I have been in a sock rut. I will admit it.
I knit Jaywalkers, and 3×1 broken rib socks, and stockinette socks. It gets a little boring sometimes. So when Jen gave me a spectacular skein of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight in Harvest for my birthday, I decided maybe I should shake it up a little.
This is a pretty intense yarn, and it deserves a pattern to show it off. So I went with the Herringbone Rib Socks, which was published in the Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn book that came out about a year ago (and was also released as a freebie through Knitting Daily). I cast on for the small size, knit the leg and heel, and tried it on… and discovered it was too small. To the frog pond it went, and we cast on again for the large side.
A whole month later, I finally have a finished sock.
Now that I have got a sock (and a half) of this pattern done, I finally feel like it’s clicked. There was a lot of tinking involved, which makes me feel kind of ridiculous, because it’s only a two-row pattern, for Bob’s sake, but it took a long time for me to feel comfortable with it. I think I’m finally there, though:
I have already cast on the next sock and it’s going so much faster now that I finally know what I’m doing, but I keep stopping to put on the first sock and admire it.
Perhaps I should stop doing that and knit faster, so I can wear both socks at once? That would be too easy, wouldn’t it?
Oooh that is LOVELY! It also seems to be one of those yarns which looks completely different knitted up than it does in the skein. I love when that happens – it’s a great surprise, and almost like getting two for the price of one! 🙂
Wow – that is one great looking sock – it’s because of you and Glenna I now knit socks!!! I can’t believe how different it looks than the skein – hardly any yellow at all (are you SURE you aren’t trying to trick us? It is Hallowe’en week after all lol) The pattern is lovely – will have to add it to the queue.
No tricks, I swear! This shot shows the yellow peeking out there. I am really loving the pattern, but it is not appropriate for knit nights or any television viewing you have to pay attention to, at least until you get the rhythm down. (My levels of tinking are directly proportionate to the amount of social knitting I was doing…)
Part of me wishes Tanis had reskeined this, to show how it would look knit up a little better, but part of me is glad she didn’t, because the blocks really let you appreciate how deep and rich the colors are. You’re totally right about the surprise. I really had no idea what to expect with the pattern plus the yarn, and I’m still agog at just how marvelously the two came together. *clutches sock to self*