Ubiquitous

I think I offended a vendor at a local fiber fest earlier this year by commenting to a companion while holding some particularly bright variegated sock yarn that it was a shame that the yarns I wanted to knit with were so often yarns that I would not want to wear. This is why my husband doesn't have many pairs of handknit socks (and by "not many," I mean two pairs). He won't wear the ones I like to knit, and stockinette or ribbed socks in sensible colors just don't scratch that knitterly itch. When I knit these, he said it looked like someone had vomited skittles on my feet. He may have a point. But I enjoyed knitting them, so I will endeavor to enjoy wearing them. You know, under boots or something.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves from Favorite Socks
Yarn: Koigu
Needles: US2 dpns

Notes:
I shortened the heel flap and, like many, I didn't cut the yarn after the heel. I don't really 'get' the cast on. It's not tubular, so what's the business with the two rows of double knitting? And maybe I was pulling the yarn tightly because I was doing something new, but the cast-on edge is a little tight. (Is that why the socks are pictured slouched in the book?) I was inordinately pleased to find, after contemplating mods to finish the leaf motifs on the toe, that that pattern had already taken care of that.

I like how the loose gauge gives the socks a nice bas relief effect, but they feel a bit delicate for me. In fact, the Koigu was not what I had expected at all. I've had a couple of pairs' worth in my stash for a while but I have been shying away from it. Probably because my first pair of socks were made with Claudia Handpaint, which has the same yardage, and I ended up having to go back to my LYS for a third skein because I ran out of yarn, which made for a very expensive pair of socks, indeed. In fact, I did some research on Ravelry to make sure I could knit this pair with just two skeins before casting on. It turned out to be enough, but I'm still a little worried about the prospect of knitting it on size 1s or so. And I know I could do toe up, but I just don't like it as well.

As for the yarn itself, I found it incrediby soft, but not all that "sproingy," as it is often described. I think I was expecting something more along the lines of the Claudia. Koigu just doesn't have the same body. Maybe you just never forget your first love.

I think I mentioned that these were quick? I cast on Friday evening and finished the pair on Sunday evening. Not too shabby.