Rare Gem Socks

Before I caught a Wollmeise shop update I bought a sock kit from Yarnissima, partly under the assumption that it would be the most likely way to try out some Wollmeise yarn and partly because her patterns looked fascinating.

 

Of course, once I read a bit about it on Ravelry I found that at least some people thought the particular pattern I had chosen was one of her most complicated.  I'm not that easily daunted and I really wanted to try knitting with some Wollmeise, but I was also feeling like I'd been knitting too much for myself and was overdue for making some socks for my Mr. Wonderful.  So since I already had yarn set aside for him but hadn't settled on a pattern, I decided it was perfect timing to try out a simpler Yarnissima pattern to get used to her style of sock construction before jumping into the spina di pesce kit.

And so I made my first socks with some of my Rare Gems Mill Ends from the Once in a Blue Moon sale:

The simple pattern choice worked out well since the yarn really pooled/flashed for these, and it was wonderfully therapeutic to knit socks without a complicated chart or a pattern that I needed to check constantly.

The instructions on separating stitches for the heel flap threw me for a loop for a bit, but they did make sense eventually and I suspect it was partly just caused by being a first-timer with this type of toe-up heel.  I do love that this style of construction makes it easy to add a patterned gusset!

Pattern: 'brainless' by Yarnissima
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight - Rare Gems Mill End
Needles: US 1½ - 2.5 mm Addi Turbo Lace
Completed:  April 4, 2010

It was fun to be working with what felt like an entirely new way of making socks and that combined with how easy it is to knit the Socks That Rock in Mediumweight means that these just flew off the needles (even though I thought they were destined to stall when I hit all of that twisted rib, not my favorite!).  I even learned a new cast on and bind off.

And I think these helped me get my sock knitting mojo back.  Between the Ruby Slippers yarn disappointment and my struggles with the Enchanted Forest socks, I just haven't been making any real sock progress since February.  Now, as soon as these were off the needles I cast on for the We're Not In Kansas Anymore socks and am already most of the way through the first sock.  I still have other projects to get back to, but it looks like socks are in the mix again.