FO: Cat Got Your Socks

... or Cat Scratch Fever

Pattern: Bellatrix from Socktopia
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, Tapis colorway
Needles: 2.5mm Addi circular; magic loop
Mods: I knit the socks toe-up (of course), and ended up reducing the number of stitches from 60 to 48. I have only four stockinette stitches between the yarn over pattern bits.

Well, what can I say? There they are. I like to think of them as "so ugly they're cool" but I haven't decided if I'm kidding myself. I can say for sure that I think the colorway and pattern work well together in that the combination produced the crazy mess that I was expecting.

If it was 1989 I might feel more enthusiastic about these socks. These would have matched perfectly with my black tights and Doc Martin 8-hole boots. These days I'm not so dark and frowny, so who knows what I'll wear them with.

I'd like to note that the socks actually are the same length. I just bound my cuff off a bit too tightly. One of my calves is beefier (haha!) than the other, so the "longer" one is just on my wimpier leg.

Pattern Notes

The pattern was ridiculously easy and a cinch to tweak to fit my miniscule feet. The stitch pattern is produced by creating and then dropping yarn overs. The only tip I can provide is to pull the yarn-over bits all the way through when you go to knit the next stitch. This will save you the hassle of having to "fluff" up the stitches later.

The pattern also more-or-less kept the colorway from pooling, and the bruisy bits that appeared on the one sock still kind of work.

Speaking of bruisy bits... yes I am one of those girls that always has scrapes and scratches on her knees. This week, though, it happens that my shins are mangled. So those pink bits on my legs aren't there for effect. At least not intentionally. I did try to find a gnarly spot to take the photo though. Grrrrr! Don't mess with my socks in their bad neighborhood, yo!

The Yarn

In spite of my strong dislike for the colorway, the Colinette Jitterbug is nice to knit. It's a bit thicker than other sock yarn and very squishy. It is rumored to "bloom" when washed, so I actually made and washed a swatch before I settled on my needle-size. But once I got started, I still knit the pair to my foot size (I was running out of stitches to reduce) so it's possible that they'll be too big in the end.

Knit Happened

I cast these on in Holland so I could knit them on the flight back to D.C.. I actually managed to turn the heels on the plane, but then "all things knitting" ground to a halt once we arrived. I lied to you the other day. I didn't end up finishing them during "Heroes." I was too lazy to go upstairs and get my needle for the sewn bind-off. D'oh!

Instead, Tuesday I tossed them in my sock bag and trotted over to Knit Happens where I hung out with the lovely Wry Punster and KnitGirl. I even skipped a yoga class (one I was going to take, not teach!) to finish the job. Punster and Girl were so gracious to shower much praise and imaginary confetti on my fugly FOs.

It took everything I had to sit myself down and bind off, what with all the eye-popping yarn everywhere. I pet some fine, fine fiber and ogled many an oft-dreamed of sock yarn. The highlight was finally getting to see the Fleece Artist yarn in person. It's better than I ever imagined.

However, I have to admit that I'm a bit over-saturated with sock yarn at the moment. I have gobs of it in a wide array of colors already. As much as I enjoyed oohing and aaahing over their room-o-sock-yarn, there wasn't anything there that was significantly different enough to justify buying.

I'm not one to buy a sweater's worth of yarn when I don't have a pattern in mind, so lately I've been on a scarf and hat kick. A couple skeins of worsted/DK/chunky goodness go pretty far towards satiating my yarn-hoarding demons without busting the wallet. In a way, these little low-commitment projects are more satisfying that knitting socks. There's no issue with fit, and you can justify buying things like Alchemy Yarns Silken Straw.

It looks and feels a bit like raffia, but the super saturated colors jump off the shelf and shake you down. I'm told it softens up a lot when knit, but I'm not sure I even care. Taking a page from the Knit Happens sample book, I'm going to make Knit & Tonic Wendy's Dream Swatch Headband tie thingie. I actually need a headband, and I don't like the hard plastic ones from stores. A'ight. Purchase justified.

Now, all I need you guys to do is tell me what I could make with some softer-than-kittens Misti Alpaca Chunky so I can go back and get me some of that. Remember how soft I said the Malabrigo Worsted is? This is softer. By an order of magnitude.

Comments

[becky]

i have not pattern advice but I do have yarn buying advice. Get the yarn, the pattern will come. maybe not as quickly as you'd like but I had stash for CPH and TYC before I decided to knit them and it's all worked out.

[Heather]

I agree that Colinette is squishy and therefor pleasant to knit with. The color way...isn't my favorite, but maybe every pair of socks doesn't need to be amazing in order to still have a place in our hearts, right?

Hooray for hooking up with knitting pals, that sounds so fun!

[jennsquared]

I used Misti Baby Alpaca Chunky to make Irish Hiking Scarf - it turned out great, until I ran outta yarn... I would recommend you buying 3 or 4 skeins if you do pick that pattern so you don't have a super short scarf!!

[Jen in CT]

The Misti Alpaca IS soft. mmmm... Anyway, my friend is using it to make the Herringbone Poncho from Last Minute Knitted gifts. Check it out on Ravelry!

[Elspeth]

A simple basketweave scarf would look quite smart in the Misti, or even a modified Clapotis- think how soft and drapey!

[Jeannie]

I like the socks! But I can see how they might not be for everyone. Black and red tend to be my colors anyways. The Silken Straw is beautiful! I can't wait to see what it looks like knitted.

[Rachel]

I'm with Jeannie--I actually like the socks, though sometimes I do tend to be stuck in the 80's! :)

[KelInCal]

The alpaca chunky would work great with the Foliage hat, and maybe the Backyard Leaves scarf? Great, now I'm going to have to buy it, too....

Yay for new socks! I can't decide whether I love them or hate them. ;)

[tiennie]

I don't think they're ugly. Plus it's kinda nice to have a bunch of different socks to throw on to keep toes warm around the house. Glad you had a good meet-up!

[Jennie]

I don't think I'm ready for a sweater project yet, but I do have a few patterns in mind. :)
I liked what you said about the socks being so ugly that they're cool. :)

[Laura]

I love the Bellatrix socks. They are on my to knit list. Yours came out lovely. They are the right colourway for socks that shares the name with someone from the Dark Side. But I'm a Harry Potter geek.

I have the yarn for the Dream Swatch by K&T. I just haven't got round to knitting it yet ...

What hats have you been knitting? I need some hats butt I haven't had much inspiration recently :(

[Ava]

Love the Bellatrix! good pattern for the silken straw. I have one skein that haven't chosen a pattern for.