Non-deadline knitting

In between knitting non-bloggable things the past couple of months (such as...oh, while waiting for my yarn!), I knit some more socks for The Limey. These are your basic ribbed socks, with two noteworthy points: 1) it contains some white and yet The Limey is willing to wear them; and 2) I put in some calf shaping.

Improved Ribbed Socks
Yarn: Regia Galaxy, from Liberty
Needles: 2.0mm dpns
Pattern: basic ribbed socks with calf-shaping

Notes: For the calf-shaping, I basically increased in pattern on the back of the socks. For the heck of it, and to see which one I liked better, I incorporated the increases differently into the 2x2 rib pattern for each sock. I don't know if you can see it that well on these pictures.


I think maybe I like the one on the left better, but it's not a strong preference. The Limey quite likes them, and I think they fit him much better than the normal straight socks, so this may get incorporated into my usual sock recipe for him.

Onto knitting for me!

Because it's defintely autumn here now, I bought the Flared Lace Smoke Ring pattern from HeartStringFiberArts. (I was paid via PayPal for a couple of the patterns I've published in on-line knitting magazines, and I've decided that money goes right back into knitting.) It's refreshing to just be able to blindly follow a pattern right now!

I started the pattern using some Jaggerspun Zephyr in a beautiful vibrant blue colour (which doens't show up at all in the pictures, unfortunately) and 3.5mm needles. Is it just me, or do the lace holes seem huge? They're double yarnovers, but still, it seems to be knitting up to a very loose lace.


This is puzzling, because Zephyr is one of the commonly recommended yarns for this pattern, and I'm using smaller needles than recommended. I know I normally knit loose, but I'm trying really hard to knit a bit tighter here, and, to be honest, the stitches on the needles and cable are pretty tight. Plus, I'm fairly close on the gauge, and the size is about right. But it doesn't look at all like the picture.


I'm continuing with the pattern anyway. But when I'm done, I may make another one in a fingering weight or 4-ply yarn. I think that would be ideal for this pattern.