Cable and Seed Knee Socks from Interweave Knits Holiday 2017 magazine in HiKoo Simplicity

My big plan here was to use my fireplace for a backdrop, to elevate the awkward sock selfie.  I'm not sure it worked, but oh well.  Here are my cozy new socks:

This pattern is from the Interweave Knits Holiday 2017 magazine.  I am a long-time subscriber to Interweave Knits, but these holiday magazines are not included, so I picked this up at my local JoAnns.  

Here is the photo from the magazine.  They are called the Cable and Seed Knee Socks, but they only go a bit past mid-calf on the model.  I don't have much use for knee socks, except for maybe under knee-high boots, but these aren't long enough to peek out at the top and be all cozy, so I modified them to be a more standard shape, using the construction and pretty cable and seed pattern.

I gave them a nice, deep ribbed cuff, which I like to turn down and wear them around the house like slippers.  The yarn is HiKoo Simplicity, a superwash merino, acrylic, and nylon blend.  Great for cozy socks!  I didn't mention that these socks call for worsted weight yarn.  Mine is more dk weight, so I went down a needle size.  I like the snugger fit.  I don't care for floppy socks!

I hope you are having a great weekend!  I did some knitting while watching tv last night, and I am thinking some sewing is in order later on today.

Butterblumchen Socks

Here are a bunch of terrible photos of my first ever socks for ME!  I still haven't gotten a tripod, and I took these when I was the only human in the house, so yeah... voila!

 I will say that sock knitting has turned out to be not so terrible, and these are insanely comfy, so I can see myself knitting more socks in the future.  They are a nice, relatively quick knit option, and a girl only needs so many hats in the sub-tropics.

I love the pattern of these socks.  I found it on Ravelry by searching for free sock patterns.  There are several thousand!  This particular one is Butterblumchen.  I only put three little flowers on each sock even though the pattern has you knit them over the foot as well.  This was for easy of knitting, and also since I can't see how they would hold up well if I wear these inside shoes during winter.

 For now, these are basically slippers in the evening.  So comfy and they make me happy.  Plus, I can pretend I'm ice skating on the tile.

I knit these on little 9" circular needles.  They took some getting used to, but the socks felt like they grew faster than with dpns.  I just took breaks when my hand got uncomfortable from gripping the short needles.  As I progressed, I could knit for longer periods of time.  They just take getting used to.

 These are constructed top-down.  I think I prefer toe-up, which I used for my dad's and my husband's Christmas socks.  I like being able to try on as you go, and it is nice to not have to kitchener at the end.

 Standard heel flap construction, though it was my first time using this method.  I bought the yarn from Webs online.  It is called Charlemont in Soft Grape kettle dyed.  I don't think that the soft grape on the page at the link is the exact same, though.  It looks like a solid.  Anyway, I'm very happy with the yarn and am eyeing the waterfall hand-dyed.  Wouldn't that be a lovely cardi?  I'm still a sweater knitter at heart.