Monday, January 26, 2009

Cycling socks

This weekend just gone (Sunday evening in fact) I finally finished the second sock of my second pair of cycle socks. Kind of ironic given that I crashed my bike on Saturday morning - going to fetch my new Rowan magazine from the parcel office too! Spent a goodly portion of the weekend saying "ouch" repeatedly whilst watching my bruises go from pale blue-green to deep purple. 

cycle socks II

Anyway, back to socks. I struggled with these to be honest and largely I think it was my needles. It seems to be very easy to forget that bad needles equal a bad knitting experience, you never think on it. A project just seems 'hard'.

I knitted my dad some socks for Christmas out of Kaffe Fassett 4ply Regia yarn and invested in some 5" Brittany sock needles too (because my sock needles were elsewhere engaged). I could not believe what a difference these made! My old DPNs were metal 10" jobbies and the strain and awkwardness working in the round with just twenty stitches per needle was not apparent to me until I got hold of the 5-inchers, I was whizzing round by comparison. Not to mention the added portability, sock knitting went from absolutely-not-bus-knitting to the perfect handbag carry-along, instantly. Today on the bus (hurts a wee bit too much to cycle still) I missed not having a pair of socks to work on...

cycle socks II

They're Hedera from knitty. I like the lace pattern, nice and stretchy, ideal for cotton socks. I like the idea of the reinforced heal, but I think in reality this is too big a feature for the kind of shoes I wear (who am I kidding - the only pair of shoes i even own right now). I might do a toe up version with the same lace pattern (all be it in reverse).

1 comment:

Thanks in advance for any comments sent my way, they arere always appreciated!