Accomplishment

Completing the sixth pair of socks for my 2009 Personal Sock Club - sort of on time - has given me a great sense of accomplishment.



I've called them my comfort socks, partly because they've been comfort knitting - a straight-forward project in stocking stitch with the very minor embellishment of a little colour work (well, grey and cream work) below the cuffs and around the toes. I'd forgotten how easy, quick and comfortable it is to knit plain stocking stitch socks.

They're also comfort socks because they're knitted in Patonyl - plain, sufficiently soft, indestructible Patonyl. Very quiet and unassuming. Patonyl on 2.25m needles gives a neat, robust fabric.

Basically they're a pattern from my sock knitting hero, Nancy Bush. She calls them 'Welsh Country Stockings' (ravlink) and includes them in her book, 'Folk Socks'. However, I used the decorative adaptations suggested by the super-stylish Mustaa Villaa and omitted the contrasting colour for the heels, but added the simple colour work motifs to the toes. Otherwise I knitted the pattern as directed. I love the round toes that Nancy Bush uses for these socks, and it was my first attempt at a Dutch heel, which looks a bit odd when the sock is off the foot but fits neatly and snugly when worn.



I was aiming for 7 pairs of socks for my 2009 Personal Sock Club. Only one more pair to finish! So, I opened my final manilla envelope to reveal...yet more Patonyl! This time the yarn is a rather lovely, practical slatey blue-grey. I'm going to do yet more Nancy Bush - this time the Gentleman's Sock in Railway Stitch (ravlink) from 'Knitting Vintage Socks'. The pattern as written includes striped heels and toes so for the stripes I'm going to use up the last remains of some hand-dyed Patonyl that was a gift from Sonia as part of a long-ago swap.



I'd intended to begin my last 2009 PSC socks this past weekend but, as seems almost inevitable with knitting, I've been distracted. On Saturday morning we had the monthly meeting of the Inner-City branch of the NSW Knitters' Guild. A great meeting, by the way. As Chair, Kris has a superb capacity to combine friendliness, inclusiveness and informality with an ability to move the agenda along. Lots of opportunities for chat, sharing of projects - some of them breath-taking this month - and learning.

But I'm distracted yet again...this month, Michele Hartrick of Abundance Colour & Inspiration attended with some yarns for sale after the Guild branch meeting. I was seduced by skeins of Noro Taiyo, which I'd not seen before. As always with Noro, the delightful unexpectedness of the colour combinations was enticing. The Taiyo is a worsted-weight combination of cotton, silk, wool and nylon, so it has none of the scatchiness of many of the Noro predominantly woollen mixes, and while it is a single ply with thick and thin-ness, it doesn't drift apart as some of the other Noro yarns have a tendency to do. Did I mention the colours? Gorgeous.

I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday looking for suitable patterns and decided on making a blanket - probably to give to the dotee. After a couple of false choices and even a false start I'm making Frankie Brown's 'Ten Stitch Blanket' (ravlink) which is loosely based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby blanket in the 'Opinionated Knitter, with its wide L-shaped strips of garter stitch.



Such a wonderfully lairy project!