The sockist formerly known as "&"

Peach is the new white.

Somewhat Fourth-of-Julyish, here are my newly finished Ampersand Socks! I really loved this pattern. It was interesting but easy to memorize, fast, and simple to knit. Plus, it really shows off the variegated colorway! These may be one of my favorite pairs yet!

Fickle me needle
I was originally planning to try the two-circ method on this pair, but most of these were knitted in the car on a road trip this past weekend, and the two balls constantly crossing would have driven me insane. So, I ended up doing them at the same time but on separate circs, switching every 10 rows or so.

This being my third pair using magic loop, I have to say that when it comes to socks, I will be defecting very soon from the DPN camp. In fact, I'm already gone. I am really lovin' the loop! And I think I'm leaning towards the same-time-separate-circs over two-on-one-circ method. It gets both socks off the needles at the same time, but flows a little more smoothly for me. The 47" cable on the Addi Lace was way too long for just one sock, so I'll probably try to swap it for a shorter one.

Go long!

Gotta mod
First, I decided to start off longer than my standard 10-row cuff and went with 15 instead. Kinda diggin' it! Next, after the Dragonslayer debacle, I was gonna make fer damn sure these things fit, so I modded the stitch pattern up from 27 to 32 stitches. Upping the P1s to P2s and the K3s to K4s gave me a 64-count around the leg. They're a tiny bit loose, but that's probably a good thing - I really need to deprogram myself from thinking my knitted socks can double as tourniquets.

But the 64 count was much too loose for the foot, so I decreased the gusset down to 26 stitches on the sole (leaving the 32 count around the instep). Makes the gusset longer than usual, but doesn't really affect the aesthetics or the fit.
Get to the point.

To even things out for the toe, I gradually decreased the instep down to 26 stitches in the last 6 rows (ssk/k2tog at each end, followed by an even row). This brought the purl sections on the end to a point, which I think is a nice design feature! ;)

Once the toes hit 14 stitches on each needle, I did that cool psso trick on the ends to wave buh-bye to those annoying little nubbins, and kitchenered the 12 remaining stitches together. Then voila! Fin!

Heeee, you're so preeeetttyyy. I luuuurve you.

Yaaarn
This is Spunky Eclectic Super Sock in Rosy Fingered Dawn, received in a lovely knitty swap last year. The name is slightly pervy, but look how pretty! You wouldn't think blue, red, and peach would mesh so well together, but I can't get over how freaking gorgeous this colorway is. Some of the peach pooled down by the foot, but I'm one of those freaky deakys that doesn't mind when it does that. I actually kinda like it!

The yarn itself is nice and soft, and got even softer after a dunk in the Euc. It's not necessarily sproingy, but a pleasure to knit with. Makes that loverly "swush" sound if you know what I mean. There was virtually no bleeding in the wash (hooray!). The color remained true with almost no pilling.

I highly recommend surfin' on over to Spunky Eclectic and giving her stuff a try. You won't be disappointed! (Psssst - for you spinnas out there, she also does fiber!)

Wrap it up
I held these up to Hubster's face and exclaimed, "Look how pretty!" about half a dozen times while I was knitting them. Lucky for me, the man's patient with my squee-i-ness and just nodded. Which is a nice trade-off for the many times he drags me in front of the TV for some lame sporty moment that I "have GOT to see" but really, really don't.

This was a great pattern, knitted in fabulous yarn dyed in a gorgeous colorway - these may have to do some serious knockdown with my Embossed Leaves socks to rank as my all-time favorite pair to date!

Ampersand Socks
Pattern: Fab freebie from Through the Loops
Yarn: Spunky Eclectic Supersock in Rosy Fingered Dawn
Needles: Addi Turbo, size 1, 40" + Addi Lace, size 1, 47"
Mods: Increased the stitch pattern up to 32, major decreases on the foot and toe