Spirals!

Houston, we have a finished project!

I cast on these socks at the NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Salem, Va. I needed a plain stockingette sock that I could knit successfully while still keeping most of my attention on the (30) games taking place in front of me over a two-plus week span.

Arch increases on the insteps

This is my second pair of Spiraling Master Coriolis socks from New Pathways for Sock Knitters. I like knitting them because there is just the tiniest possible bit of “pattern” which comes in handy to keep my attention, but it’s still brainless and I don’t have to look AT ALL.

Yes, the spiral continuing into the rib is intentional.

As this is my second pair, I expanded the cuff of the socks a bit as they reached the point where my calf started widening.

Standard New Pathways heels

I’ve done a ton of these socks. I can pick up and put down the heel turn, no problem. Most of the time.

I have no idea how I got the heel turn that f’d up!

Notice there’s about four rows missing between the one stitch that’s dangling and the stack on my left needle. I have no clue how I did that, and since the wraps had been picked up already, it wasn’t worth trying to fix it. That was the second sock and the heel was ripped out and started again.

These socks suffered through multiple week-long knitting hiatus stretches, most recently during last week’s car debacle. I just wasn’t in a knitting mood (or crafting mood for that matter) while I was at the Lake last week.

Yep. The left socks is more blue. The right sock is more red. Three cheers for handpainted yarn!

I picked them back up when I got to Bloomin for work on Thursday and finished them off on Saturday at the store. They got me through Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals (a much better project than the Postwar Mittens I knit … and tinked … during the Super Bowl) and served their purpose nicely in softball press boxes in Virginia and Oklahoma.

2009 Softball Socks

Pattern: Spiraling Master Coriolis
Source: New Pathways for Sock Knitters
Size: mine (8.5” circumference, 9.5” length)
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Alyeska
Color: Crayons
Source: Wolf Creek Yarns, Grove City, Pa. (Purchased at 2009 Pittsburgh K&C Festival)
Needles: US 1.5/2.5mm Hiya Hiya 16” circulars
Started: 22 May 2009
Finished: 27 June 2009
Mods: Increased a bit as I got near the top of the cuff, then did a 2x2 rib instead of garter ridges atop the leg

Note to the curious: Yes, the coriolis socks are a challenge to get on/off of my feet. That's probably because I'm a tight knitter and prefer bulletproof socks. But I've never felt them bind or be in any way uncomfortable once they're on. New Pathways rides again!