My family has been enjoying some warm sunshine and beach time together this past week. I have been knitting a little bit here and there but mainly we are just hanging out together, walking, swimming, reading, running on the beach and eating!
This one has a real love for the beach and hot weather.
I grabbed a couple of almost finished pairs of socks to bring on the trip with me. I want to keep adding to my sock drawers as much as possible and I have been off my regular pace lately. Click here to read about The Drawer.
These finished socks are knit in Opal Vincent Van Gogh in the Starry Night color way (this line has been discontinued). I love this Opal sock yarn and the Van Gogh prints. The stitch pattern I used is in the free Hermione Everyday Socks pattern (click here!) but I used my regular How I Make My Socks recipe. It was fun and simple and a bit of a change of scenery. I most often knit easy stockinette stitch socks but every once in awhile it is good to throw a purl stitch in here and there.
These fit great and I am excited to have another pair finished for The Drawer and off the needles. I have so many pairs of partially finished socks. I need to work on getting more socks done.
I finished a second pair to add to my sock drawers. I have shared these before in progress.
This pair is knit in the Regia Super Jacquard sock yarn in the Kolibri color way. I think this can be found on Etsy if you search for it. I'm not sure if it is still available.
Buddies on the beach.
The lovely Joanna Johnson of Slate Falls Press knit a pair of socks in this Opal color way and posted a photo of them. I asked her about the yarn and she gifted me a ball! What a surprise. Thank you Joanna! I love the yarn, it is so whimsical and different.
I never am quite sure what the name and numbers mean on the Opal bands so here is what I see:
Opal in Variation nach Hundertwassers Werk 956 Seeschlange. Farbe 1436 Partie 178.
I hope this helps if you are interested. I don't know where Joanna purchased the yarn.
Here is the start. I love the colorful little band of checkers.
And I love the black lines randomly placed.
Here I am on the heel flap. I did 6-inch cuffs. Sometimes I do 7-inch cuffs but not usually longer than that. Those are 6-inch Signature Needles double-pointed needles, US size 1, 2.25 mm.
As I was rearranging the stitches for the start of the heel I noticed I had dropped a stitch quite a few rounds back. I hooked it on my stitch marker to hold it until I could fix it.
After I finished the heel flap and heel turn I worked the dropped stitch back up to the needle and it's as good as new. I am hoping to get this one sock finished up on the trip. Maybe it will happen, maybe not.
I hope you are all doing well. It feels good to have a brief break with my family. I will be back to the grind as usual next week. I am traveling to the Dayton Ohio Knitting Guild Retreat to teach all weekend as soon as I get back.
Take care and have a good holiday if you celebrate this weekend.
best, susie