I apologize for the quiet here. A month has slipped away from me, and I’m not entirely sure where it went. Of course, there were things to do in the garden this time of year and some canning to finish up. I also treated myself to a lot of reading on the porch, which was just wonderful. (I might not give up on that anytime soon. I’ll be out there in my fuzzies when the first snowflakes fall! LOL!)

I have been sorting and organizing, too, which seems to be a fall impulse for me. The girls are getting some new accommodations, so they won’t be standing on the bookshelves all the time (getting dusty). I’m doing some sewing for myself again (yay for fun clothes that fit) while I continue to knit on the endless black sweater in Kidsilk Haze. I may never take this one off once it’s done.

I’ve been thinking, also, about my Noro Mitred Jacket. (le sigh) The colour is pooling, each square taking repeatable increments of the colour gradation. I’ve reached the end of the I-cord, which is a bit tighter than would be ideal, and am debating the merit of taking it all back, then reknitting it, planning the placement of the squares.

And yes, the pattern does display an order of working the squares, but I never read that bit until now. I’ll guess the designer noticed the same thing, so my result is entirely user error. Those two leftish ones that start with fuschia and end with green, in the second row from the bottom, really irk me, as do the four mirroring each other on the other sleeve opening. (Pink through purple to pink, with pink through green to blue immediately below.) Still thinking on that. On the upside, it looks as if it will fit which wasn’t at all a sure thing.

Finally I’ve been knitting myself a pair of fuzzy socks. (Hmm. I cast them on before I even realized the reading-on-the-porch plan.) This may be my fave way to make socks right now, so let’s talk about that today.

A few years ago, I made a number of pairs of the Snowshoe Socks from Knits about Winter. (The first link goes to Ravelry and the pattern. The second is a link to the publisher’s website and wow, the book is really on sale right now.) Essentially, you carry two strands of Kidsilk Haze or a similar yarn along with your sock yarn. The three strands held together make for a thick fuzzy and warm sock. Here are those pair – I made three for myself and one pair for the mister. I think there was a fourth ladies’ pair in teal that went to my SIL.

Here’s my original blog post about them from 2020.

You can see that the orange and the purple pair for me are quite generous through the ankle. I find them a bit sloppy to wear. The first pair, OTOH, which I knit from a smaller size, are a bit snug. The mister finds his too hot so doesn’t wear them much.

While two strands of silky mohair make for a cushy sock, my current experiment is a pair with just one strand of the fuzzy stuff. That makes two strands overall. I’m also using my regular sock pattern, but I dropped the stitch count to 64 stitches instead of 72. Still knitting on 2.5mm needles but the socks come out a little bigger with the two strands and so, they’re going to fit me perfectly. Ha. No baggy ankles this time. Having just the one strand doesn’t influence the final gauge as much, but you still get a fuzzy sock.

Here’s where I’m at, just after turning the heel on the first sock.

These yarns include alpaca fibre, so the socks are going to be really soft. Both are from The Alpaca Yarn Co. – the sock yarn is Paca-Peds in Purple Rain and the fuzzy one is Halo Watercolors in Picasso. Those are Ravelry links but The Alpaca Yarn Co has an online store right here. Here is Paca-Peds on their site, and here is Halo Watercolors.

I love how the colours become muted when the two yarns are held together. The sock yarn is space-dyed so I knew it would want to pool, probably in a swirl, so the fuzzy yarn softens that a bit, too.

The project bag is one I made from quilting cotton in my stqash. This is the free pattern. It’s a very easy sew, and you can subsequently play with the size of the bag. I’ve added a zipper into the seam between the two colours, too.

If you’ve never knit socks with two strands – and your feet get cold – then give this a try. Your usual sock pattern should work out just fine, but use two strands of yarn instead of just one. Like me, you may want to go down a few stitches in circumference. It depends how tight you like your socks.