Kalajoki

February 2011

My second ever pair of socks, and I love this pair too! As with the first pair, these were made cuff-down, but they have something called an anatomical toe, which was new to me.

I was looking for something that would appeal to men without being too plain and boring to knit, and these really fitted the bill, with that gorgeous travelling rib. The Regia is very pretty too, and as easy to wash as shop-bought socks, which is great.

The fit isn't bad, but that's more luck that judgement, because these were a birthday surprise for my husband. I did sneakily raid his sock drawer a few times just to check I was in the right ball-park, but socks are so stretchy that it was a bit of an inexact science. They stay up though, and that's what counts.

Pattern: Kalajoki by Tiina Seppälä

Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Color 4-ply / 4-fädig

Amount: 1.5 skeins

Colourway: 1933 Denim Schwarz

Needles: 3.50mm

Size: One Size

On ravelry: here

bmp(ish)

February 2010

Ever since I saw a Space Invaders chart on ravelry I've been dying to try it out. With Valentine's Day around the corner, several half used skeins of Felted Tweed to hand and a charmingly geeky husband, now seemed as good a time as any.

Whilst the inspiration for these socks was bmp from the Spring 2007 Knitty, I wanted to make it with a dk yarn, rather than a 4-ply which the pattern called for. That was easily done - I just used this freebie dk sock pattern and re-drew the Space Invader charts based in the number of stitches I would have. Turns out there's enough for four repeats of each motif.

I'm not especially good at stranded work yet, and these charts do call for some very long floats. As a result the colourwork sections of these socks are probably much tighter than they should be, and although I can just about get them over my heels (v-e-r-y carefully), my husband can't. So I took a few inches off the length of the feet, and kept them myself. He's a bit jealous, though, and so I'm determined to figure out how to make a pair he will be able to get on...

Felted Tweed makes lovely socks - it's soft and warm and (allegedly) machine washable. For my first ever pair of socks, I'm very happy with these.

Pattern: bmp by Aija Goto from knitty.com

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed

Amount: 1.5 skeins (MC)

Colourway: 170 Seafarer (MC), 165 Scree (pale blue), 148 Sigh (discontinued) (purple), 146 Herb (green) and 171 Paisley (red)

Needles: 3.25mm

Size: Custom

On ravelry: here