FO: Four-Stitch Reticulated Socks

Pattern: Four-Stitch Reticulated Pattern #1 from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Patons Diploma Gold 4ply, 2 x 50g in colour: #4297 and Cygnet Wool Rich 4ply, 1 x 50g in colour: Olive
Needles: 2½mm circs

This could be the earliest FO post I’ve ever done. January usually seems to be a washout for me when it comes to FOs, either because I’ve overdone the festive knits and can’t stand the sight of yarn/can’t knit with a new baby or I’m slogging away at secret stuff that cannot be blogged. Finishing another pair of socks so soon after having the pre-Christmas sock marathon was a bit hard going, I’ll admit. If I hadn’t cast on the ribbing back in December, I might have been tempted to just forget that I’d decided to make them. But once the ribbing is done, it counts as a WIP and then it would have to be frogged.

These socks are rather funky-looking. The colour combination was purely because I had these two odd colours in my stash and the Cygnet wasn’t even a whole 50g ball (which explains why it was touch and go whether I’d manage to get the second sock done before the yarn ran out!). I’ve frequently written on here that I’m no good at making interesting colour combinations, so two greens together was nice and safe. I think that with the stitch pattern, they look at bit seventies-ish (not that I remember the seventies…).

The pattern was easy to follow, as usual. I did deviate slightly by knitting a plain heel to save yarn and because I didn’t fancy doing wrong-side stranding. I also cast on 72 stitches and then increased to 80 after the ribbing, rather than casting on 80 stitches on a smaller needle. This was totally not because I changed my mind about how many stitches to knit the socks over halfway through the ribbing, and didn’t even see the part about the smaller needle in the first place… *whistles innocently* I got a little confused at the instep decreases on which colour to do the decreases with while keeping the sole pattern correct and in the end did my own thing so that the second sock looks a bit neater on the sole than the first but I’m sure it won’t be noticed.

The yarns both softened up nicely after blocking and I hope they won’t get holes in after being worn a couple of times. They will probably be ultra-warm with all the stranding going on, and I half-wish that my feet were bigger so I could pinch them.

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Lauriel update: I almost have yarn! I won ten new squishy balls of Calmer on eBay last night for the princely sum of £16 (£1.60 per ball!) in a deliciously springy green. I guess I won’t be swatching over the weekend, but can start stalking the postie from Monday onwards.