Sundae socks

At last I've got round to taking some photos of the finished socks. Ahem, they were finished a good few days ago now but I was kind of sidetracked painting yarn. You see, the sock bug has not only bitten but it's getting me dyeing sock yarn for further experimentation. I used this yarn as it was to hand, not knowing how a printed shop bought ball of yarn would pan out. And in the self patterning aspect I like it well enough but I'm a bit put off by the colour palette and they are now stuck in my head as the sundae socks.

But finished they are and I'm now wanting to knit another pair and try some variations in the pattern - both coloured pattern or a textured pattern like cables etc. My yarn experimentation has mainly been on repeating coloured areas to see how the self patterning works. I've been reading up on it and usually the hank of yarn has to be about 12 foot long to get the variations in the repeat! I only managed a 10 foot repeat and that was a neat fit on my worktop.

It's funny the way yarns knit up. Take these two pictures, for instance. Both the same yarn, but where they meet the next row is slightly different. Is it possible to get two perfectly matching socks then? Well, other people seem to manage it so logically you try and start at the same point of the repeat for each foot. This yarn is printed with very small coloured sections and I didn't notice an obvious repeat happening but I can live with the slight differences.

Of course, if you can see the repeat then it would be much easier. So, that's why I'm dyeing yarn in repeats and in slightly more appealing colourways!!
But I've only just finished drying them so no photos yet. If I can get some tomorrow I will, but I'm going car hunting as my poor car has died and I'm pretty much stranded without it - don't you just realise how much you depend on the car when you don't have it! Anyway, sidetracked!

Some close-up details of the toe and the heel. The clever figure of eight cast on leaves a nice clean line at the toe and it looks well finished. The heel is worked in slipped stitches wrapped as you go and I was only moderately successful at not getting the holes small enough when I rejoined the sock. But plenty of practice will probably solve that problem:-)

So, the sundae socks are finished, the evangeline mitts are on hold as I think the yarn is producing a very nice self patterning subtle stripe that would be shown off better in socks but I'm holding fire ripping it back until I've tried my new dyed yarns. Sock yarn is so quick to dye that this could be a serious addiction......