Swirly fun!

Swirl Socks for Maggie. When I first signed up to knit socks for her, I wanted to do this pattern. I had yarn and was ready to go. Sock 1 about killed me! Sock 2 was knit on my trip and a breeze compared to the first one. But isn't that almost always what happens when learning a new pattern. I learned to do a RT and LT, which is Right Twist and Left Twist. I kept calling them turns though..no idea why?? I feared that R&LT....badly...then one day it clicked!

The swirl pattern looks a bit weird this way, but if you click on the pattern link above, you'll see how it is supposed to look. I took pictures then shipped the package out before I uploaded and fixed so you won't see them frontways. They took forever to dry as it's so hot and humid here...I'm not a happy camper about that..


Twisted DK Sock yarn in the Netherfield Colorway, Mutating Variegate (she names each striping pattern the yarn is dyed in, pretty cool I think!)
US 3 Addi 40" circ, magic looped (been feeling loopy lately, therefore almost everything I've been knitting is ML!)

I love this yarn, it's so soft and the organic striping of the yarn is wild. I did have to frog a bit and it got a bit splitty, but what yarn doesn't! After knitting with fingering for so many pairs of socks, I welcomed dk weight! I didn't try to match up the striping at all, mainly due to Maggie wanting wild socks. I have quite a bit of her yarns in different weights and stripings and can't wait to use it all!


My first picot edge! Not half bad...well after knitting it 3 times on sock 1. I tell you this stuff not to show you how great I am at frogging, but hoping someone else can learn by my mistakes. They were too tight on US 4's I ended up using US 6's for the bind off. The stitching inside went smooth. Definately not my last ones...thinking mini-monkeys in the future.


Ahhhh my old nemesis the Short Row Heel. I used to try the yarn over one, as I had the worst time seeing the wraps...still do and often have to use markers, but it was worse on the purl row.
Enter Cristi showing me on the ride to SAFF how to pick them up on the public side of the sock. She's my short row heel rescuer that girl is! ;) I got even better at it as sock 1's SRH was frogged 3 times!!

The only thing I feel to remember when using a SRH and having to pickup extra stitches for the gap....figure in the decreasing of said "extra" stitches into the pattern. Sock 1 has a set of swirls a bit closer than Sock 2 due to this. I tried to decrease all "extra" stitches in the first 2 rounds, but it still messed it up a bit. Any solutions to figuring that part out. Sock 2 went much better, but it took me a bit to figure it out.


Here they are packed up and ready to go! No heat on here so they took forever to dry after their spa bath.