color, but I think these socks are fairly well balanced.
I started knitting when I was eight, though it wasn’t until high school when I really started knitting frequently. I started with garter stitch scarves, and made one for all my family, including aunts, uncles and cousins-it was somewhere around 40 scarves. After that I decided I could move on to other projects, and I eventually settled on socks as the ideal project. I’ve had an in progress pair of socks with me pretty much constantly for the past 14 years. Some years I may have only knit 20 pairs, though I know some years I’ve exceeded 60 pairs. If we assume an average of 40 pairs of socks a year, that equates to 560 socks. So I’m not yet up to 2019 handknit socks, though just give me a few years! I think I’ll officially start counting with this being pair 561.