Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Caterpillar Socks

So about a month ago, something … probably Cristi … inspired me to surf on over to Yarn Nerd. Where I discovered that Adam was selling kits for Caterpillar Socks. His 950MHz Merino yarn and the Caterpillar Sock pattern from Knitspot. I was hooked on the Monarch colorway almost immediately.

A brief Paypal transaction later and one of the kits had my name on it. Yay!


The package hit my mailbox shortly before the kick-off for Summer of Socks 2008, and I immediately decided that this kit would be my first pair for SOS08. And so it was. Just a week later, we had a finished pair of socks!


This was my fastest ever start-to-finish pair of fingering weight socks. I did two things that are rare for me on this pair. And I can't properly express my love for the perfect shade of steel gray that Adam captured in this colorway. Love. It. It made me happy every time it came across my needles.


I used my Darn Pretty Needles from Grafton Fibers. I enjoyed working with them a lot, although I decided pretty early on that DPN should stand for Darn Pointy Needles in this case. DPNs were the perfect choice for this project. It was a 10-stitch repeat that was simple to memorize.

I made one other change from my normal modus operandi on this pair of socks


Short-row heels! They turned out OK, but I’m still not a convert. I love my Cat Bordhi heels and still prefer a gusset/flap to short rows, but these turned out perfectly acceptable. I’m quite happy with this opening pair for Summer of Socks!


Pattern: Caterpillar Sock from Knitspot
Size: Medium (7.5” circumference), US Women’s 8.5 shoe size
Yarn: Yarn Nerd 950MHz Merino
Colorway: Monarch
Needles: Darn Pointy Pretty Needles from Grafton Fibers, US 2/2.75mm 5” DPNs
Started: 12:01 am, 21 June 2008 (yes, I stayed up until midnight just to cast these on)
Finished: 28 June 2008
Summer of Socks Counter: Pair #1

In other news, we actually had a beautiful day today. Too bad I had a visual migrane and wound up sleeping for most of the afternoon. We still had a pretty nifty sunset. Looky!


6 comments:

floribunda said...

ah yes -- I get those migraine things too -- flashing lights and the urge to crawl into bed! I'm still waiting to see some quilt activity...

Sarah said...

Those are a great first pair!

Jen said...

Love the socks - what a pretty yarn!

Jess said...

Gorgeous socks. I love the colorway and that pattern- and together its just fabulous! I think I need to check out the yarn nerd also.
I love the first sunset picture. I think its my favorite so far.
Hope your brain is feeling better.

Donna Lee said...

I woke at 2 am with a migraine to end all migraines. It is lingering now but better. The photos of the sunset are so good, it's like the waves are moving (or maybe that's migraine leftovers?)

turtlegirl76 said...

They look great. You're right, that steel grey color is awesome. Adam is so good.