Every once in a while I do go back and knit socks. I love wearing them in bed, on the sofa while watching TV or knitting and when it gets really really cold. I have a drawer-full of knitted socks but I have a few more drawers to fill and exactly 203 skeins of sock yarn in my stash. There, I admitted it. But gone are the days when I would buy single skeins of sock yarn just because of the colourway or because I had one of those “ooh shiny” moments.

I admit, however, that the yarn I used in this sixth pair of Cotty Socks was spurred on by the must-have-this-colourway moment. I have always admired the colourway so when it came back on the shop listing I got one skein. Here is a photo of the toes. I use a favourite rounded toe pattern because I don’t like pointy corners in my socks.

These socks were made as part of the Q1 KAL in the Irish Girlie Knits Designs group on Ravelry. It has been a while since I last knitted socks so this was a welcome transition project. It was also a lot of fun because this pattern is like a bag of potato chips. Once you start, you can’t stop until you are finished with it! Seriously. Some people have knitted over 2 dozen Cotty socks already! Now that’s someone who will never have to worry about cold toes ever again!

One of the modifications I made is the ribbed cuff. I do love the picot cuff as originally written by Carrie but I’m just not girly enough to pull it off. This is just a standard 1×1 rib for 20 rows. I also did just 4 repeats of the cuff pattern because that gives me the perfect height, not too tall that it sags down to my ankles, not too short that it slips back down under my heels.

Don’t you just love these colours? I do! I have long admired this colourway and was glad to have finally bought it. I had to fiddle with the stitch count on this because I didn’t want any flashes or pooling and crazy striping. After a few years of knitting socks, I find that it is okay to knit at a tighter gauge. My earlier handknit socks are a bit loose now but they still make comfy bedsocks. This pair has 54 stitches, 6 repeats of the leg pattern and 12 repeats of the foot pattern (yes, Ihave large women’s feet!). I did some fudging around before I started the toe decreases to line up the instep and sole. I love these socks!

Raveled!
Needles: US 1½ – 2.5 mm
Yarn: Socks That Rock Mediumweight
Colourway: Basan
Cast on: 31 Jan 2014
Cast off: 3 Feb 2014