A Year in Socks

Rani is hosting a Year in Socks group and I decided to join. I suspect I'm going to be a bit challenged by the goal of finishing a pair of socks a month but since I've gotten a hankerin' to do some sock knitting already, I figured I'd give it a go.

I've already picked my February project, the Sweetheart Socks by Chrissy Gardiner, published in the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 magazine. Yes, I snagged a copy of that magazine as soon as it came out on the newsstands! I just love IK and this time it was a good thing I got my copy early.

HOWEVER . . . Because I'm such a die-hard toe-up fanatic, I absolutely had to re-draft the pattern for a toe-up construction. I also ran into a problem with the swatch being too large. It's a common problem I have with recommended needle sizes. I invariably have to size down 2 sizes to make gauge. In this case, since it calls for 0 needles, there was no way I was going to be able to size down this time. So I redrafted the pattern to eliminate some of the additional wales of ribbing between cable patterns. By eliminating 16 stitches all the way around, I've finally got a pattern and gauge that will actually work. It took several hours of playing in Excel to make a chart pattern that satisfied me but time spent up front will hopefully eliminate hours of frustration and frogging/tinking later.


I've been swatching with the leftover yarn from Hubby's Chocolate Twist socks. But I have some more Dream in Color Smooshy in Gothic Rose to use for this pattern. Isn't it lovely.

Now, I just have to wait until Friday to cast on, since the rules are specific about starting on February 1st.

Hmmmm, what should I do until Friday?