In Which the Pirate Has Pictures.

Here are the completed Bloo Socks. I used Elizabeth Bennett’s Perl Sock Program to start off, but had to make so many changes to it – first the number of stitches I cast on, then the ribbing, then the heel numbers, the decrease type, the toe… Enough changes were made that I feel comfortable writing up what I did as an original pattern. I will call them “Brother’s Socks” and hopefully knit a test sock for myself before releasing the pattern in two sizes. The Bloo version will be the large at 96 stitches, and medium will have 88. Maybe I’ll figure out the numbers for the heel and toe at 80 stitches for a small size as well. It’ll probably be another freebie pattern, as I’m not sure it’s complex enough to charge any money for. What do you think?

This is how far I got in three days of on-and-off knitting on the quick pair of toe-up socks I’m making for myself. It took a couple of tries to remember the trick of doing a figure-eight toe, but once I got all the stitches arranged on the needles it was full speed ahead! I got lots of comments about how fast it was going. That’s the thing about stripy socks, at least for me. I want to knit as fast as I can to see how the stripes will come out! I had expected them to be narrower, but they’re coming out at around five rounds each. When I start the second sock I’ll do my best to start in the same place so they match. These definitely pass my “blue jeans” test for hand-knit socks, but I’m sure I’ll wear them to work under skirts as well.