Round 3: Mod Madness

[janestarz]

You never quite know which yarn to use until you see the pattern, especially in these fixed-pattern competitions. Although this pattern would be so lovely in yellow and black as well, I can't help but see the yellow yarn with cables in it. (Lighter colours work better for cables because the depth is easier to see.)

The cotton-mix green is lovely and has subtle hue shifts in the green -- the black Onion nettle sock yarn is deep and black against it. The pattern, although stranded knitting is pretty new for me -- is very simple to memorise and knits very nicely. I've struggled a bit with yarn tension and juggling two tails of yarn in my left hand, even trying at throwing one yarn and picking the other, but settled on a variation of my usual knitting set-up. I'm not very streamlined in how I knit, so I'll never be a real speedknitter, but I'm speedy enough and even getting faster with this stranded knitting. I've also determined what my 'stranded stockinette' gauge is in comparison to 'normal' stockinette gauge. If I were to make these for myself, I'd have to go up another needle to 3mm, apparantly stranded makes my gauge a little more snug.

The pattern is impressive in its bold stripes and how everything works together. the gusset ends up perfectly at the main pattern and the boldness of the heel flap is wonderful. This would be pretty in a softer contrast, but the bold black and green really makes this pop.



This week has been pretty hectic and I find the more I try to multitask the less I enjoy myself. Doing multiple things at once really kills the sense of achievement in all the things you try to do. So the house is clean, dinner is still a long way off and now I can focus again. The gusset was less fun to do, but I felt better this morning. Still, lots of stitches to make, so I'll get back to work!

Status of the Sock Madness:
Qualifying round
Competition round 1
Competition round 2 - 2 weeks

Comments

[starlightmasque.livejournal.com]

Those are so cool looking!