Sox-stravaganza

My latest obsession: knitting socks. It began innocently enough - I was browsing through one of Etsy's Saturday Night Specials forum threads (an excellent way to get extra cool stuff at extra special prices) and I ended up buying some beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn. I've done a lot of knitting in the past but deeply feared socks and their complicated shapes. This yarn, however, just called to me so I rustled around the net for a pattern and Joann's for some double pointed needles and sat down to knit with some practice yarn. It took me two or three (ok, SIX) tries to figure out what I was doing but I eventually untangled myself enough to get some knitting done. Here's what I've got so far:

<--This was my first pair of socks, knitted with some commercially made yarn using these instructions. I love how the self-striping yarn looks and it kept me entertained. The pattern itself is great. It is a wonderful road-map to the anatomy of a sock. I especially loved knitting the heel. It made me feel like my favorite literary heroine, Jo, from Little Women.

So after this pair I was hooked. Socks are such a portable project - perfect to work on while waiting for kids to finish swimming lessons, spouses to finish shopping at Frys or for very long car trips.

Here's another pair in more girly colors --->
These were knitted with commercially made yarn and a commercial pattern. I like the heel and toes for this pattern a little better than the above pattern - they are more tapered and elegant. Aren't the colors fun? I craved a neopolitan ice-cream cone the entire time I was knitting.

(I'm sorry all the socks look so misshapen but I didn't want to subject you to my hobbit shaped feet. I think I need to make some sock blockers.)

<---Here's the pair that I knitted with the hand-dyed yarn. It's from SeeJayneKnitYarns and it was a joy to knit.

I originally used another pattern I got off the web. It had a very simple heel and no gusset shaping. I ended up with an ill-fitting tube with a goofy protuberance for a heel. Perhaps that ugly sock is more a testament to my poor knitting than the pattern, but I unraveled that sock and used my original pattern.

Aren't the colors and shading beautiful? There is so much more subtlety and nuance with hand-dyed yarn! I think I'll be using hand-dyed yarn from here on out.

Now I'm off to make a little knitting bag!

Do you have any knitting adventures to share?