marly nillas and another wip already

pattern : TDTU Vanilla Sock by Rachel Roue 

yarn : Patos Kroy Socks FX in Grey Brown Marl 

needle : US 1[2.25mm] 

size : 9.5

This is my second project using Rachel Roue's fantastic and easy to understand pattern and I had as much fun with it as I did the first. What really added to my enjoyment was seeing how each loop coming from the skein translated into the stripes I see now. There's really something about seeing self striping yarn transform into these lovely unique things that I find really hard to explain, but I know that I'm going to see much more of this type of yarn in my stash box in the future.

The cuffs for these socks reach up to about mid-calf, which is quite a bit shorter than I expected them to be while still knitting them. I owe it to both the small gauge throwing me off and the length lost when the ribbing stretched to fit my legs [by the way. the idea to learn Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off for the ends of these socks was a great one. I don't know how I could have gotten these around my legs If I used my standard bind off method!].

This project and my shops orders have been a real opportunity for me to learn how to pace myself. Between knitting and art[which would be my day job], I've been putting a large amount of strain on my wrists and hands. It really paid off to listen to the advice of my fellow artists and knitters to take frequent breaks and stretch regularly. If you feel a niggling pain in your wrists after a long day of knitting, I highly recommend you make stretching during some downtime in a queue or in the car part of your daily life. Even a 5 minute stretch a day will make knitting noticeably comfortable. :]

It's really only been a night but I'm already quite a few repeats into another sock project from the stash! I was a little unsure of what pattern might work well for a color scheme with this much contrast but I settled with the really nice Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder. The repeating texture of the body of the sock brings something really nice to stripes I think, so it works pretty well with the intensity of my yarn instead of distracting from or competing with it. Excited to see how it turns out!

I'm already noticing just how stretchy the material is--hopefully it will fare well during the summer. I'm planning to wear it out really often.

I'm stoked about these socks UGGGH! With every month I've been a pair closer to a fully handmade sock drawer!