Invited!!! And some cool new socks!

I get to join the party!! I'm JeninChicago, for those of you who are looking for new buddies on the Playground.


Also, I finished my first pair of grown up socks from Cat Bordhi's AMAZING new book.


These are the toe-up Coriolis Socks.

Time to complete: 3 weeks with a break of a week in between.

Yarn: Jojo Land Melody in the purple and green colorway. 2 balls.

Needles: US 0 / 2 mm AddiTurbos

A note about the yarn: Let me first say it is beautiful and delightful to knit with (if not microscopic 9.5 sts to the inch, 12 rpi). These socks are both made from the same color from the same dye lot. the difference is in the plying. There are three singles and each single has blue, green, pink and purple at varying times. When picking the two balls be sure that the colors are plying in a similar way. As you can see, I didn't think to check for this when I bought the yarn. One ball has the plies coming together in one color all together, making that really neat geen toe, purple arch effect. In the other ball, the other the color is more evenly distributed, making a more muted transition. I like them both, but they don't look like they came from the same yarn.

I'm sure some would say, knit with alternating balls and it will make a more homogenous pair, but 1.) that's too much work for a pair of socks. 2.) It would muddy the transitions even more.

Now a note about the heels: These are W&T (wrap and turn short rows). Clearly my purl gauge is different than my knit gauge, hence the bubble heels. On the second to last page of Cat's book, there is an explanation for how to snug up your purl sts when doing the W&T heels. Frankly, I think I prefer the short row heels from Charlene Schurch.

Finally, a Note about the Master Coriolis Pattern itself: there is a side note (one of the little yellow boxes that appear so helpfully through out the book) that explains how to make the Coriolis stripe wider.
It tells you to place marker A n number of sts from the first decrease after you've completed the arch increase. THIS IS WRONG. Place marker A n number of sts from the first k2tog when you are setting up for the arch increase. Otherwise, you'll have a swirl that's two different sizes on the foot vs. the leg.

That being said, I love these socks and the pattern is ingenious. So, I'm already on to another amazing pair from Cat. These are the Dove Socks from the same book New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One.

The yarn is BMFA - STR in Yosemite. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the colorway!! It's so cheery!! (Even more so in real life!) I gotta tell ya, after that JojoLand, the STR Lightweight seems positively heavyweight!! I'm loving how fast these socks are going!

I like the way the color is evenly distributed around the toe due to the short color runs and then the way it flashes across the top of the foot. If I were to give you a pic of the flip side, you'd see nothing but yellow and green on the sole where the increases begin. Yes, that V shape is the Arch increase. Soooo cool!

By the way, the dimensions in Cat's book allow you to make the most amazing fitting socks. Best I've found yet! I'm in LOVE with this new book.

Practice socks turned into.....

I bought the new Cat Bordhi sock book at stitches and it's amazing!! I followed her directions and read he first chapter before casting on. Then I RAN to my stash and grabbed some BMFA Heavyweight sock yarn and cast on as FAST as I could. (color: Rocktober)

The little socks are just amazing, the increases for the arch seem to break right over the top of the foot. I can't wait to try the next pair. Getting used to the layout of the book has been a little challenge, but then it's a whole new sock "architecture" so I'm ok with flipping around until I get the system. I'm sure you can't tell but there's a little seed stitch heart over the arch.

That little baby sock inspired me and got turned into a pair of baby socks, the Heartbreakingly Adorable Baby Kimono from Mason Dixson Knitting, and a little newborn hat from the left overs.



I have exactly 46" of yarn left from the hank. I believe they call that "Cutting It Close."



I don't know if my friend's baby will be a boy or a girl, so I haven't chosen ribbon for the Kimono yet. Love the BMFA heavy weight for this application. Start to finish on the whole set? 1 week.

Oh yeah, and I made up the hat. I wanted the roll brim to match the socks, but I didn't want it to be too loose, so I knit in St. st for about an inch and then started k3, p1 ribbing. Of 72 sts, at for the crown, start with k6, k2tog and decrease by one st until you get down to the last 9 sts. Run the yarn through the sts and weave in the end.

Love it. BTW, if anyone can send me the code for how to get my pics to be clickable again, I would really appreciate it. I am jennifer(dot)j(dot)jones(at)gmail(dot)com