I have questions to pose to all of the sock knitters who happen to pass by my blog on your trek through blogland. I am currently teaching sock classes at my local yarn shop and I would like to gather some information. So without further ado, here are my questions:

What is your favorite sock yarn? Or maybe you have several? Does it matter to you if they are superwash or not?

What weight of yarn do you prefer to use for your socks (fingering, DK, worsted, etc.)?

Do you prefer solid, semi-solid, striped, or variegated yarn for your socks? What kind of colors do you prefer?

What is your preferred method of knitting socks: on DPNs? If DPNs, do you prefer using four or five needles? On circulars? One circular or two circulars? Do you knit one sock at a time or both at the same time?

What is your favorite brand of needles?

What size needles to you knit most of your socks with?

When you learned to knit socks, what size needles did you use? Were they DPNs or circulars? Did you like this or would you have preferred a different size?

Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to answer my questions!

…we tend to like the same kinds of things. I called my sister today. I miss her since she moved away to another state with her new hubby. (Ah…young love!) We talked about all things sisterly, which – of course! – included knitting. I gave her a bit of ribbing about not updating her ravelry. I have been wanting to see the shawl she finished weeks ago, but she had not taken pictures of it yet. So the project sat as a pictureless wip (work-in-progress). She told me she had started another shawl and was nearly finished with it. Guess what? I started the same shawl recently, but had not added it to my ravelry. After all…who has time for picture taking? I finally found the time and added it yesterday. So…two states apart two sisters are knitting the same shawl simultaneously, unbeknownst to one another. Well, almost simultaneously. She has a bit more free time and is a faster knitter than I; she will finish first. I was just amused that even though we are far apart, our knitting minds still think alike.

I like the Monkey Sock pattern so much I have decided to make yet another pair. This time I am knitting them from Sunnyside Ellen’s sock yarn in Mermaid. I chose once again to eliminate the purl stitches and I did a picot cuff.

These socks were inspired by a pair knitted by Eunny Jang last spring.

I shared some of the specs below, but for more details you may visit my ravelry page.

Yarn: Louet Gems superwash merino 1 skein each in Charcoal and Teal. I have small feet, so I think I have enough left to make a pair of footy socks too. I cannot say enough good things about this yarn: it is a delight to knit with, comes in a wide range of colors, and because of the tight twist it should wear well.

Needles: Size 1 Crystal Palace bamboo circulars

I cast on 60 stitches and alternated four rows of each color. One sock has a charcoal cuff, heel, and toe; on the other the cuff, heel, and toe are teal. The joins where I changed colors are somewhat visible, but I think that when I am wearing them they are not so very noticeable. All in all, I am happy with the colors and the way they turned out. I wore them for the first time today, even though I finished them two weeks ago.

I just finished another Frenchy Bag, this time using some of Heather Bailey’s gorgeous Freshcut fabric. (I love her fabrics and cannot wait to see her new line, which debuts later this spring, I think.) This bag was a great way to use stash fabrics. I love this shade of green, although it makes me wish spring had already arrived.

And speaking of fabulous fabrics, Anna Maria just revealed her latest line of fabrics, Drawing Room, this morning. I have fabric envy. She said these should be available in March, so if the fabric shop I work at does not carry them (which they probably will not) I will just have to procure them elsewhere. I am sure at least a couple of them will make they way into my etsy shop.