Thursday, May 5, 2011

Rhombus

What am I working on this month, you're wondering?  Well, I'm participating in four knit-a-longs for May with two pairs of socks - the beaded socks are for the Sock Knitters Anonymous Mystery Sock (MOCK) KAL, plus my "Rhombus" socks will triple-dip in two different Knit Sock Love KALs as well as the Solid Socks KAL.  Triple duty, baby, oh yeah.

Since I finished clue 1 for both socks for the MOCKs, it was time to cast-on for Rhombus.  I started them on May 3rd, so I'm two days in.  I'm knitting them one at a time because the pattern has a 2-3 rows that cross cables when doing the magic loop method and I didn't want to fiddle with taking the first sock on and off the needle to rearrange stitches.  I do have another size 1 needle on order from KnitPicks.com so I can start the second one and catch up to where I am so far on the first . If I knit them in tandem - say 10 rows on one sock, 10 on the other, heel on the first, heel on the second, etc. - then I can finish them almost at the same time and not have to deal with second sock syndrome.  The problem is the new needle won't be here until the middle of next week, so I could be pretty far with the first sock.  Although.... I just remembered that as of May 8th, there will be another clue for the MOCK, so I'll put Rhombus aside temporarily until I finish clue 2 on both MOCKs.  Ah yes... that makes things better!

I went back and forth a little on my yarn choice for Rhombus.  Originally I planned on using a solid gray from Plymouth Yarn Company in their Happy Feet sock yarn.

Plymouth Yarn Company Happy Feet sock yarn

The finished sock for Rhombus in the Knit Sock Love book is in a beautiful periwinkle gray - a completely solid color - and is beautiful.   The solid color really showed the pattern and stitch definition.  Plus I knew I wanted to enter the sock in the Solid Socks KAL as well.  However, then I got a skein of Ethereal Blue from Grant Creek Yarns for Easter from Chris and decided to use it instead.  Not only is it beautiful, but because I'd be using a KAL sponsor's yarn, I'd get an extra entry into the prize drawing.

Grant Creek Yarn in Ethereal Blue

But when it came time to wind the yarn, I found myself torn!  I love the Ethereal Blue and can't wait to use it, but it's a semi-solid which means some variation in the color.  Sure, it would still most likely be solid enough for the Solid Socks KAL and it was a sponsor yarn, but I still had this strong feeling that I really wanted a completely solid yarn for these socks.  So I flip-flopped back to the Happy Feet gray yarn.  I got Chris to help me wind the hanks before I could change my mind again, and cast on the same night.  Now I just have to say...

I love it!  The yarn is very nice to work with - I'm really enjoying it.  And the socks are turning out great so far.  I think the straight solid yarn gives them a simple, clean look and really lets the pattern pop.  Judge for yourself....

My Rhombus Sock

I'm just over one repeat through the pattern chart, so I have almost one and a half chart repeats to go before the heel.  There are at least a couple of people in the KAL who are only doing 1.5 repeats instead of the 2.5 that the pattern calls for, but I'm planning to stick with the pattern so the leg is longer.  I just hope I don't run out of yarn - how much would that suck?  Most of the Rhombus projects on Ravelry.com are in progress, so I don't have many finished projects to check to see how much yarn their socks ended up using.  I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that since I'm knitting the small size and not the large that there will be enough.  Please, please let there be enough.  Oh pleeeeeease....

I have to stay off my feet for the next 48 hours since I got a cortisone shot in my foot this afternoon, so hopefully I also get a lot of knitting done.  We will see.

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