Playing Footsie

I have two pairs of socks on the needles right now. This is rare for me… I have, in the past, not let myself start a second pair of socks until casting off the previous pair. It helps that I greatly prefer knitting socks on 2 circs, and have - until recently - only had 2 sock-size circular needles. So, until recently (say a couple of months ago when I bought a different size sock needles) the socks I had on the needles were safely monogamous. At least for other socks.

I have reached the point in the Blood Diamond socks where I start wondering about a new pair of socks. I like knitting socks toe-up, and so no matter how fun the pattern, all of the real challenge is essentially over once I get past the turning of the heel.

(This does not count the challenge of squeezing a pair of socks out of a ball of yarn if the quantity of yarn is almost, but not quite, sufficient. We do not like this challenge. Therefore we will not mention it.)

As you can see from the above, I have passed the turning of the heel and done a pattern repeat and then some. It’s fun. It’s a great pattern. It’s going to be a nice pair of socks.

It’s still not enough to keep me from wanting a new, novel pair of socks.

In an attempt to distract myself, I concentrated on the pattern.

You can see it better in this close-up than in the other shots. Look how nice it is! How fun! How it is subtle enough not to take away from the colorway, and yet distinct enough to still be obvious! (It is more obvious in person. The photo still doesn’t do it justice. I blame it on the flash.)

And yet look what I started on anyway…

A new sock.

This one is for M, and so it was hard to wait to cast on. It is being knit from Tofutsies yarn, which is spun from 50% superwash wool, 25% soy silk, 22.5% cotton, and 2.5% chitin. (Chitin, by the way, is made from crab and shrimp shells, and is somehow naturally antibacterial. Don’t ask me HOW they manage to turn crab shells into something spinable. And also don’t ask me how it manages to be SO SOFT with CRAB SHELLS spun into the yarn. But it is. I LOVE THIS YARN.)

The only problem I had with the Tofutsies was figuring out how to cast on. I prefer the Turkish cast-on, but the weave was too loose when I tried it. (Twice.) So I tried a cuff-down cast on. Didn’t like that either.

Wendy to the rescue!

I used her short-row toe method for the cast on, and will probably use her short-row heel also, just so it matches. Though I suppose I should ask M if he wants a heel flap. You never know.

I’m guessing that I’m going to be thanking Wendy for something else, one of these days, too.

I suspect that Suzy would like a Kitty Pi bed, one of these days. Though that means that I will have to learn to felt…