Monday's New Thing: Textured SeaCell Sock

Textured SeaCell Sock
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Happy Monday. Though I didn't post this weekend, I got good solid knitting in, and here's the result.

This sock is really attractive in person, perhaps the nicest looking sock I ever made when it is on a foot. It has some kind of elegance that is hard to describe. The colors are so subtle and change ever so slightly throughout the sock, making it less "harsh" than some multicolored socks.

It's a toe-up version with a "normal" toe and a very interesting heel that's found in Wendy Johnson's eyelet lace sock--uses short rows combined with increases to make a nice rounded heel turn.

I am sure glad I finally settled on a pattern. As a reminder, The one I chose came from a Wild Horse Farm pattern called Bees Knees that I bought online. It uses an interesting texture created by using an SKP then knitting into the passed stitch. That makes the colors mottle a bit more than they do in the plain stockinette part. You can see it pretty well if you click the enlarged image. The top is just a 1x1 rib with the stretchy bind off where you knit two together over and over. I used a larger needle to bind off, and perhaps went a bit overboard on it. But it sure goes on easily.

The Sea Wool is nice. Sometimes it gets a bit "squeaky" when you are knitting tightly. But it has a nice sheen, and is twisty, which I like. One little issue is there are some slubs and little undyed spots. I will say they add character, because the parts that ARE dyed are just lovely. Whoever does the Fleece Artist dyeing does a wonderful job.

PS: new info: socks are now named "Neptune" in honor of an email list member who said that's more like what the colors looked like, rather than Hercules

Thanks to All

Thanks to those of you who commented on the Forget Me Not socks. It's so nice when the designer sees her work knitted up by someone else and commenting, so thanks to Laura!

I am also grateful for the suggestion from nrdgrrl (I fixed the spelling) on how to do the original Sea Wool pattern more successfully. It's funny--the way I don't get ladders when using DPNs on socks is to not knit the border stitches too tightly--I should have thought of that for these socks! Especially since I am well known as NOT a tight knitter in the first place! I will give that pattern another try, because it is a nice looking option for hand painted yarns.

I really like how bloggers help each other with patterns--how Yvonne P and I knit the socks at the same time and kept each other updated. And how people share such helpful suggestions with each other. Thanks to all who read this, and please, leave a comment if you wish--I like hearing from you and visiting your blogs, too.