Tour de Sock: Round 1 Complete!

In the wee hours of the morning, I bound off the second sock to finish my Virrat for round one of the Tour de Sock. They are magnificent.

The toe was new to me (long-tail cast on joined in the round, with the hole stitched up later), as was the heel (which started with a "reverse riverbed gusset" in the pattern).

After my initial negative reaction to the toe, I have decided that it's just fine, and quite a bit faster to work than other toe-up cast ons I've used in the past. As for the heel, I adore it. It fits beautifully, and I think it will hold up well over the years. At least as well as the standard heel flaps I use on top-down socks.

The bind-off used is the sewn bind-off (Elizabeth Zimmerman's, maybe?), and makes a nice clean edge.

I am smitten. My mom wants these, but I'm going to have some trouble parting with them.

Round 2 begins on June 11th, so I have a few days to make some progress on my Paradiesvogel. I just started the foot of the first sock. I'm using leftover yarn, and may have to get creative for the second sock as there is a distinct possibility that I'll run out before I'm done. Ah well, mis-matched socks can be cool too! And in the meantime, they're just fun to knit, which is the whole point.

Tour de Sock: sock the first

On Wednesday I completed the first sock for the competition, but am only finally getting around to talking about it here now.

Pattern: Virrat

Yarn: Cascade 200 Superwash Sport in periwinkle

Needles: 3mm dpns

I began originally on 2.75mm needles, but once I completed the heel turn I realized I was in trouble. The fabric was too dense, and I was in danger of running out of yarn. So I ripped it all out and started over on 3mm (it's a great thing I'm not on a competitive team!).

Now it's perfect.

The heel construction is very interesting and fits quite well. I may be a toe-up convert after all! More on the details of the pattern once I'm finished both socks.

Tour de Sock: Day 1

At 8:30 EST this morning, knitters from around the world were poised over the refresh button, waiting for the very first pattern of the 2015 Tour de Sock to be posted.

I was not one of them. As usual, getting out of bed at a reasonable time seemed entirely unreasonable, so when I finally dragged myself up and out quite a bit of time has gone by. I have, however, more than made up for that lost time by knitting for about four hours this afternoon, and am quite pleased with my progress.

The pattern in question is Virrat by Tiina Kuu. I have no experience with this designer's patterns, but am impressed by the quality of the instructions, which I believe is the rule rather than the exception for the Tour patterns in general.

I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash Sport in periwinkle, on 2.75mm needles. I usually knit with fingering weight yarn on smaller needles, so have been pleasantly surprised by the speed at which I'm knitting these up. After just a bit over three hours, I'm ready to tackle the gusset increases.

Toe-up socks are not my normal thing either, though I have nothing against them. The cast on for the toe is a bit strange, as it leaves a hole to be sewn shut during the finishing stage. I doubt that I'll wait that long before cinching it up - it's driving me crazy. But that is really the only complaint I have thus far - the pattern is cute and simple, and this pair has already been claimed by my mother.

Technically I should stop knitting now to save my hands for tomorrow, but I've learned that the bigger yarn and needle combination isn't hurting me at all, and I don't want to stop! We shall see.

Tour de Sock 2015

No long-winded introduction awaits you here. I'm here to share my knitting adventures, so pull up a chair, grab your latest project, and let's get going!

I recently signed up for the Tour de Sock competition for the first time. I've admired the patterns from afar, and have always looked forward to the year that my PayPal balance would cover the $7.50 sign-up fee, and this was the year!

I've signed up for a relaxed team, as I want to ease into it. We begin on June 1st, and I'm rearing to go!

To keep myself occupied in the meantime, I am working on a sock for the May challenge over at the Sock Knitters Anonymous group over on Ravelry. I chose to cast on Paradiesvogel for the Fandom theme, and am using up leftovers from my stash.

I love the idea of the slipped and twisted stitches wandering around over the striped background, but I'm not too thrilled with how some stitches are pulled or wonky (look at the centre panel). Hopefully this will sort itself out when I block these.