Pretty Slip Stitch Socks

I had a lot of sock knitting time this weekend, so I managed to finish my Slip Stitch socks. Here is a close-up of the finished product. I really love how the slip stitches make a cool pattern on the leg, though they look good on the foot, too. As you may recall, the yarn is Handmaiden Casbah in a colorway from last year that honors the Loopy Ewe's anniversary. The yarn is a thick fingering weight and has cashmere in it.


Here you see all of the socks. I made them pretty short, since I was concerned about running out of yarn. That's also why I did them toe up (that and because I like the slipped stitches to be running up, not down the socks). I'm really happy with these because I got the best toe-up cast on I ever got on these--the toes look MAHVELOUS, and the heels are very pretty, too. I didn't miss any wraps or anything.

Here you can see what the tops look like. The slip stitches really break up the spiraling stripes of a typical hand-dyed yarn. This is easy to do for yourself. Just cast on a multiple of four stitches, and do k1, p3 for a row, then slip 1, p3 the next row. OK, I sort of lied here. I actually did 33 stitches per side and adjusted so that the stripes centered on the front. I had one purl on each edge. This made me have the right number of stitches on the foot for Wendy Johnson's heel. I then adjusted when I needed to for rejoining at the leg, so I had 32 stitches per side. It just required a couple of strategically hidden decreases.

For the ribbing, I continued slipping every other row where I was doing it, and substituted a knit for the second purl in the pattern. I don't think you'd have to do it. The pattern is ribbing enough as it is. I just wanted a change at the top.

And in case you are interested, here is a photo of my Wollmeise. The colorway is actually roter Himbeermund, which is very similar to the one I linked to last time. They have a number of fairly similar reds. Maybe if Sewing Karen reads this she will tell me what Himbeermund means.
While Saturday was a bummer, due to the LYS closing without letting any of the regular Saturday folks know, Sunday made up for it, because I enjoyed teaching knitting to some very nice folks at the Lonestar MENSA conference. I took a bunch of projects and answered questions about them, and gave them some knitting trivia in addition to teaching. I decided to not hand out the donated Red Heart yarn, and instead gave them that weird yellow KnitPicks yarn I rejected for the second Lady Jane vest. I hadn't spent much money on it, and it gave them a nicer tactile experience. We used donated DPNs for the lessons, which was a bit of a challenge due to some people's 35 stitch garter stitching being about as long as the needles. But, it all worked out. I really enjoyed meeting all the new people, and was impressed by their margarita machine in the headquarters room! Since I've missed teaching knitting for the past number of months, this was especially fun!

Onward and upward, I started a Super Secret project with my Koi sock yarn. I am test knitting a pattern for my friend Jodie in Ohio. It is a great pattern for the yarn, so I am looking forward to how it works out. And I haven't messed up the Andromeda shawl any more. I am on the last pattern row in chart 3, leaving me just chart 4 and the borders to go. I DO hope this thing blocks a lot bigger than it is now!