KNITTING || MY FIRST PAIR OF SOCKS!

>>> pattern: gusset heel basic socks pattern by wendy d. johnson yarn: sweet fiber lolli socks mcn in colorway pink lemonade <<<

welcome to my newest addiction. see those fun, bright colored socks? fully hooked. i have to admit that even though i have been knitting since a young girl i have never made a pair of socks nor even attempted to make socks.  i detest wearing socks so the thought of wool on my feet sort of wigged me out over the years. then i got this yarn.  it put me over the edge. suddenly i NEEDED wool socks.  so i jumped right in with both feet (no pun intended).  i got myself some needles, yarn, a book, asked questions of my sock knitting friends, and started making them.

i became addicted right off the bat.  i decided after purchasing "socks from the toe up: essential techniques and patterns from wendy knits" that i was going to do the gusset heel basic sock pattern.  i found myself so in love with the turkish cast on and the toe up method that i couldn't stop working on these.  i was loving it!  only issue i had was that i went in braver than i intended. i refused to use anything but my sweet fiber lollisocks mcn yarn in colorway pink lemonade to make my first pair of socks (read more about this yarn here).  so the nice thing about socks from the toe up is that you can use wendy's vanilla formula to make a pair of socks with any yarn/needle.  only thing i didn't know is that being a sock ahem...virgin...was that this was way trickier than i first thought. a lot of pondering and researching had to be done to get the right formula for turning my heel, which by the way was a lot of fun and not scary at all like i first thought.

the only other problem i ran into was with my bind off.  i decided after researching different bind offs for socks to go with the sewn bind off.  the first sock was fine, although it could have been a smidgen looser.  so when i went to do the 2nd sock's bind off i remember and tried my best to do it looser.  i was an over achiever. the thing was loosey goosey!! it was so bad i had to take it out and let me tell you - that is a not a fast process! damn thing took me forever to take out!  i redid it and it's still a bit ruffly (meaning too loose) but i left it.  i resigned myself to the love of handmade and realized that i was just happy i had even made socks that really looked and fit like socks!  it was such a great feeling when you turn that heel and they actually look like socks!  it's part of the reason i love it so much!  i get bored really easily with certain styles of projects and i thought socks would bore me but nope - way too much fun! plus the new addi turbo sock rocket needles from sure helped! if you are a sock knitting addict get some of these! they are amazing! i am a pretty fast knitter and i felt like i was on fire!  so awesome!

all in all i really enjoyed the whole process, love that they fit my foot perfectly and that i can now dress up my feet with knitterly lovelies as well as the rest of my body.  i also wear them! shocker right? i normally hate wearing socks but when you put cashmere & merino up next to my toes i guess they are happy :) those suckers have expensive taste..lol.

||  PATTERN  ||
- gusset heel basic socks from Socks from the Toe Up: Essential Techniques and Patterns from Wendy Knits

||  YARN  ||
- sweet fiber lollisocks mcn in colorway pink lemonade

||  NOTES  ||
- i used size US 2 / 2.75mm needles and about 3/4 (i'm guessing, i haven't weight it yet) of the skein of yarn.
- i adjusted the pattern to suit my yarn and gauge.
- i used addi turbo sock rockets and looooooved them.

are you a sock knitter?  addicted too?  what is your fave sock pattern? yarn? advice for new sock knitters? c'mon, pull up a seat, coffees one and i'd love to chat!  wishing you all a sunny, fun, creative, family & friend filled kinda weekend.