Monkeys finished

Well, I finished my Monkey socks last night. They're done in the Mocha Spice color from Fearless Fibers. I needed them to be wider than the pattern, so I increased the number of pattern repeats to 5 (80 sts instead of 64) and decreased the needle size to size 1 KnitPicks dpns.


This is the first pair I knit for myself. I love the way they feel. I will probably knit this pattern again, but not right away. There are a few other patterns I want to knit first, including some others by the same designer, Cookie A.

I've already got three more socks on the needles, but they're not for me. I'd post pictures, but I haven't taken any yet. I will soon and post them.

I also have a shawl on the needles, but I'll write about it later.

Double Knitting

A while back I saw double knitting demonstrated on Knitty Gritty and was intrigued. It was a technique I wanted to try someday. Well, someday is today. The Knitted Kitchens yahoo group is doing a KAL of a double knitted potholder. I cast on and did the first eight rows today. It's been pretty easy so far. The only tricky part was during the cast on, making sure that the two colors alternated. The designer recommended using a crochet cast on. I've used a crochet cast on many times before as a provisional cast on, but never as a permanent one. Here's what's done so far:

Side 1 through row 8

Side 2 through row 8

I made some more progress on my Monkey sock last night. I like the way it's turning out

Socks finished!

Yay! They're finished. Ends woven in and everything. They'll soon be on their way to the recipient. Pattern: my own, toe up, short row heel. Stockinette sole, 3 X 1 rib on leg and instep, 2 X 2 rib on cuff. Done with KnitPicks Essential Tweed yarn in Inca Gold; 2 socks at a time on 2 KnitPicks classic circulars size 1.

Next up: A pair for my 10 month old nephew. My sister will measure his feet for me tonight, so I'll start them tomorrow. After my brother's socks, I feel the need to do a pair I can finish quickly.

I've also made a little progress in the Monkey socks for me. I'm up to the heel flap on the first sock (don't have a picture of that yet).

But, here's an earlier pic of the Monkey sock. The yarn is the Mocha Spice colorway from Fearless Fibers.

Sock update

It's been a while since I last posted, and I'm sure my brother is wondering what's happening with his socks, so here's an update.

After the short row toes I posted, I did another inch and a half on the foot. I then tried it on my foot. It was way too big. My brother's foot is wider than mine, but not that much, so I frogged them and started over with fewer stitches.

This time, instead of short row toes, I decided to try the magic cast on I found at knitty.com. I knit what seemed like forever (size 15 shoes, remember) and did short row heels. Here's a picture right after I finished the heels.

I've done a couple more inches since then. Here's a picture taken this morning.

I've got about another 6 inches to go, so hopefully these will be finished in about a week.

Meanwhile, I was too eager to start the next pair of socks to wait. I'm doing these for a sock knit-a-long. This pair will be for me. I'm making the Monkey socks by Cookie A. Here's the yarn I chose.

The pattern as written will give you an 8 inch circumference. That would be too narrow for my foot, so I thought I'd do an additional pattern repeat. That's 16 extra stitches, which would then make them too wide, so I went down a needle size. Hopefully this is the right combination to make them fit me. I cast on and did a little over an inch on them.

Now it's back to working on my brother's socks.