I've been a slave to my dog all day today. Abby loves to lie in the sun in the living room in the morning and early afternoon but she won't go out there unless someone else does too. My choice of activities since breakfast this morning has consisted of doing something I want to do with Abby sitting behind me whimpering or going out to the living room and knitting while I watch her sleep. It's a pretty hard life. The sock I started yesterday is now ready for me to work the heel. These are my March socks for the 2011 Rockin' Sock Club.
My kit was waiting for me when we got back from our vacation. I love that moment when I cut open my kit and first peak inside. It's always so exciting and it makes me grin. This time around I kept grinning and I think I even laughed when I pulled out the skein. It's so bright. It's hard to capture with my camera just how bright it is. There is some florescent pink and an acid yellow-green in there. This is one of those colourways I would never even pick up in a store (not true actually: I'd pick it up, giggle and then put it back again) and one of the reasons I like being in the sock club is that I end up knitting with colours I'd never have considered otherwise. The colourway is called "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and the inside of my ball band says "Wavy Gravy". The yarn is lightweight.

The patterns this go around are both pretty simple things to accommodate the dazzlingly bright yarn. When I saw the Merry Socksters pattern I thought "This looks like something by Irishgirlieknits" and it turned out it is. I decided not to knit them though because they look kind of slouchy and I'm not a huge fan of slouchy socks even when they have a cute picot cuff. Instead I cast-on for Intrepid Traveler which is basically a ribbed sock but every few rounds there's a little blip in the rib that makes them interesting. They're going pretty quickly so far and I think I might actually get a kit finished before May's shipment arrives (January's kit currently exists only as a never ending swatch as I try to find the right gauge for the pattern). 

Pattern: Buggin' Out by Stephen Houghton for the 2010 Rockin' Sock Club (September Kit)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Lightweight in "Pining 4 Ewe" and "Manly yes, but I like it too"
Size: Men's Medium
Yardage: Full skein (330 m) of "Pining for Ewe" and about 17 m of "Manly"
Needles: 2.00 mm dpns

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These socks had been set aside a while ago because I'd run out of yarn. When I didn't need to order more for my Swing Set socks I decided that I didn't want to buy a whole new skein just to finish the twelve decrease rounds on these socks either. I went hunting for some compatible yarn and ended up using a tiny bit of my skein of "Manly Yes, but I like it too". It actually goes very nicely with the "Pining 4 Ewe". I finished Rob's socks last Sunday and they hung out in my sewing room for a week before we had a chance to take pictures. My husband is awesome by the way; not only does he like it that I knit him things he understands (and even expects) that a little photo shoot is part of the project.

I like the way these socks came out. They are nice and snug and the spiders look cool. They were a good knit. A lot of dye came off on my hands and needles but I always expect that with deeply saturated colours. I got a little too comfortable while working on the second sock and the gussets were frogged out twice because I wasn't actually reading the instructions anymore and they are a little different than for other socks I've made. Once every thing was done I discovered at least two places were I'd missed the two plain rounds in the middle of the spider motif so one sock is a tad bit taller than the other. Rob never wears shorts so I don't think anyone will ever notice.

Rob says the ribbing on the bottom of his foot feels kind of weird. Not too bad inside a pair of shoes but a bit uncomfortable in stocking feet on a hard floor. I've been wondering how I'll manage to darn them when they start to wear out. Maybe these are not darnable socks?

Happy Valentine's Day  :)