I Heart Bees

I can’t believe I haven’t posted this finished pair of socks that I test knit for Vanessa Townley of Kill to Craft.  It’s been a busy few weeks of boy scout activities and youth fundraisers, but here it is- the I Heart Bees pattern.

This design hits that sweet spot of being interesting while still being easy enough to memorize.  So you won’t need to ignore your family members when knitting, unless you just want to.

Details:  I used this gorgeous skein of Comfort Sock, from Red Sock Blue Sock Yarn, in the April Showers colorway.  Most of these photos were taken on a dark day indoors, but the photo below shows the exact color.  I’m seeing a pattern in most of my sock color choices thus far in the Box o Sox KAL- lots of gray and blue.

Anyway, I followed the pattern directions for a size small exactly, only I accidentally used a US 0 needle on the second sock instead of the size 1s I used on the first.  There’s a noticeable difference when they’re on the sock blockers, but not really once they’re on my feet.  I meant to use 0s for both because I tend to get a better fit that way.   Sheesh.

Isn’t that honeycomb sweet?  And I love an eye of partridge heel!  It just feels classic.

I did want to say that as I was knitting up the leg it looked super tiny.  I was a little nervous that I’d swung to the opposite extreme of my old habit of making myself ginormous man socks and had, instead, made a baby sock.  But I trusted the pattern and when I blocked them, they stretched right out for the fit you see here.   I think if I’d loosened my tension while knitting, they would’ve been too big.

I can’t recommend this pattern enough.  It worked for this variegated yarn and so it would look equally as lovely in a tonal or solid color.  I think I will knit this again in a honeycomb-ish color because I’m a beekeeper, of sorts, and I think this would look really great in a golden wheat or mustardy yellow.

I think I first saw Vanessa’s knitting in the Pom Pom Quarterly group.  She has knit quite a bit from that mag, and I stalked a few of her projects.  Then I saw she’d just started a podcast- Kill to Craft and I’ve been enjoying keeping up with her making ever since.   She’s got an impressive amount of personal designs on ravelry, too.

(more dark indoor photos on ravelry, kollabora, instagram, and flickr, when they get their uploader working again)

Another post including these socks is here.