Colorwork knit socks

 As soon as I acquired it, I made a personal pact to keep trying different patterns from 52 Weeks of Socks.  So far everything I've knit has been a gift but I've very much enjoyed making them all the same.

 

I knit these #15 Mica socks designed by Kristine Vejar with leftover Rowan Tweed and a mystery tweedy sock yarn my pal, Milly sent me that is probably 80% SWM/20% nylon.  I knit the small size of the pattern (which because they are knit on size 3 needles, actually made large socks) and blocked them for a pro-finish.

Since the main colorwork pattern reminded me of fish swimming, I thought it would be fun to knit the socks in Swedish colors.  Get it?  Swedish fish. :D The photo below is of the socks before they were blocked.  See what a big difference it makes!

 

Then, because I enjoyed knitting colorwork socks so much, I immediately cast on a different colorwork pattern.  This pattern is for the Soulstice Socks designed by The Petite Knitter from the Ritual Dyes Winter Soulstice offering.

I used the leftover Chestnut Fae and Maven from the Summer Falls hat I just knit and the Bone Maven included with the offering.  I wanted a higher contrast for the colorwork and I plan to use the other yarn from the offering for something else.

Believe it or not, this was my first time knitting an afterthought heel.  It wasn't difficult at all.  I can understand its benefit depending on the pattern but because I have such small feet that don't always perfectly fit into a pattern as it's written, I always like to try on the heel first before advancing any further so (thankfully) because I have multiple pairs of size 1 needles, when I got to the heel of the first sock, I just went ahead and knit it with a second pair of needles so I could test the fit.  Then for the second sock, I didn't bother finishing the heel until last.  Unfortunately, there was an error/typo with some of the math in the pattern but I figured it out and it was all good.  I knit the size 54 cast on stitches which is off by 1-2 stitches in various parts of the pattern.  I sent the designer my calculations and notes but she never replied.  Honestly, it doesn't make that big of deal but math is kinda my thing so I digress.

These are the socks finished but unblocked.

They look so sad.

I believe that blocking is essential to knitting colorwork socks.

After a nice tepid bath, they look so cute!

I knit 1 complete main chart for the leg.

Then I knit up to row 19 for the rest of the foot.

This probably has something to do with my poor vision but from a distance, the motifs of these socks remind me of a Louis Vuitton handbag.  I am also 99.9% that the this is probably not what the designer of the pattern intended!

Anyway, my socks just finished drying overnight and I wore them to work all day which is the ultimate test of their integrity because the shop has carpeted cement floors and it is cold AF.  They passed with flying colors.

I was telling my coworkers today that one of the reasons why I love knitting socks so much is because they make me feel so cool.  Whenever I am out in public, it is so rewarding to look around when I'm waiting in line somewhere and observe that I am the only person who bothered to knit their own socks.

That might not be the case in Norway or Scotland but here in SF, I do feel special.

I know I have already raved about this yarn on multiple occasions but one more attribute to add to list is that is does not bleed after blocking.  I soaked these socks with 2 other pairs of socks and everything came out unscathed.  When you put so much time and effort into making something, little big shit like that makes a world of difference.