G. Knerd

It’s been rather cold here lately, which means that I’ve been reveling in my hand-knit sock collection.  When I was doing laundry the other week (and, er, it had been a while since the last time I’d done laundry…) I was struck by something.

I have a lot of hand-knit socks.  It was 18 pair in the laundry that day – there are more in the total collection, but the rest don’t get to see the light of day that much (mostly because they’re made with cotton, like Sockotta, and thus I find them wildly uncomfortable to walk on).

The other thing I noticed is that I tend to reuse patterns.  I’m not just talking about my standard sock formula (although there’s a few of those in the pile), I’m talking about things like Pomatomus.

What is the plural of Pomatomus, anyway?  Pomatomi?  Pomatomuses?  Regardless, I liked this pattern so much, I knit it three times.  I think the funniest part about that is the designer of Pomatomus, Cookie A, allegedly only knit one of them, and thus found a single mannequin leg to display it with sensationally.  (I say “allegedly” because even though I swear I read about this in both Cookie A’s blog and the Yarn Harlot‘s, I can’t seem to find either entry.  I may have dreamed it up, although I like to think I usually have more exciting dreams than that…)

It’s not just Pomatomuses, though – I’ve got two Hourglasses as well.

I don’t always follow the pattern, as you might notice if you compare the ribbing between the two socks.  The purple is more like the original pattern, while the green sports a k1tbl p1 rib – flows much better into the hourglass pattern, in my opinion.  I love the way these socks fit, though, and they seem to knit up super quick, so I expect I’ll be making a few more of these in my lifetime.

I’ve also got a couple examples of the Garden Party Socks (a.k.a. the sock I’m designing right now).

The top is a made out of a skein of Meilenweit, and frankly is about the worst choice I could have made for the project.  The bottom is Trekking XXL, and embodies everything I love about both the pattern and Trekking.  Trekking tends to make just about everything better.

In somewhat related news, I’ve let the Blanket Thief know that I want sock blockers for Christmas.  If I’m lucky, maybe my sock pictures will improve quite a bit in the new year.