Jobo Designs

I've been working ahead on some gift socks for my holiday knitting. but unfortunately it's a false start.

 

First the Yarn:  Some of my old standby, KnitPicks Stroll Tonal in Canopy

 

 

I purchased a copy of "The Road Goes Ever On"  by Claire Ellen some time ago. and decided that now was the time to get started and get my Cable-On.  This collection of socks (mostly cabled, some lace) is beautifully designed and contains great charts and detailed patterns.  Each design is named for a character from the Lord of the Rings series by Tolkien too. so neat back stories as well.

 

My only real complaint is that there aren't more photos of these fantastic socks.  I've been going back and forth to Ravelry to look at projects to get more ideas of how the designs wrap around the heels and legs, since many of them are quite unique.

 

I decided to start with Eomer. a very cabled pair, featuring some 2-stitch travelling cables that remind me of wrought iron gates, and some sections of double moss stitch and rib.

 

I love everything about this sock really.. the only thing I didn't account for though is the fact that I started with the "small" size, and the way that the cables run has really restricted the stretch of the ankle and leg of the sock.  But look at them!  So pretty and curving, almost like a filigree of green yarny goodness. and I was almost enjoying the double-moss.  Why is it that I can't stand K1P1 Ribbing, and would rather poke my own eyes out with a set of 2.5mms, but I actually like double moss?  Its the same darn thing!  Clearly it's in my head.  go figure.

 

 

So bummer: I'm in the frog pond. I just wish I hadn't made it all the way to the heel before trying to put it on my foot. My ankles were ginormous last summer from the fluid accumulation of pregnancy, and they have shrunk back to a normalish size (I can wear my own shoes and socks again finally) but I don't think that there's even a remote chance that these will go comfortably around my ankle, let alone take the chance that they might not go over the intended gift recipient's ankle either.  The heel is so pretty too. the way the cables spread out over the top of the ankle, then turn into ribbing.  I bet it would have hugged the ankle perfectly too

 

 

Oh well. it's been ravelled and I'm back to the drawing board. I'm thinking maybe I'll try a Cookie A. design I've been sitting on for a while and come back to the Cabled-wonders some other time.  It's a little heartbreaking to rip back cables so lovely!

Now I just wish I was lying in a hammock in a lovely warm tropical breeze under an actual Banyan Tree... instead of being zonked with a lovely sniffly sneezy cold :(

Either way though, the socks are lovely!

I really enjoyed everything about this pair... from the twisted rib, to the leaves (which always seem to fly off the needles for me), to the little cables (I don?t know why I never thought of making 3 stitch cables and just moving the outside stitch? duh!) and the streamlined and simple foot.  I also enjoyed the heel flap, which isn?t rocket science, but looks so different compared to the standard slip stitch heel

 

All in all ? a great knit... and a free pattern!  Go check it out over at the loopy ewe :) they have fantastic yarns too by the way, and excellent customer service!

After the last pair of plain ribbed socks? I needed something with a little more Interest.  Flash. Pizazz.  Something less mind numbing.  I had purchased a copy of the Paul Atwell Socks from Emily over at the Family Trunk Project some time ago, and stashed it away for a rainy day.

Well I guess it must be rainy enough this week? I decided to cast on a pair.  I really like the ?gull? stitch pattern.  It looks complicated, but really isn?t.  It?s a 4 row repeat with a ?loose? float that you tie down by catching in a stitch in 2 rows time.  I also like that these are cuff down.  I don?t have a problem with toe-up designs, but I just find sometimes that the leg and cuff of a sock can be the most time consuming part? where you have pattern spanning the entire row for such a long way (as compared to the foot where usually half of the stitches are plain stockinette? that seems to make things run a lot faster for me!)  Surprisingly enough, I don?t even mind the seed stitch that lines up between the gulls.  This is weird for me, because as previously stated, I find knitting ribbing to be heinously boring, and seed stitch is just as bad.  I can do up the 4 row repeat (in a 72 stitch round) in a flash, and find the whole thing quite amusing and engaging.  I?m a messed up knitter.  Of this, I am aware.

2 more Gull repeats to the heel!  These are going to fly off the needles? which is surprising, since I?m making them ?Man Sized? in the 72 stitch per round, likely Men?s Size 10 Shoe.  I?ll never know why I can knit complex patterns so much more efficiently than ribbing.  huh.  Makes zero sense to me.