Socks

I've been knitting a pair of socks this year.  Actually, I'm still on the first sock.  When you cast on everything at once, it's hard to get any forward momentum on a single project.  Anyway, the first quarter's KAL for ESK (the Yarnathon) is Tiny Owl Knits.  If you're not familiar with her patterns, they're adorable and whimsical and just fun.  Tiny Owl Knits is responsible for the Beekeeper's Quilt that everyone was doing several years ago.  I know I still have a few bags of hexipuffs around here, although I can't tell you when I last knit one of the little things.

Anyway, I really liked her Broom Rider socks when the pattern came out, but it was initially only available in the ebook, and that was the only thing from the ebook I knew I'd knit.  I've always wanted to knit a pair of long socks, so when this KAL was announced on January 1 and I realized the pattern was available individually now, I went stash diving!  I decided on some Malabrigo Sock in Indonesia (the dark) and Madelinetosh Twist Light in Dopamine (the light).

I've had to make a few adjustments because I prefer my socks knit at a tighter gauge than the pattern calls for, but I'm checking fit as I go and trying them on to make sure they work.  I've also weighed my yarn before starting so I can get a pair of matching socks - I don't want to run out of one of the colors halfway through the second sock!

I'm not cutting my yarns between colors, I'm just bringing it up from the previous stripe.  The pattern gives some tips about this and it's working pretty well.  I know this first sock is taking much longer because I'm adjusting for the fit as I go, but I'm keeping notes and I hope the second sock moves much faster.

Oh, and just to answer a question about the spinning from Tuesday, I will be plying the singles when I'm done spinning them (I've finished two bobbins of what will be six), but they will just be a regular three ply.  The color bits are so small that there's no point in chain plying* them.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

*Chain plying is the type of plying with a giant crochet chain that will keep the color flow intact while you ply.  The technique has been known as Navajo plying but apparently the Navajo people have pointed out that they've never used this technique, and since "chain plying" is much more descriptive (and apparently much more accurate), you'll see this term used more often now.

(This was not meant to be lecture-y, but more of an FYI kind of thing.  When I started spinning about 15 ((?)) years ago, everyone called this Navajo plying, so it must have been fairly recently that someone spoke up and mentioned that's it's really not at all a Navajo thing.  I'm probably worrying about this way too much but I didn't want anyone to read this and think I was being condescendingly explanatory.  It's hard to convey intent on the Internet sometimes without tone of voice, facial expression and body language cues.  Also, I'm not ready to include emoji in blog posts.  Nope!)