Pair of Socks #Seven for 2006

Ah yes, yet another pair of socks shows up on a blog.  Socks have become ubiquitous knitting.  While not every knitter knits socks, it seems, given time, many knitters will try (and love and do again and again).  This love affair with socks may have started in the mid-1990s when Nancy Bush published her book Folk Socks and it's grown rapidly from there.  (That's my humble opinion.)  Socks are portable, small enough to go anywhere, rewarding, fulfilling, and useful in the end.  There must be more sock KALs (and patterns) around Blogland than any other type of Knit Along.  We love our socks.

Dave's wonderful hand dyed sock yarn made this sock quite special to knit. The yarn had a nice twist and created a solid fabric that should wear well.  The colors are vibrant and fun to watch as they spiral around the leg, flash at the heel, and continue to spiral down the foot.  It was purely pleasurable knitting and the wearing will be sweet as they are fine enough to fit inside a regular pair of shoes.  The socks spent the day in my purse last Sunday and came out at special times during the day for a photo op here and there.

Six pair of new socks now reside in my sock drawer (and have only been worn for photo shoots), and since summer is such a great time to knit socks, I should have a few more pair of nice new socks come fall.  That factoid gives me much pleasure as covering up my toes can only be good if it happens with hand knit socks.

Pattern:  Openwork Rib from Sensational Socks
Yarn: Parrot colorway from Cabin Cove Mercantile
Time to Knit: 6-01-06 - 6-22-06

The settings on my camera were set properly later in the day Sunday, so I was able to capture this truer color of the sky while the grrls hung around the Gilgal Gardens. 

Blue socks, blue sky, true grrls...it's all good.

Comments

[Nancy]

I find nothing more comforting than sock knitting. It's the comfort food of knitting and far less fattening;)

I love those socks. I may have to use that pattern for the yarn I just received.

[Cara]

Great socks! I have so many pairs started on the needles right now I'm starting to feel guilty about not finishing any of them. Damn that log cabin knitting - it's my new sock!

PS - I don't like your chinese character thingy. It's parallel with the comment box and yesterday when I was leaving a comment it said guilt and today it says depression. Are you trying to tell me something?! ;-)

[Cara]

And a new one just came up that says ZERO!!! My self-esteem can't take it!

[Lucia]

Great socks! I have to get busy Trekkin'.

[Kathleen]

Mine sasys life, I think. It's spelled llife.

Cute socks!

[Jenn]

Love my sock knitting! And I was surprised last week at my LYS's "sit & knit" group to meet several new-to-me knitters and have a lively conversation about sock knitting, and having a sock with you at all times, and being disappointed when you don't have to wait somewhere as it means no knitting time! :)

[hillary]

I really love the new socks. The colors in Dave's yarn are really fun and seem to work well with the pattern. Don't you just love Sensational Knitted Socks? With that book around I can't imagine ever getting tired of knitting socks!

I just noticed the character in the sidebar says meat right now. Other people got life and guilt and zero - I get meat. What can that possibly mean? Hmmm...

[Susan]

Mmmmm, those socks are delicious! For some reason, they remind me of a popsicle. I know what you mean about the socks. I find myself completely uninterested in my stash yarn or new yarn, unless it is sock yarn. I'm not sure whether it's a summer thing, an additction to STR, or a new phase in my knitting, but I have socks and nothing else on my knitting mind.

[Scout]

Ooooh. Pretty socks & sky!

[Kim]

You go grrl!! Seven pair of socks...that is grreat!

[Laurie]

The socks look fine! I've resolved to Knit More Socks.

[Kim]

I really have to say, I think YOU are the reason I started knitting socks in the first place, and just like you predicted, I am an addicted sock knitter now (I think I have 3 pairs slowly growing on the needles right now).

This summer, I have a hard time getting very motivated to knit anything BUT socks! I'm sure it's the humidity and the heat. Even though I rarely wear socks in the summer, its a lot easier to think about socks than big fuzzy scarves or sweaters, and so nice and portable too!

[Karen]

Hmm mine says depression too. :P

Lovely socks made with lovely yarn!

[amanda]

I love those socks! The colors are so vibrant and will definitely warm up your toes once cool weather hits again.

[Laura]

Great socks Margene! I need to try that pattern (and a hundred others) from Sensational Knitted Socks!! I've become one of the people who always have a sock project on the needles. Thanks for being such a great source of inspiration with our knitting! :)

[Theresa]

I didn't start knitting until 2000, but for me it was Knitting on the Road that did it. I bought it when all I knew how to make was garter st scarves, thinking that I might never make fancy socks, but it was nice to look at. Famous last words . . .

[ali]

I decided that I wanted to try knitting socks shortly after I took knitting back up a couple of years ago. Nancy Bush's books were some of my first purchases. Your socks are wonderful as always. And it's really funny that the pair I just finished was my 7th pair for the year, too!

[Beth S.]

You're SO productive! Especially for someone who's all about "the process". (Maybe that's the key? ;-)

Anyway--lovely work!

[--Deb]

I've made an unusual number of socks so far this year. (Unusual for me, that is.) I just finished my sixth pair . . . and last year, I worked on the same pair from July through to December!

[Stitch-n-Snitch]

Pretty socks! I have another pair of socks waiting patiently to be cast on. :)

[Vera]

Beautiful socks. I've been bitten by the bug too, and I look forward to wearing my socks this fall and winter.

[Nonnahs]

Great socks! I just finished a pair myself last night - isn't it thebest feeling, to wear them for the first time? :) Cute pattern, too!

[Snow]

Such a lovely pair of socks for a lovely woman, Margene. I've been too distracted to knit much of anything but socks lately. Aren't they the best?

[Bliss]

Mmmmmmm love the socks. I always love blue, but the flashes of color make them magnificent. Csn you believe I don't have any of Dave's yarn yet? I know - shocking!

[wool winder]

Love those socks! Everyone needs a pair of hand knit socks...you can never have to many. Satisfying to knit and wear. Down here in Texas, I will wear more socks than I will ever wear sweaters, so it's perfect knitting for me.

[Pat K]

Love the socks. And I agree, socks are great summer knitting.

[Carole]

The socks are looking fine! I finished the pair I was working on while out visiting you, too. I think this brings me up to 11 pairs of socks this year. Woot!

[Chris]

Another stunning pair of socks - and another pattern I have to add to my "to knit" list!

[Stephanie]

Fabulous socks!

[peg]

Neat socks, Margene. You remind me to ball up the Tourmaline yarn I bought from Susan. I want to start the P-word socks. Beautiful blue sky here too!

[Birdsong]

I love the sparkley quality and the pattern you chose. I think these great, colorful yarns available have a lot to do with the growing popularity of knitting socks; you never have to make the same pair again with changes in colorways. More colors and yarns than time...

[lisa Co. Springs]

Oh, they turned out so pretty...are you sure you can wait until fall?

[Lisa]

Love the socks. I need to finish some of the ones I have on the needles! I did do some Trekking at Disney.

My Chinese character says meat - well, it is lunchtime.

[Liz]

Ooh ooh ooh! Another book and another yarn to put on my must-try list. Beautiful socks as always, Margene. :)

[regina]

How appropriate: my Chinese character says song. Fab socks, fab sky, fab you.

[sarah]

That parrot colorway sure is pretty! Love your newest socks!

[del]

I love socks, too! They're so fun. Yours came out beautifully!

[Erin]

Love the socks! That pattern is awesome.

[Julia]

Socks got it goin' on. I imagine that I don't NEED as many handknit socks as I have, but I can't seem to stop. And I love Nancy Bush socks. Those blue ones are pretty special looking. Guess I need to get that book too.

[Kelly]

Beautiful socks! I definitely the meat and potatoes of knitting. Well at least for me they are.

[Bakerina]

I hope you're not tired of hearing how beautiful your socks are, because I'm going to say it now. These socks are beautiful, Margene. I just love them.

(Incidentally, my Chinese character is "aji", or "taste." Spooky. :)

[Zarah]

Very nice! It's the first time I've seen Dave's yarn knitted up. It's beautiful!

[green-eyed grrl]

you must have employed an excellent photographer for those sock pics at Gilgal ;)

[Debi]

Ah socks! The potato cip of knitting...no one can make just one! Lovely socks M!

[Dave Daniels]

Margene,
Those came out so beautiful! I've seen that pattern done in solids before, but the stripe works well, too. VERY nice.
I started knitting because I wanted to make socks. That was my inspiration. And I was impressed with your sock count until Carole chimed in with her 11 (ELEVEN?) pairs this year. Y'all scare me with how fast you can knit socks.
Thank you for the shout out, too;)

[Donna]

Thaks for choosing the openwork rib pattern - it's one of my favorites from that book and very inspiring to see it knit up!

[Wanda]

You know I love sock knitting too. The portability is key and probably one of the reasons that I always have socks on the needles too. They are great to knit during the summer too. The openwork rib pattern is great and Dave's sock yarn is so vivid, I adore it. I like that pattern, maybe something to that.