FO: Gentleman's Fancy Socks

Thank you so much for your input about the ribbon on the baby tank. I haven't decided what to do yet but Toni had the bright idea to tack the bow down! Why didn't I think of that??? Of course! I might try tacking the bow down in front first before turning it around to the back. There's something about a bow in back that screams 1986 to me.

I was looking forward to running a 10K last weekend but I woke up on Sunday to thunder, lightning and a heavy downpour. I'm still pretty disappointed about it because there aren't many 10Ks in my area and it's my favorite distance. I'm thinking of running one in Kansas City in early June, although the logistics of getting to the race and dealing with baby care might make that impossible. We'll see. Instead of running this weekend, this is what I did:
That swift and ball winder is addicting!

I finished the Gentleman's Fancy Socks this weekend. I apologize that every picture of these shows a different color - navy blue is impossible to photograph!!!




Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Lang Jawoll in 85.025 (navy blue)
Needles: US 2, US1
Modifications: I don't care for leg shaping so I knit the cuff and the first repeat on size 2 needles and then switched to size 1s for the desired shaping. It worked out very well.

You should see how little yarn I had left over. Maybe I'll get a picture of that for later this week. It was really astounding. Both pairs of socks for my in-laws really came down to the last few yards!
There are two new pairs of socks on the needles, both using Woolarina sock yarn. The first is Craftaholic's Orchid socks in Raspberry. Instead of doing a lace repeat in front and in back, I chose to do it in front with ribbing halfway down the back followed by stockinette stitch like the Canal du Midi socks.
The unblocked version looks all crumpled but check out some of the other Orchid socks on Flickr. That Craftaholic has some great sock patterns!

This yarn is also Woolarina in Grapefruit. I bought this ages ago because I loved the colors. At the time, I must have forgotten my contempt for the pooling that so often comes with variegated yarn. The yarn has been languishing in stash because I didn't know what to do with it. Since the Orchid socks require more attention to knit than I'd like, I thought I'd start a mindless ribbed sock for reading/studying with this yarn. Of course, I've taken every precaution and I'm alternating between skeins to minimize any pooling. It's going well so far, although I'm only a few inches in. Perhaps you'll see some pictures later this week. I think I'll try 4-5 inches of ribbing followed by plain stockinette. I've never made a stockinette sock so this will be a first!