Autumn Ready

Labor Day weekend is over. Bring on fall! I'm all ready for it with a brand-new pair of bright and cheerful socks.

Pattern: Non-Euclidian, modified (see below)
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in Summer Fruit Tarte with unnamed contrasting mini skein
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: August 11/August 30
Mods: added twisted ribbing on either side of the heel increases; changed up the decreases after the heel turn

This yarn was the first shipment for Lisa's Just Desserts club, in which all the colorways will be inspired by a dessert recipe. This one, as you can probably tell from the name, was inspired by those yummy tarts made up of creme patisserie topped with most colorful summer fruits -- and even came with a recipe for such a tart! I haven't made the tart yet, but I couldn't resist casting on these socks right away.

Given the inspiration and the fact that the accompanying mini skein was crust colored, I just had to make my cuffs look like pie crust. I did a hemmed picot edging followed by one purled round and then about half an inch of 2x2 ribbing. That used a good amount of the contrast skein, so I used it again for the heel turn on both socks and striped it with the self-striping yarn for the toe. I did have some leftover when I finished the socks, but I think I still might have run out had I tried to do both toes in only the contrast.

As with my last pair of Non-Euclidians, I did the 1x1 twisted rib modification on either side of the heel increase section, but this time I also decided to try something a little different with the decreases after the heel turn. This photo (though it's a little blurry, having been taken by a 9-year-old with unsteady hands) shows the outcome.

When I'd finished all the increased, I dropped my working yarn and let it dangle. Then I slipped the ribbed stitches until I got to the increase area (though I didn't use markers because the ribbing visually marked the area for me, if I had I would have slipped stitches until I got to the first marker). I then attached the contrast yarn and worked my usual heel turn, which is less pointy than the Non-Euclidian turn. I cut the yarn at the conclusion of the turn and slipped those stitches to the right of it back to the left needle, so I was back to where my working yarn was waiting. Then I decreased the remainder of the stitches while working again in the round, and they were done using mirrored decreases toward the middle of the heel (ssk and k2tog) starting at each edge of the heel stitches/heel turn area. It's a bit hard to describe but easy to achieve. I was a bit worried about fit because the decreases in the pattern add additional length to the sole that's not added to the instep and thus I worried that the two areas wouldn't match up with this modification, but it seems to be okay. I will have to wear these for a while to see if I get any bunching up on the instep to know if the mod is good for sure.

After meeting my goal of finishing these socks by the end of the month, I was left with one main knitting WIP, and it's one that saw a lot of attention this weekend: my Rhinebeck sweater.

As you can see, I made significant progress. I spent several hours working on it yesterday afternoon while catching up on some podcasts, and I was able to complete the remaining rounds for the yoke, the short row shaping to raise the back a bit, the split of the arm and body stitches and about an inch of the body by the time I put it away. I have tried it on and am happy to report that it fits and seems to have the right amount of positive ease for the comfy sweatshirt-like fit I wanted. Now comes what some people would call the boring part, but I'm happy to have reached the stage where I don't have to think or count. I'll be knitting straight in the main color for a while, but there's more colorwork to come!