#realmenknit

This will be the largest size of my new sock design, and I’m checking some technical stuff before knitting the prototype.

Perhaps one day I’ll hear how it was a favorite gift or a knitter feels a sense of accomplishment or it’s the pair someone reaches for when they’re in a particular mood.

I’ll have named the design by then. 😋

Few things lift this knitter's spirits like new yarn. Today, this beautiful skein arrived from dyer Jeremy Kaiser!

Jeremy tells me that he adapted a culinary technique to dying yarn. I don't know what technique that is, but the results are spectacular. The neon pinks and greens in this yarn plus the smattering of blue and purple are perfect for summer.

It's fingering/sock weight, 75% extra fine superwash merino wool, and 25% recycled nylon.

A little peaceful porch knitting on this soft sunny Sunday. From bottom to top, stacked the finished short sock, the ball of Universal Yarn's Filly, and the sock-in-progress.

Now it’s a saga. 🙄

A follower took comfort in what he thought was a gap where a heel flap and gusset intersect. 😮 I don’t pretend that my method for preventing those gaps is foolproof, but it’s been very reliable.

On close examination there was no gap, but there WAS a missing/dropped/lost stitch on the SSK side of the purple and pink sock that grew when I poked at it.

Sigh.

Couldn’t let that stand. I ripped back to the beginning of the gusset and found what happened. I know what I’ll change in the pattern, and I’m nearly ready to reknit the toe. I’ll be able to knit this design in my sleep! 😵‍💫

I do like my gussets.

Worthwhile Wednesday

I really truly finished my scrappy pirate socks for Jen's Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026! (@every.thing.shapes.us on IG)

I didn't have much that I'd knit in stripes. Besides, I really like helical knitting in leftover yarn. I thought a pattern stitch would be more fun, too, then thought "what if the second sock was the pattern stitch reflected" and had to come up with that slipped-stitch right twist. Never mind the frustration of versions that didn't fit, these are two of the most comfortable socks I've ever knit!

The rules want six or more colors. I used these eight:

Froelich-Wolle Special Blauband 59 (orange)

Froelich-Wolle Special Blauband Multicolor 7279 (blues)

Knit Picks Essential 23696 (gray)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0184 (hot pink)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0198 (medium olive)

Lang Yarns Jawoll 83.0246 (light lavendar)

SpaceCadet's Mini-Skein (a tonal purple)

Sugarplum Circus Sparkle Sock Rachel (variegated yellow)

As soon as I posted photos, people asked for the pattern. I hate when that happens. (No, I don't.) There isn't a pattern, though. Yet. If you followed this adventure, you've seen one of the messiest design processes I've ever muddled through. This pair fits my size ten-ish feet, and I want to include one larger size and two smaller, so this may take a while.

Tuesday Toe!

This "finishes" my pair of scrappy pirate socks for the Easy Peasy Scrappy Socks KAL 2026. Of course I tweaked it a bit since knitting the first sock's toe. Of course I'll reknit the first one.

I worked on my scrappy pirate sock today.

Translation: I contentedly knit for hours and hours.

True, I also did a lot of obsessive measuring and recording yardage.

Let there be gussets!