While this is the first knitting project I've shared on my blog, this is far from being my first knitting project. Actually, I've been knitting (on and off) for an entire decade now! These socks are actually only the second pair of socks I've ever completed. I knit a pair for my mom about 8 years ago and have also knit two random socks (one for me and one for an evil ex-boyfriend) that I set aside and need to finish (luckily my hubby has the same size feet as the evil ex and happens to like said sock!)
Knitting was actually my first hobby. It became clear a decade ago that I needed to find some creative way to spend my time outside of practicing my flute. My mom suggested knitting since she knew how and could teach me and once I got the hang of it I was hooked. I like that it's portable and relaxing - the act of knitting each stitch is very theraputic - and I just think it is so cool that I can take a ball of yarn and make something wearable. I know that I will always knit. I might not do it every day, but it's something I will continue to do throughout my life.
I have a habit of visiting yarn shops whenever I can when I am traveling and while I was on my honeymoon my husband indulged me and let me drag him to a few yarn shops (3 or 4 maybe?) It was during our stop at a wonderful yarn shop in East Greenwich, RI formerly called Unwind (I think it's now called Love to Knit, but I might be misremembering that) that I picked up some beautiful sock yarn called Tough Love Sock in the colorway Stormchaser by Sweet Georgia Yarns. Wow, they have so many wonderful colorways that it was difficult to choose! I will definitely be ordering more of their yarns for future socks!
After the honeymoon I was eager to get this yarn on the needles and I decided to knit up the Traveler's Socks, a pattern by Stephanie Bold that was featured in the Fall 2012 Interweave Knits. The pattern was very easy to knit up, although I will admit that my first few attempts needed to be unraveled because I initially misinterpreted the instructions just past the cuff. Once I figured out where I was going wrong, however, it was smooth sailing from there on. It took me about 2 weeks to knit up this pair of socks and I used just about the entire skein of yarn (400-something yards.) I knit these cuff-down and was getting pretty nervous toward the end of the second sock that I would run out. I've got small feet so I knit the small version. If you have larger feet and use this same yarn and pattern and only have 1 skein to use, make the legs shorter. These are actually pretty long in the leg. I'd also use a solid colorway rather than a variegrated as I did here - the cabling would show up much better. I plan to knit these again in a solid. Nevertheless, I'm thrilled with how they turned out. There are a few small mistakes, but that's the beauty of the variegrated yarn with the cabling - it's hard to impossible to tell. Overall they fit really well, so I'm very pleased and happy to have knit my first pair of socks for me!
