Sock Addiction

Can you believe I've been knitting almost a year?  I can't.  I picked it up last September: two skeins of Madtosh DK in Calligraphy were all it took to reel me in.  Now it's a full-blown obsession, and I spend more time on Ravelry than is probably healthy.

I've tried to dabble and make different projects so I don't get stuck.  I also like to learn with each project, because otherwise I'm going to get bored and toss it aside.  I've realized that I love making just about anything; my current project is my most favorite.  I really enjoy making sweaters, because I just like sweaters, and I like shawls because they're always so pretty and feminine, even if they aren't the most practical.  I think my most favorite projects, though, are socks.  A lot of knitters would agree, and an equal number would probably say socks are too scary.  That's cool; I always thought that too.  But once I made my first pair, I was hooked, and suddenly had a justification for buying all those single skeins of variegated yarns.

I'm an amazing photo stylist.  Look at those props!

The first two pairs of socks I made were for Nick.  I'm not ashamed to admit he was the push for me to get into socks.  The man loves a good wool sock throughout the year, and he loves it even more if his wife spends a month of her life working on it.  I chose Lorna's Laces Solemate for his first pair because they have Outlast in them, and he was always complaining that his feet were still cold at work.  No more complaints with these babies!  I'd like to buy more Solemate to make him more socks, but that's not really a priority.  Selfish knitter over here.

Both of his socks were made with the book Socks From the Toe Up, which is an invaluable resource.  I followed the gusset-heel sock pattern from start to end for his socks and felt comfortable after those to move onto more challenging patterns.  PS, his second pair was made with Miss Babs Cosmic in Coffee Break, chosen solely because my Nicholas loves coffee.  It worked out well.

Of course, after finishing up Nick's socks, I realized I needed to build up my own sock drawer, especially after I bought a new dresser and had an actual drawer available to devoted just to hand-knit socks.  I didn't just want plain socks, though, because endless stockinette gets boring and I was already avoiding a cardigan due to the stockinette, so I found some Louise Tillbrook patterns on Ravelry and chose those for myself.

These are the Bleaberry Tarn socks made with Skein Merino Cashmere in Sci-Fi.  I originally bought this colorway for Nick but then saw a project on Ravelry made in this color and decided I wanted it for myself, dammit.  I love how the slight variegation worked with the cables.  And the socks fit so well!

I made these out of the Louise Tillbrook Seed Pods pattern and Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Pod--partnered solely because of their names.  Obviously the color pooling doesn't help the pattern, but who cares?  I love the colors and honestly the socks fit so well because the pattern is great.

I also started a new vanilla sock this past week, made without a pattern and mostly just a plan.  I wanted some socks to work on between my 16" of stockinette on my latest sweater, and I'm feeling extra fall-y lately (I'm always a pretty high level of fall, but it gets fullblown around this time of year), so I'm using some GnomeAcres Halloween House Gnome in Witches' Brew.  I'm not sure if this was a 2013-only color or not, but I bought it last year.  I love these.  They're so ridiculously Halloween, they're perfect.  I'm much further along than the picture above, and let me tell you--I won't take them off once October hits.  And then I can wear Christmas socks!

Do you knit socks?  What's your favorite sock yarn?  My favorite is all of them.