Progress: Canal du Midi socks in Louet Gems Fingering

There have been some really amazing FOs in blogland this week! Stacey's Turkish Stockings and Brooklyntweed's Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan are my two favorites. Both Stacey and Jared exhibit a discipline for knitting that I only wish I had!!! Perhaps I'll get there someday when Beatrix is older...


As I said last week, I've been working on a pair of Canal du Midi socks in Louet Gems Fingering (Fern Green colorway). I have mixed feelings about the pattern, the yarn and the pattern/yarn combination.

Pattern:
I like the pattern, although if I were to knit these again, I would prefer that the twisted stitch pattern weren't so squished on the instep stitches. I would probably throw in a few purls on the instep to spread out the panels of twisted stitches.


One thing that I do like about the pattern is the square heel. I personally prefer round heels but Aaron thinks that his mom's heel is like his: narrow. I think the square heel will be best for her.


The only modification I made was to use a Sl1, K1 heel instead of straight knit:


Yarn:
If I had been around to blog earlier this week, you would have read a fairly grumpy post about how Louet Gems Fingering has such poor yardage (185 yds/skein) that it was doubtful that I'd be able to get a pair of large women's socks out of two skeins. As it turned out, this is what remained of one skein after finishing one sock:


While I did not have to buy that third ball, I would certainly never choose Gems for larger socks in the future. If my pattern had been more cabled, I would have needed that third skein. Why not just plan on buying 3 skeins, you ask? One of my greatest pet peeves is patterns/designers that require that last skein but hardly use any of it; I find it both wasteful and indulgent. Besides, I'm not very good at using up sock yarn scraps so that last skein would likely sit in my stash forever and I would grow to resent it. Yes, I know, I'm cranky.

Pattern/Yarn Combination:
Is it just me or do the zigzags down either side of the cables look like reptilian scales? If the yarn weren't green, it would never have occurred to me. It's not awful, but I think I would prefer the Canal du Midi socks in a different color.


The second sock is already on the needles! More progress next week!