Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Matching monkeys

At long last! I have cast on a pair of Monkey socks. But I didn't use either of the yarns I was considering - I decided there was just enough left from the skein of my very favourite Vesper colourway (Open Flame) after knitting the cuffs of my Eloquence mittens to make a pair of these, if I do a contrast heel.

It's been a while since I knit a sock, which is so much more meditative and peaceful than I remembered, and even longer since I knit one in Vesper sock yarn. It's a great base yarn, and the colours are so bright, and you only have to go through about 4 rows to get to the next one, which draws you onward like a good book long past your bedtime.

I must have been thinking of all that when I stocked up on sock-sized needles and stitch markers, so I could knit multiple pairs at once:


Of course, being paranoid about my sock knitting skills, I cast this pair on simultaneously:


And with the same amount of tail.

Then I knit the cuffs of both so they'd be the same length:


And now I can move on with the pattern. As predicted, the lace sequence is easy enough for me to remember, but just in case I have to go a few weeks between sock knitting jags I set myself up with a cue card:


I was glad to find an arrow-shaped paperclip to help me remember which row I was doing last.

And now that I'm set up... it's back to Carol's shawl.

5 comments:

Karen said...

Yay! I'm sure you'll love your Monkeys -- I gave mine away, but plan to knit more one of these days.

Lise said...

This would be why I always knit two socks on two circs - no need to count rows to make the socks even.

Still haven't knit Monkeys, although they are on my list.

Kathleen Taylor said...

I work from charts rather than written instructions usually, but in either case, a Post It note works very well to mark out the row you're on.
I have also been known to poke holes in the paper with my needle to keep track of where I am. That only works if you aren't sitting in a leather chair to knit.

Mary Keenan said...

I so need to learn to knit socks on two circs - it looks so cool!

As for row marking, I also used my KnitPicks magnetic chart reader thingy to great effect on my last project - I am super glad I treated myself to that.

Kathleen Taylor said...

I use the magnetic chart thing too- especially for Fair Isle.