FO: Merino Lace Socks

Well hello! I'm so happy that I didn't publicly declare my need to "blog more" in the New Year. I have some nice things to show off, plus plenty of events and pictures to share, but really no good time to sit down and collect my thoughts on anything in particular. Everything is good though.

So, first up, a pair of socks. They will be the last socks I knit for a while...I want to knit some sweaters this year and I'm finding that a pair of socks will ofttimes take me just as long as a sweater. So I quit. Cold turkey. I swear it. I do miss them dearly though- the sweater sleeves I'm working on don't fit in my bag quite as nicely, and when I pull them out, they tend to cause everything else in my bag to empty out onto the floor. I will survive this atrocity however.

This started out as a couple of skeins of Koigu KPPPM that I had in my stash. The colors were so pretty, and a cushy merino sock yarn is always a joy to work with. I've been wanting to make a pair of Merino Lace socks for a while, and I thought this yarn was subtle enough to make nice with the busy pattern.



I cast them on while traveling. The lace pattern was easy, but I didn't quite get around to memorizing it. It was a lovely fun pattern though, with a girly ruffle on top.



The pattern seemed like it might be a little too lumpy-bumpy to go under a pair of shoes, so I did the foot plain. I love them. An appropriate "last sock" to kick off my self-imposed sock diet.



I only did 4 lace repeats on the cuff and I'm glad I did- I had very little yarn left in the end. What I did with the leftovers was string up my darning needle and reinforce the heel properly. Socks are meant to be used and abused and worn and worn out, but you can try to fight it a little, right? It's like botox for socks.



They were gifted over Xmas to another knitter, who needed a little mood pick-up to go with cozy feet in winter.



Yup. It's hard to take pictures of your own feet.

Holes in my Soles

My obsession with sock knitting over the years means I has turned my free and commuting time magically into dozens of pairs of socks. A great deal of them end up being gifted, so I can't really keep track of the wear and tear they get.

I'm usually pretty gentle with my socks. I wash them by hand, or, if I have confidence in what I made them with, I wash the hard-core superwash/nylon blends in the wash machine. Never, ever, ever do I put them in the drier. I do think they just keep better being hand-washed and I don't really mind the extra work. The socks that I give are always superwash. I know the great majority of the world isn't as psychotic as I am when it comes to washing delicate things. I just leave care instructions with the gifts to not put them in the dryer and then let them go.

So as I was sorting through the woolies as the air was getting a chill to it, I noticed that my original pair of socks (the socks that started it all) were looking a little thin in the heels. These were made from a couple of skeins of Lorna's Laces. I've worn them pretty hard for many years, so it wasn't exactly surprising.



Note the two skeins of yarn I used- they were from different dyelots apparently. One is much darker than the other. Regardless, they are socks, and I don't care about something that is going to be concealed beneath shoes enough to care that much. I deemed them a candidate for heel reinforcement. One day. When I get to it. When the mood strikes me.

I put those brown stripey socks in my mending pile, waiting for the sock heel-reinforcement tedium mood to strike me, when, lo, my feet start feeling a little breezy.



A much more recent pair. The pattern is Vog On from Knitty.com. I made them with 2 Skeins of Koigu KPPPM, which is just 100% Merino, no nylon. The other heel looks like it's about to have a blow out as well. I'm pretty good about keeping scraps of sock yarn lying about for years, so with a little time to dive into the scrap yarn pile, I'm sure I'll come up with tangled bits of the original yarn. This darning process is a bit more labor intensive than heel reinforcement. Crap.

As much as I love working with wool, I've really come to the conclusion that one who makes serious socks should probably stay away from sock yarns that don't contain at least a little bit of nylon in it. It might not mean the socks are super soft (although some nylon blends are softer than others), but it really strengthens the wear points and adds years of life to the socks. Which is important if you have just spent 2+ weeks of your life making them. Here is a great guide to sock-darning and reinforcement tips from around the web. So, no more straight-up merino for me and my socks.

Says she who is currently making another pair of socks with Koigu KPPM (which were started a bit before the blowout). D'oh! It the last pair, I swear. The yarn is lovely, and I will be pre-reinforcing the heels just to give them a chance.