Pattern: Flabella by Christina Bain for the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club (January Kit)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock lightweight in "Happy go Lucky"
Size: Small (see notes on sizing below)
Yardage: 1 skein
Needles: 2.50 mm and 2.00 mm dpns


I'm finished my socks and I love them. I love the fans. I love the bobbles. I love the dainty lace panel. I love the way the pattern flows perfectly into the heel. I love the way I got the outside line of heel stitches to continue all the way down to the base of the heel instead of ending up on the inside of my sock. The only thing I don't love is that I need to wait for more of the snow to disappear before I wear them because I just can't bear to crush all those bobbles inside my winter boots. These socks belong to the world of cute shoes.


If you read the Ravelry thread for these socks you'll find a lot of people discussing sizing and fit. Much of the discussion had been going on before I started my socks so I took a careful look at the pattern before casting on. The pattern gauge is pretty tight - almost nine stitches to the inch - and I knew that the smallest needles I had would only give me eight at best (and I didn't want to wait for smaller ones or, really, knit an entire pair of socks on 1.75 or 1.50 steel needles). When I checked out the pattern I found the stitch count around the foot on the size small was 62 stitches; pretty close to the 60 stitches I usually knit my socks at. So, even though the pattern said I should be doing the medium, I made the small. Now that I'm wearing my socks I think that was the right choice to make. They fit nicely and could even be a bit snugger.


I mentioned that these socks will be worn with shoes. I realized just before we left on vacation that there was one tricky bit to this: I don't really have any shoes that fit with socks anymore - they all require stockings. My wedding shoes will do. They are actually kind of big (slightly annoying since I had real silk stockings - very slippery - for our wedding; my solution was to nip into the bathroom before we started dancing and take my stockings off - my feet stuck to my shoes and they didn't fall off) so they will work with socks.



But they are fancy, special occasion shoes. I needed something every day. I wanted something with a mary-jane strap and I wanted them in black and I always require a nice looking heel. This was my Quest while on vacation (along with eating as many beaver tails as possible). These are what I found:




Mary-jane strap: check
Black: check
Cute heel: check

I love the stitching on these - kind of Oxfords style. They'll look awesome with a good hat.

ps. guess what came in the mail last night? I was taking yarn pictures this morning. I'll share tomorrow.

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock in "Brights"
Yardage: way less than 1 skein
Needles: pair of 2.00 mm dpn's (full size straights just seemed enormous)

A belated "Happy Valentine's Day" to you all. I thought this would be a good time to share these. They were made for a Miss Leah (daughter of a friend) who joined the world on 30 July 2008.

They were a little fiddly to do (and involved much frogging) but only because I didn't read the instructions very well the first time and didn't bother to pay attention to what I was doing the second time. They are totally worth it anyway and I know I will be making them again sometime. They have got to be the most impossibly cute thing I have ever made and I can only imagine how they might look when actually on a baby.

I hope Miss Leah likes them.