In my yarn planning post, I said I was just going to take 4-ply (sock) yarn with me. I packed circular needles for sock knitting as well as a couple of crochet hooks and a couple of larger size needles - just in case which I did end up using and five skeins of yarn.
I cast on the first pair of socks using yarn I had purchased on a previous trip to the UK. To make life easier, i.e. not having to pick up heel stitches or graft toes, I decided that regardless of the pattern I would work a Strong Heel and a star toe. Although I have a pattern featuring that type of heel, I opted for the heel in the pattern Vanilla is the New Black. Now having worked that heel I want to compare the two patterns to see how the application differs as I felt that I ended up with a slight gap with the new pattern. Although my intention was to use this heel on all socks for the next two pairs of socks, I used the heel in the pattern as they looked interesting.
To make life a little easier for me - not sure that it worked - in choosing patterns I went with the suggestions from Sock Knitters Anonymous. We were leaving on 1 April and the first of the month is the start of a new challenge, but I did not want to start something new on leaving day so I cast on a few days before we left to have something already established. This did mean that I only had a month to complete the challenge instead of two. For March the theme was Nature and I chose Waterspout socks. I chose this pattern as it looked easy, so easy that I was worried that they wouldn't be allowed for the challenge but they were approved by a moderator. I made a small but significant change in the pattern to make it even easier. As written the pattern is a repeat of four knit stitches and four purl stitches offset by one stitch on subsequent rows. This is an eight stitch repeat which fits in with standard sock cast ons of 64 or 72 stitches but does mean that you have an extra pattern stitch at the start of each row in order to move the pattern over. To overcome this I decreased one stitch and then worked the same pattern row for every row minus the last stitch. This meant I could just knit round and round and not have to think how to start each row. It also means that I have no line to indicate start of round.
I managed to complete these before the end of April so I was able to start a new pair for April's challenge which was Returning Designer. I used the Life in the Long Grass yarn which I purchased in Cork, Ireland last year - my just in case purchase that I wound by hand at our next stop and then didn't use. The pattern is Trillusions and I am really pleased with how they turned out; in fact I am thinking of making some fingerless mittens with the left overs. I kept the heel as written in the pattern as I do like the garter stitch edge on a heel flap.
These were finished before the end of May and for May I chose Literature & Mythology as my challenge with the pattern Katniss, using some old yarn that I had purchased in a sale in 2021. I did not change the heel on this pattern as I liked the way the rib continued into the gusset. This is the eighth pattern I have made by this designer.
I will work on these at home and not wait for more travels to finish them.
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