(You did know it was Talk Like A Pirate Day, right?)
Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: Koigu! Lovely KPPPM, in color 814, very nearly all of 2 hanks
Time Elapsed: Oh, I don’t know. Somewhere around a week? They’re a quick sock.
Modifications/Notes: I was very worried about running out of yarn, so I only knit 5 initial lace repeats instead of 6. I’m glad I did, actually, because I’m pretty sure I would have run out. They’re a nice length with 5 repeats, at least for me with Koigu on US2 needles.
Other than that, no modifications. The fabric produced on US2s (at gauge, although I didn’t check beforehand) was a little drapey for socks, I thought. When I knit these again, I think I’m going to go down a needle size and add some extra stitches at the top of the calf to accommodate my gams. I really prefer a snug fit with socks, and although these don’t exactly bag, neither do they grip.
(No Jacob pictures today, by the way–he just wasn’t in the mood. Check out the FO page for the few I captured last week.)
My favorite part about these socks wasn’t the fun and addictive lace pattern, although it was definitely fun and addictive. Rather, I liked the small touches that Cookie put in the pattern that I usually add into patterns myself–picking up an extra stitch on the side of the heel flap to avoid gaps, knitting the picked-up stitches through the back loop to tighten the heel and give that sexy little diagonal detail, and so on. It’s a very carefully written pattern, and it produces very, very nice socks.
Plus, it works well with variegated yarns! I know I have at least one more hank of sock yarn destined to become a pair of Monkeys. A stellar pattern, to be sure.
Amy Herzog Designs