Sunday, July 28, 2013

Year of Projects 3: Spring Shoots 01



SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta Spring Shoots


My Caretta Caretta socks have been done for days - I just haven't had a chance to blog them. Because I'm knitting for a KAL, these are knit without any modifications. Seems mods can disqualify you for prize consideration! The KAL for this pattern ends on July 30th; that's mission accomplished.

The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy and the colours are just gorgeous. Never a worry about pooling and it knits up like a dream. It's maybe a bit busy for the pattern, but not too much. It's not superwash though; hand wash and lay flat for these socks!

The lace pattern is very pretty in this sock, and it's quite stretchy as well which is always a good thing for a well-fitted sock. The ribbing of the cuffs flows nicely into the lace pattern which, in turn, flows nicely into the ribbing of the toe area. And the pattern is well written and clearly charted. My only knock on this pattern would be that the photography for the book isn't very good. In some cases the socks don't even fit the model and in the close-up of these finished socks the nearest sock is not even in focus making the pattern details difficult to see.

Now, about the beads ... maybe shinier beads would add more bling to these socks? My matte textured matchy-matchy beads haven't really been worth the effort. They aren't big enough to make a difference to the comfort of the sock, but if you were to continue the beads past the leg and then wear the socks in shoes it might be a different story. Just the thought of a beaded instep makes me cringe.

The KAL for the next pattern in the book - Spring Shoots - began at the beginning of July and runs through to the end of August. This pattern involves an afterthought leg; if I'm going to cut my knitting I want a light and bright coloured yarn to see the stitches clearly. The yarn is Socktopus Sokkusu Original (the yarn recommended in the pattern!) in a colourway called "Slice of Orange". It's bright alright! Quite a departure from my usual colour choices. And very nice to work with - soft, non-splitty and not overly twisted.

After reviewing the notes of other Ravelers, I've decided to knit the medium size rather than the large, and to step down one needle size to avoid socks that are too large. The plan is to knit the closed tube for each foot before sitting down to cut the openings for the leg. The gusset increases begin a few inches in from the toe, but for my huge feet I'd probably have been better off starting them further along in the foot. We'll see. One thing I'm quite excited about is that I can knit as many plain rows after the cut line on the heel side of the ankle as I wish before starting the heel decreases - I have a very high instep and pointy heels, so I'm guessing that adding some ease here is going to really help the fit.

Now, to judge the length of the foot, designer Alice Yu instructs:

Cont until work measures the span of your hand from the tip of your longest finger to the wrist line. This corresponds for most people to the length of the foot from the top of the toes to the midline of the ankle.

Try it! It holds true for me and Gavin. Does it work on you too?



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the socks, both pairs and the supplier I normally use as the Araucania, I might give it a go for some socks.

Wanderingcatstudio said...

Caretta Caretta looks great!

Carolina22 said...

Wow you cut your knitting for a sock pattern?! I've never heard of that but I'm not a sock knitter... Love the color - it does look like an orange slice :) Also well done on getting your KAL done in time.

kepanie said...

Fun, variegated sock yarn. I like how it doesn't pool. I think you made an excellent choice of color for the Spring Shoots. The original looks busy and you can't see the st pattern very well. The construction of the leg sounds so different. I hope you take pics of that.

Kim said...

I adore that orange--it screams summer to me!
*smiles*

Anonymous said...

What a clever way to measure length for socks! It is true for me too :)

Sarah ~ Crafts from the Cwtch said...

Great socks and yes the measurement works. Most parts of bodies correspond to other things (height = arm span, foot = wrist to elbow and so on) so it should work on most people...

Hope you have a lovely week!
xx

Elisabeth Andrée said...

Don't know anything about knitting socks, but yours look always perfect. Love the orange yarn.

Emma (GirlAnachronismE) said...

Wow, cut your knitting? You're a braver soul than me!

And it doesn't seem to work for me, my wrist line is at the start of my ankle. I always knew I was weird though.

Angela at Knit Luck said...

Ooo yours is the second spring shoots sock I've seen today -love the orange you're using. I'll be curious how that stitch pattern holds up over time with the socks. Will it pull in, making for a tighter sock?

Sam I Am...... said...

Great looking socks and yarn. Are you literally saying you are going to "steek" socks? Interesting! I love the measurement tip especially if that is how long I knit in between the gusset of the sock and when I start the toe? I'll check as that's the part I'm knitting on my sock right now and I need to measure as I think I'm ready to do the toe. I learn from you every time I read your blog! Thank you!

Unknown said...

wow you've made huge progress on the Socktopus KAL, I have the book too - I love the spring shoots socks. Have a knitty weekend xx