January 14 , 2008
Florenz and UNtangling

It looks all fancy and complicated, but it's just a slip stitch pattern - using one color for 2 rounds...no stranding except for the corrugated rib cuff. I LOVE the sole of these socks and keep thinking I might like a whole sock made from that easy pattern.

Pattern: Florenz (Ravelry Link) by Stephanie van der Linden for the Socken-Kreative-Liste.
Yarn: 25 gm Opal Uni Color (link to half price sale at Little Knits right now) in Pistachio and 45 gm Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock ( pastel pink overdyed in navy blue by me)
Needles: 2.25 mm 40" circular
Modifications: I did 3 repeats of the 20 row chart to make the leg a bit longer and used my regular toe, otherwise followed the pattern. If you are going to make this sock, I would strongly suggest color coding the chart since the .pdf file does not show the row colors very well and it's easy to get mixed up!
Errata: As far as I can tell there is an error in the English version - rows 3 and 13 should read YO and slip 3 stitches with yarn in front - otherwise you wouldn't have that pretty little loop of yarn to pull up in rows 6 and 16 - at least that is the conclusion to which Punkin and I came after experimenting a little bit.

After vacillating throughout the entire process , I frogged the whole cable on Tangled Yoke. I made the original 1 to 5 increases too tight and could tell it was going to pucker at the bottom. I tried to convince myself it would block out, but felt that strong intuition (that wouldn't go away) telling me I should rip and redo - so off the needles it came. It is now back on the needles and the set up row is done with nice loose 1 to 5 increases - I feel so much better about continuing on now!

We just got back from a weekend in Maine - I decided before we left that I wanted to start a special new project on this 2 hour car ride, so I picked out 3 colors of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes (I really DO like Knit Picks yarn , just NOT Gloss for socks!) and began a toddler sweater for the current CIC (thank you for such an all inclusive description Marguerite!)toddler sweater/vest challenge. More about that next post... Right now I should go help Dave shovel out the driveway!