Remember when we traveled?

Apparently I’m in a bit of a finishing mood lately! I finished what I called my Travel Socks that I started a what feels like FOREVER ago, but was really only about 2.5 months ago. I started them on my trip to Spokane for work. Wow, does that feel far removed from where we’re at right now!

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• Pattern: Basic sock with afterthought heel and 2/3 of the cable pattern from Telegramme
• Yarn: Urth Uneek Sock colorway 60 – used just about the entire skein
• Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)
• Timeline: cast on Feb 24, cast of May 7. About 1/2 the sock completed Feb 24- 29, the rest completed from about 5/3-5/7
• More details on my Ravelry project page

These socks are BRIGHT but I love them so much! I’m really happy with them because this was the first pair of socks I’ve ever done calf increases on! I really wanted to use up the entire skein (I was extremely successful at this) and so I knit them a lot taller than I usually do. I tried them on until they started to get tight, then increased by 2 st every 9th row. I knit these two at a time so it was really easy to keep track of when the increases were and the socks are basically exact matches, which makes me happy. I’m also really happy with the heel. Afterthought heels are much more visually satisfying to me on striped socks, but when I’ve tried the standard formula (knit one row, then decrease every other row for a while) I find it hard to wear. There’s not enough space across my instep (is that the right word?) and i can feel the decreases on the side of my heel. For this sock, I knit 5 full rounds, then I did my favorite toe decreases, which have you decrease once, knit 3 rows, decrease, knit two rows, decrease, knit one row, then decrease every row. It makes for a nice rounded toe, and now I find it makes a well fitting heel as well! I think I had tried this technique for heels once before, but the socks ended up going to my sister.

These socks were in timeout for a bit once I got back from my trip. I got past where I knew the heels would be after my trip, and I wanted to put the heels in early so I didn’t have to worry about yardage for them. I decided a good time to do this would be like 10pm when I was tired. I double and triple checked where I wanted to put the heel… and then cut into the purple stripe one above where I meant to. You can see in the picture above where I grafted them back together. Sigh… I also can’t really recommend doing an afterthought heel while still knitting the socks two at a time. There was just A LOT happening. I probably could have put the socks on holders for that part.

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I would definitely knit this yarn and this sock pattern again, just not together. The cable pattern gets a bit lost in all the stripes. I liked having the cable there to keep it interesting, and I have the pattern memorized because I knit it on the Telegramme sweater. But I think it would look best in a solid yarn. Similarly, I now want a pair of these tall socks (sans cable) in more Uneek colorways because some of them are really fun!! I love that both colors change, it looks so impressive. I couldn’t stop knitting – just… one… more… stripe!

I still have stuff on the needles (of course) but nothing I’m really itching to finish. I think I might cast on a Love Note. When I saw The Knitting Goddess’s Operation: Social Justice Warrior colorways, I got inspired! I got the yarn a while back so I think I might cake it up and get started this weekend.

Hope everyone is doing well and dealing as well as they can with however the pandemic and response is progressing where you are. It’s definitely been a bit tough for me at times but I have a great support system so I’m thankful for that as well as all the good things I have right now. It’s Mother’s Day in the US on Sunday, so if you’re a mother, happy Mother’s Day! I hope you get to spend some time with your children, even if it’s only virtually. I’m going to go to my parents place and see them outside in the courtyard of their condo for a bit. And I know Mother’s Day can be hard for people who may have lost children or don’t have a good relationship with them, so if that’s you, I’m thinking of you too and wishing you comfort.