Hydrangea Socks

This is my project for Regina’s Floralong in her Hydrangea Garden colorway.   I cannot get enough of watching these colors interact with each other as I add each round.  I think I’ve said it before, but it makes me think of all the colors of summer, slightly faded by the sun- like denim.  It’s bright, but soft to look at.  It makes up for the sparse color, other than green, in my own garden.  Thankfully, I do have lots of green this dry summer.

Details: I used Kristin, of Voolenvine’s, Favorite Sock pattern again.  It’s the vanilla sock pattern that’s permanently stuck in my mind.

I used size US 0 needles and though it looks too small when knitting, it blocks out to fit perfectly.  I don’t think I’ve ever knit such perfect, tiny stitches before.   This is pair number 5 for the year, so I really should be getting better at this sock thing.

As I mentioned, I gave up on 9″ circulars.  It doesn’t gel with my knitting style and trying to alter that one more time would make knitting a chore, instead of a joy.  For whatever reason, my usual knitting mechanics rarely ever causes me wrist pain, and I’m a firm believer in “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

My sock blockers have proven indispensable for taking photos of my knits, especially after the last pair.  My poor I Heart Bees socks had so much pet hair on them after being worn only seconds for the photos.  This is after sweeping and vacuuming.  Sigh.  Maybe I should knit a pair of swiffer socks just for the purpose of walking around and picking up all of the dog hair we can’t seem to find any other way.  Though I normally find a few doggy hairs on my knits endearing, it was seriously detracting from the handwork, so I actually edited them out.   Seems a bit extreme, but whatever.

I see Regina has started another KAL for her Aquarium colorway, a more vivid combo of colors, too. You can catch up with her on The Herbstblatt Regina Podcast or in her Ravelry group.

My next colorway to knit of Regina’s has got to be one of those Vikings colorways.  I’ve been really restrained about not digging into them until I got some things off of the needles.

And here’s the source of my sock photo woes:  A sweet, shedding Spotacus.

(more on ravelry, kollabora, instagram, and flickr)

My other post about these socks is here and has a great closeup of this colorway once knit.