Friends of ours are expecting this summer and I spent a while hunting around for something to make their new little one. I finally decided on the Baby Surprise Jacket and since it will be hot out when the wee one arrives I'm going to make it out of linen. Right now this yarn feels like twine but I know that after it's been worked for a while and made a couple of trips through the washer it will be soft and not too warm.

I'm using Louet Euroflax which I think is a really nice yarn. Rob helped me pick out the colours in a yarn shop in Ottawa when we were there. We don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl but we both though that blue with some orange stripes would do for either.

I've read through the pattern several times and have decided not to try and plan the stripes at all. As far as I can tell any stripes I add early on will show up on the sleeves and stripes later on will be on the fronts but beyond that is too complicated to work out. I'm just going to wing it.

I spent almost all of Saturday afternoon winding up balls of yarn. Somehow I never realize how much yarn there is in a skein of hemp or linen - it must be the lack of squashiness. There were wound eventually however and after I'd spent some more time hunting for a needle the right size I cast on the 160 stitches and knit two rows.


It doesn't look like much yet and I have a feeling I should really find something to use as stitch markers at the decrease/increase points or I am going to get lost. Pretty colour though.

I've been working on my new cowl and thinking how nice it will be for next winter but now I think I need to finished it up to wear this spring. We've had a cold, blustery day followed by a cold, blustery, snowy evening. It started just as I was leaving my office. By the time we got home after Rob finished work it was covering the porch and when we went out for dinner an hour later we couldn't see our footprints. Our squirrel looked very chilly at the feeder with all his fur fluffed up against the wind.

Pattern: basic toe-up sock plus a bit of colourwork - see below
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks 4 Ply
Size: To fit me
Yardage: about 2 skein total
Needles: 2.00 mm and 2.50 mm dpns


I love these socks; I'm wearing them right now. They have a nice slightly rustic look to them with their contrast toes and heather grey yarn. I thought the yarn felt kind of rustic while I was knitting but it softened up incredibly when they went through the wash; now these are soft and cozy socks. They involved a lot of froggingthough. Between me forgetting to change needle sizes, changing my mind and just making mistakes the tops of these socks have been knit at least three times each.

I think my colourwork looks better than it did the first time. I used smaller needles and held the blue in my left hand; the stitches are a little more even and the blue more noticeable. It gets kind of stretched out of shape when I pull my socks all the way up but evens out again when they slide back down to my ankles. My picot border also turned out much better; I made it a bit deeper to discourage the flipping over. Looking at it now I think it could even be a few rounds deeper but I'm not doing any more frogging on these socks.

Slouching their way down my leg is a bit of a problem (though it does make the colourwork look better) because I bound off a little tightly when I sewed the border down. I was stretching the cuffs as I went along but I guess it was not enough.

I thought I'd share my pattern, such as it is, for these socks. The colourwork panel is a 15 stitch repeat and could, of course, be used in all sorts of things that aren't socks. The pattern is for toe-up socks but if you like top-down better you can just work everything in the other direction and get pretty much the same result.



Fingering (sock) weight yarn in two colours:
250 - 350 yards/metres MC
80 - 100 yards/metres CC

Tools:
2.00 mm (US 0) needles (dpns or circulars - whichever you prefer)
2.50 mm (US 1 - 1.5) needles (for colourwork)
Darning needle

Gauge:
aprox. 8 sts per inch on smaller needles

Using your preferred method and CC, cast on and knit toe. I like to use Judy's Magic Cast-on. For a 60 stitch sock (to fit a foot 8 - 9 inches around the ball) cast on 24 stitches and increase every other round until you have 60 stitches.

Change to MC and knit until foot measures 2" (5 cm) less than desired length.

Work short-row heel in CC over half your stitches. For a 60 stitch sock work cross 30 stitches down to 12 and back up to 30.

Change back to MC and work until leg measures 2" (5 cm) less than desired length.

Work colourwork band as follows:
Work 2 rounds CC.
Work 2 rounds MC.
Switch to larger needles and work chart (see below).
Work 2 rounds MC.
Work 2 rounds CC.
Work 2 Rounds MC, break yarn.

Work picot cuff in CC as follows:
Work 5 rounds.
Work eyelet round (*YO, K2Tog* repeat around).
Work 5 rounds.
Sew down last round in inside of cuff using last row of purl bumps from MC (this is a handy tutorial).

Colourwork Chart:


Work the chart beginning at the bottom right corner. Work right to left (repeating around your sock) and top to bottom.


Kind of minimalist instructions, I know, but there are so many detailed sock patterns out there I didn't think I really needed to rewrite the whole thing when others have done it better.