Socks I Love: FO

No I've not suddenly started knitting super fast and rattled off one of my Socktober projects. The FO love is for the Honeybees which have been done since before the holidays but were awaiting photographing as this glorious yellow is mighty hard to capture. Love for these socks may be official because it's Socktober but it's not unconditional love. I am not head over heels for these tricky customers and a lot of the issue is with those heels.

Pattern: Honeybee Socks
Yarn: Oxford Kitchen Yarns Sock - bit under a full skein
Needles: Trusty Harmony DPNs - 2.25mm
Started: 25 March 2008
Finished: 13 September 2008
Notes: I think these have convinced me that standard show row heels and toes for toe ups are not for me, second go and I'm still not happy with the fit around the heel and the length of the toes. Allow me to demonstrate:

Gappy and baggy heelWay too long before the pattern starts on toes

Still it is very hard to argue with the beauty of the stitch pattern which necessitates them being knit toe up. I think I just need to find some alternative toe up toes and heels to drop into patterns like this to get a look and fit I would be happier with.

The one mod I did make was in the cuff. When I cast off the first one I was very upset to find I couldn't get it over my heel and promptly stuck it in time out for a long while. When I was feeling less sulky with it I unpicked the cast off and redid the cuff as a simple 1x1 rib which I think works fine though probably should be a little more generous, actually another repeat or two of the pattern is probably what I would really enjoy here.

So you see the path of love has not run smooth with these little ones but at the end of the day those beautiful bees and the rich gold, fabulous yarn make them hard not to love. This yarn really bloomed after washing. It feels a little prickly and rough whilst knitting which actually helps to hold the stitches in place if you drop them and now it feels soft and snuggly; what a perfect sock yarn. It's the first time I've knit with Blue Faced Leicester wool and I would go back for more for sure, also the natural dyes used seem to hold well through hand washing and I just love having this sunshine on my feet.