Pattern: Gentleman’s Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Damson, 1 skein

Needles: US 0

Notes: Though I have many, Knitting Vintage Socks is possibly my favorite book of sock patterns.   The patterns are beautiful and classy without being overdone, and most are approachable to knit.  This sock is actually written for a man’s foot, and I think it would make a lovely man’s dress sock.  I reduced the number of stitches to cast on from 80 down to 60, which fits me very well.  I also swapped the heel for a slip stitch heel, and knit the toe for considerably less length than called for, though I did use the wide toe decreases, which I do not find convincing.

Jitterbug is a controversial yarn, if ever there were such a thing.  There are stories of many knots, dye lot changes, fuzzing, and short yardage.  Of these, I have only experienced the short yardage.  Below is the amount I had left over from my size 8 socks (9.5″ total heel to toe, 6″ leg.)

I could not have gotten another pattern repeat on both socks, I don’t think, though it’s possible I could have squeezed it out.  Still, a 6 inch leg is pretty much my ideal – long enough to not be ankle socks, but not enough to fall down.

Honestly, I love Jitterbug.  It’s a very heavy fingering weight, which I knit on size zeros for durability (the socks felt stiff before blocking, but are lovely now.)  It has a tightly twisted feel – it is rather a hard yarn, compared to something like koigu.  The colors are gorgeous – both the semisolids like my yarn, and the pretty multis, many of which have really interesting color combinations.  I have a skein of Slate in my stash, which I’m planning on using to make a pair of Monkeys sometime this spring.  I can’t speak to the durability of the yarn yet, but it was a pleasure to knit up.  As long as the socks don’t fall apart I can see myself using this many times in the future.

Pattern: Climbing Vines Pullover, Interweave Knits Winter 08

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in Chinatown Apple, 2.75 skeins

Needles: US 8 and US 7

Notes: I think Interweave Knits suffers from several problems lately, but after knitting this pullover I’m not sure that dowdy designs is one of them.  I was attracted to the lace panel in the magazine, but honestly I thought that the sweater looked pretty dowdy and awful on the pretty model in the magazine.  First of all, she was wearing a long sleeved button down shirt under it, which creates unflattering lines, and then the sweater she was wearing was too large for her.  I am wearing this sweater with three inches of negative ease in the bust.  That may seem like a lot (it did to me) but to be honest this is one of the few pullovers I own that I feel fits like my storebought sweaters.

I knit the front by hand, and knit the stockinette portions of the back and sleeves on the Bond.  After knitting them I transferred the hem stitches to size 7 needles, and knit the ribbing by hand.  To be honest, I cannot tell the difference between the handknit and machine knit portions.  For the most part I found the pattern to be clear and easy.  I did shorten the body by 1 inch in length (I like pullovers at 14″… the pants I’m wearing are very low waisted, it is not too short.)  I also did one extra set of decreases for the waist, since I wanted this to be formfitting.  The neckline as written is quite wide, but I really like wide necklines, especially if (as in this case) holes in the lace require the wearing of a tank underneath.  It does not fall off the shoulders – it is merely pulled to one side in these photos.  However, if you don’t like a wide neckline you might want to consider altering this.

I liked knitting with Classy much more this time than my last experience.  I don’t know if this is because of the color, or because I wasn’t knitting garter stitch.  I did find some vegetable matter in the yarn, which surprised me, but it wasn’t very much, and it wasn’t large splinters or anything.

This was a very pleasant experience, and I am glad to find the Bond useful for the purpose I wanted it – to knit the boring bits of some sweaters, and free me up to enjoy the rest (the lace panel here was quite enjoyable.)  I’m not sure how much faster is was, since I it’s a bit cumbersome to knit a piece, and I tended to knit a piece and then stall for a few days on the next, but at least during that time I was able to work on other things by hand.  I’m very interested now in seeing how the other sweaters in IK might look in more appropriate sizes.  For instance, the cover sweater from the winter issue, the Blooming Cardigan, is clearly huge for the model.  I’m thinking it might be far nicer in the smallest size (and without the belt) so I may make that soon.

As usual, I had to get the Sarah Jane seal of approval.

She is mildly amused.  I have promised her a sweater of her own, and I will interpret her cries as cries of joy!

Pattern: Cozy Cable socks by Terry Morris

Yarn: Dream in Color Starry in Cinnamon Girl

Needles: Knitpicks dpns, size 0

Notes: I wanted to make these socks from the moment I first saw them on Ravelry.  I love knitting socks, but rarely am I so struck with a pattern that I must make it right away.  I decided these would be my socks to wear for Christmas (it is very important in my mind to have special Christmas socks) so I ordered some Dream in Color yarn in sparkly red and got started right away.

The pattern was incredibly easy to follow.  It was divided up into lots of little charts for every step, and you only had to follow them in order.  I did the cables without a cable needle, which I prefer for socks.  They took me 9 days to complete, working at the same time as a sweater.  The leg chart took the longest – the pattern on the foot is easy and was at least twice as fast.  I did think that the toe directions were a bit long, so I shortened them.

I have mixed feelings on the yarn.  On one hand I really like the color, and I appreciate that it isn’t super skinny.  On the other hand this is supposed to be a semi-solid, but it really isn’t (it looks a little bit in the photos, but doesn’t appear that way in real life.)  The silver bits tend to come loose, and are pretty long strands which give the socks a fuzzier look than I prefer (and look a bit like lint to me sometimes.)  The yarn was a little splitty too.  I haven’t knit with smooshy, so I really can’t say how similar it was, but I plan on getting some in the future to try out and compare.

I would highly recommend giving these socks a try!