2021: The Year of the Socks

I've considered myself primarily a sock knitter for as long as I can remember.  I've branched out plenty of times,  but since I made my first pair of socks in 2007, they've been my favorite thing to make. Granted,  I have quite a pile of lonely socks,  because I've long suffered from second sock syndrome, but what sock knitter hasn't? I get excited about the next pattern and different yarns and the next new thing to try or learn.  

After last year's foray into shawls and knit alongs, I decided to focus this year on socks. I have found myself getting dressed in the morning and struggling to remember to throw on a shawl or scarf, even though I love the ones I've made and want them to see the light of day.  However,  I haven't had that problem with handmade socks. The struggle there is which pair to wear or whether a specific pair can survive another day without a wash. It feels completely logical to focus my knitting energy back on socks. I have a few non-sock WIPs to finish,  and I'm sure at some point over the course of the year,  I'll be inspired to work on something else,  but as of now, 2021 will be the year of the sock. 

scoops ahoy are the first pair of socks I have completed this year, though the first one was knit over the course of a couple of months in 2020. Knit in madelinetosh sock and supposed to be a Christmas present.  

While finishing the second sock of my boyfriend's abovementioned Christmas present (two weeks after Christmas...), I decided it was finally time to learn two-at-a-time.  I picked a pattern that looked simple enough to  not add confusion to the experiment,  but not plain enough to be boring.  I picked yarn that I'd been excited to try. I spent some time reading various tutorials, and honestly I wasn't sure I fully understood,  but I bravely wound my skein into two balls and jumped right in.It was not quite the disaster that I was expecting,  but it definitely wasn't perfect.  I diligently worked on my cuff for hours,  questioning if the stress was worth finishing both socks at the same time.  I realized the biggest problem I was having was that the cord of my brand new needles was trying to curl constantly.  After a few days, the cable relaxed and the knitting got easier. 

Pattern: sumu yarn: leading men fiber arts show stopper

I've just started the heel and I'm definitely a convert to two at a time. This pattern includes a heel that I've never encountered called a "strong heel". It starts increasing the gusset while you're still knitting in the round,  and it looks like there's only a small section of the heel that is knit back and forth. I've recently done some heel flaps and tried out an afterthought heel,  but I usually just throw a short row heel into all the socks I knit. I'm interested to see how this turns out and fits. 

I'm doing my best not to cast on another pair until these are done, but my stash is calling. We'll see if I can resist the temptation.  

Xo uhlissa