My first sock ever is on the needles.
I’m using Trampoline Stretch by Skacel in color 229. I’ve used this yarn before both for a hat and for a large, lacey scarf, and I really enjoy it. As its name suggests, it has a marvelous bounce, which is due to the elastic core inside the mostly wool plies. (It’s 70% wool, 23% nylon, and 7% polyester and comes in 50g/231 yard balls.) With all that stretch, this yarn was a joy for knitting lace. Double descreases? Knitting through the back? Purling through the back? Passing stitches over? Smooth, smooth, smooth. The one drawback is that the plies sometimes separate, so that a bit of the white core peeks through. With this colorway, that doesn’t present much of a problem, but it frustrated me some with the hat (in color 233) and the scarf (in color 238). Nonetheless, when this yarn appeared in the 40% off area at The Swift Stitch, one of my LYSs, I snatched it up. Working with it makes my fingers happy.
I picked this yarn for my first pair of socks because I figured it was a good neutral, although Melissa observed that ‘neutral’ was not the word she would use to describe it. I’m thinking the socks will look lovely with my autumn-colored clothes. (I wear a lot of oranges, maroons, yellow-greens and black.)
I’m using the “Retro Rib Socks” pattern by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Press‘s new book, Favorite Socks. I’ve signed up for the knitalong for this book, and I’m anxious to knit a pair of the folk-style “Ilga’s Socks” (the third pair down in the left-hand nav on the knitalong page) once I get my sock skills under control.
I’ve knit about half of the first leg and plan to keep working tomorrow until I get to the heel—then I’ll be able to take it to the sock clinic at The Golden Fleece on Monday. My friend Amy assures me that when I get to the heel, the directions will make perfect sense, but I’d like to have someone looking over my shoulder the first time, just in case.