Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Finished: Inlay Socks

Universe, enough already.  In the past twelve days, I discovered my practice skirt had disappeared an hour before a lesson, had a horrible performance at a big competition, had a three-day disagreement with my supervising professor, and tried to rearrange plans because other professors want to reschedule a meeting into my vacation time.  Something was blocking the railroads out of Brussels last Friday, so getting to Germany to spend the weekend with my husband required changing trains three times only to skid into the final station 45 minutes late.  DB only gives refunds for delays of an hour or more.  To cap it off, the direct trains I have been using for this Belgium-Germany commute are not available now due to the summer holidays, and my next best options run at odd times and take over an hour longer than nominal.

At least the long train rides mean buckets of knitting time.  I got the Inlay socks done.
Inlay is by Hunter Hammersen and was published in the First Fall 2011 issue of Knitty.  The pattern is thorough, and I love the texture of the final fabric.  I think it gives the sock a unique look when compared to the far more common cables and lace sock patterns out there.  I never managed to memorize the entire repeat, so I kept a paper copy of just the charts in my knitting bag and referred to it often as I worked.  The pattern was worked cuff-down on two 2mm metal circular needles.


Sizing this pattern was a bit tricky, as the twisted and crossed stitches don't stretch much.  I normally would use 64-66 stitches for socks for me, and I added 4 filler knit stitches to bring the circumference to 68 stitches around.  Even with the extra stitches, these socks are on the snug side.  If I make them again, I may just give in and go up a size.
The yarn is Cascade Heritage sock in the beautiful colorway burgundy.  I love this yarn, but it didn't handle being hauled around Europe as well as a rougher yarn like Opal might.  It is now a little fuzzy, and I think hides the twisted stitches a bit.  This kind of pattern would clearly benefit from a high twist yarn in a light color to maximize the show-off-ability.

But aren't they pretty?
I set a personal speed record here.  These socks are my entry in the June challenge for the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group, so I had reason to push them along.  They are my seventh pair of socks ever, and the first that took less than a month from start to finish.  That's nothing compared to some of the other members of Sock Knitters' Anonymous this month, but pretty good for me.  Now I can pick a yarn and sock for July's challenge.
Decisions, decisions . . .

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