sockapalooza done

Dust from a renovation project at work went on for two weeks and left me with clogged-up sinuses that developed into rhinitis. It affected my knitting because, by the time I got home, all I wanted to do was sleep. Fortunately, the dust has settled and the medication is working and I can feel my knitting senses reviving. It's so good to get back to knitting.

My sockapalooza socks.

Yarn: regia silk

Pattern: Juani's braided cable sock

Needles: 2 circular needles 2.75mm

Cable cast on makes a nice stretchy cast on for ribbing. I have used it before to start the garter stitch edging of the kimono shawl and it gives a nice smooth edge. I may use this cast-on method from now on instead of the long tail cast-on. I would love to hear from you if you know of any reason why I shouldn't. I have tried to search in vain for the pros and cons of this cast-on method.

I used the 3 needle bind-off (instead of grafting) for the toe as suggested in the pattern. The designer’s view is that 3-needle bind-off is stronger than grafting. What about you? What method do you prefer? I added one more cable repeat to the length as my row gauge was ever so slightly off, 21 rows to 2 inches instead of 20. Oops, after knitting the socks I realised that I had done 2 X 2 ribbing instead of 1 X 1 ribbing. I guess it doesn't really matter.

One of the circular needles that I used for knitting this sock is my new aluminium (or is it steel, whatever metallic?) clover needles and I like it very much. It slides so smoothly when I knit and the ends are rounded just so. Knitting the regia silk with it was pure pleasure.

Now that I have completed the socks, let me show you my current distractions. Crochet flowers from my growing collection of Japanese crafty books have been on my mind for quite a while, so I finally sat down and made these two, for a start. I am going to make them from my miscellany scrap yarns. These are probably going to be brooches with a safety pin sewed to the back. There are many flower patterns to try (including one knit pattern in the latest Rowan magazine 39) and hopefully, I will have more to show you the next time.

Here's another crochet in progress. I am crocheting from a ball of string, actually it looks and feels more like rope, gunny (burlap) sack rope. Can you guess what I am making?

And I am glad that the next sewiknit project is going to be BAGS!! If you haven't signed up, you can still do so.