What comes after an Indian Summer?

Finished items!

These are socks from Silk Road Socks.  I had planned to knit my way through the entire book, one design per month and one after another. I have just completed my July 2011 socks, so I am a very long way behind. I will however get there in the end! The sooner, the better too –  as Hunter has a new book imminent. To be fair, one of the reasons that I am behind on my socks is that I took time out to test knit three of the patterns in the forthcoming book, one of which was a sample and will be appearing in the actual book. To be honest and absolutely truthful, it’s really all about the Christmas knitting.

Red Hot June Joshaqans

Joshaqan Socks FO

 

Pattern: Joshaqan by Hunter Hammersen aka Violently Domestic,

Yarn: Posh Yarn‘s Laura in Creole

  • Fingering / 4 ply
  • 80% Merino, 20% Cashmere
  • 400 yards / 100 grams
  • £14.00  for 100g

Notes: This yarn was frogged from some Stephanie Japel socks that were going all wrong and would have fit an Amazon, but not your average woolgatherer. Actually not a very good yarn to knit with, it both lacks elasticity and the plies are very “splitty”.
The leg pattern is straightforward, though went awry one day on the ferry. Not much fun to frog back on DPNs, I have to say. Really quite a speedy sock to knit. They came out a little snug for me, but they fit Gill like a glove, allegedly. Not sure where I went wrong. They were meant to fit like a sock…
Ravelry Project

 

Not sure where I went wrong with the photos, either – none of these look like the actual yarn.

That colour is sooooo wrong

Really – they are lovely – not hideous, as they appear here!

 

Sizzling Summer Citrus Senneh Socks

Senneh

Pattern: Senneh by Hunter Hammersen aka Violently Domestic,

Yarn: Kiddazzle by Fleece Artist in Coral Rose

  • Purchased at Colorsong
  • Sport / 5 ply
  • 70% Merino, 20% Mohair, 10% Nylon
  • 399 yards / 125 grams

Notes: Fabulous yarn. This may be my favourite sock yarn ever – nicer than Smooshy. Perhaps even nicer than Toddy. Wonderfully easy to knit with. Gorgeous shading.

The pattern is fast to knit, despite the longer leg. The cabled chart needs some attention but is not very taxing. I like the asymmetry – all I have to remember now is which sock to wear on what foot.
Ravelry Project

Kidazzle

That yarn was almost too good to knit with, almost good enough to eat… or maybe make love to.

Senneh detail

Look at the way the rib segues into the gusset shaping and the cabled motif panel. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Blocking

So, that is two pairs of a late summer sock… an Indian Summer sock? Perhaps not – what do you call a summer that doesn’t arrive until the following February?

Now, all I have to do to catch up is to knit August’s planned socks, then September, October, November, December, January and February’s socks. That’s a doddle, isn’t it? (I think I need a lie down.) As I have to be knitting vanilla demo socks for a while, have sworn to clear my UFOs somewhat,  and as I Have A Lot On [TM] it seems to me that I have to declare the plan to knit all 14 Silk Road Socks one after another, officially void.

I’m still going to cast on for last August, though 🙂

The blog has been beating me up today. I have had endless problems with formatting this post and with the lightbox. Now I think it is perverting my images. The colours look fine in Photoshop, and OK at Ravelry. It’s only here in the blog that they appear washed out and dusty. It’s baffling me but as I have spent way too long on the blog today — I had plans to drum card today believe it or not, I am not going to progress the investigation further right now. (UPDATE: It seems to be something that the WordPress media uploader is doing in resizing thumbnails. If you look at the full size image in the lightbox the colours appear  much better – just click on any image to launch the lightbox.)

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