Catnip Socks – Vickilicious Knits

Toward the end of July, I cast on a new pair of socks on a whim, thinking it would be fun to participate in a Sockdown knitalong in a beloved Ravelry group for the first time in… oh, ten years or so… and this weekend I finished my Catnip Socks!

Pattern: Catnip Socks by Wendy D. Johnson. (Project page on Ravelry)
Size: Women’s size 9.5 (US)
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tonal, fingering weight, 75% superwash Merino wool / 25% nylon in color #26755 Cucumber
Needles: Size 0 (2.0 mm) DPNs (Knit Picks 6″ nickel-plated)
Modifications: Changed to a short-row heel with additional stockinette rows before beginning lace of leg; worked pattern over 70 stitches

Started: July 26, 2018
Finished: August 10, 2018

I’m just delighted with the way these socks came out. Something about the soft cool color, delicate lace, and fine gauge thanks to size 0 needles makes these basically perfect.

I was attracted to this pattern for the toe-up lace, which flowed neatly and was easy to memorize. I started with a figure-8 cast-on over 8 stitches and increased to 70 so the pattern would be continuous around the leg.

I worked my favorite short-row heel by decreasing to 13 stitches (11 on each side), then I continued in stockinette for 1 pattern repeat (8 rows) to give a bit more depth to the heel before beginning the lace for the leg.

I was somewhat irrationally nervous I would run out of yarn, despite the super generous 462-yard put-up. I had no reason to worry, as I still had quite a bit of yarn left after working my typical length legs and plenty of ribbing.

I truly enjoyed working with this yarn, which was soft but strong and so subtly variegated that the color shifts were nearly imperceptible at times, building to a beautiful semisolid. I’m glad I have other colorways of this yarn in my stash, as I can’t wait to work with it again.

Everything about this project was a dream, and it reminded me of why I love lace, sock-knitting, and lace sock-knitting so very much. Not suprisingly, I’ve already got another pair of lace socks on the needles.

Previous Entries with this Project:
– Summer Knitting

Glancing over at my knitting basket, I can’t help noticing it’s taken on a distinctly summery feel.

I wouldn’t ordinarily have said I knit seasonally, as I am still making wool sweaters and heavy cabled things, but lately I have been craving softer, lighter colors, cotton and linen, and finer gauge yarns. I can also count on the summer for a major boost of start-itis, with three new cast-ons included (so far).

The first is a shrug that begins with a square lace panel constructed from the center out (I will sew that hole shut in finishing). It’s intriguing to watch the lace pattern build organically, and I’m looking forward to figuring out how to convert the pattern to be as fully seamless as possible.

Next is Lepidoptera, which I will admit I cast on in a total impulse because I couldn’t resist the beautiful soft pink yarn wound up in a cake after I used a bit of it to finish the candy pink Featherweight sweater I’ve been working on for years. I love the look of this pattern, and I know I will eventually enjoy working on it, but because the two lace panels are knit with two strands of yarn held together and there is an expanse of one-strand stockinette in between, one winds up juggling three balls of yarn at a time. I haven’t mastered the maneuvering yet, so this project is neither particularly easy or portable. I can’t help wondering why it wasn’t designed with two strands held together throughout, but I’m sure time will tell.

Lastly, a pair of Catnip Socks, a beautiful free pattern by Wendy Johnson that I have had queued since 2010, knit in this soft green hand-painted yarn that I love fanatically. I was chiding myself for casting on new socks when I have been trying to focus on sweater-knitting and have a huge pile of finished socks that I haven’t blocked or photographed yet, but I was able to justify them by the fact that I work from home and my apartment gets frightfully cold in the winter (and autumn…and often spring). Like most New Yorkers, I am nuts about not wearing shoes indoors, so I wear socks and slippers almost every day – they might as well be hand-knit, right?

These socks also gave me the opportunity to participate in my favorite sock-knitting group on Ravelry again, and I hadn’t realized just how much I missed the community and camaraderie there until I logged back in and poked around. When I saw the July-August challenge is lace, I entered some kind of fugue state where my hands were winding the yarn and pulling out needles automatically.

And on the theme of community, I have finally set up an Instagram account just for my knitting and crafts: @vickiliciousknits. I hope you’ll hop over and say hello – I’d love to connect with fellow knitters and craft-obsessives!