How many pairs of socks did you knit during this year’sMarathon Sock KAL? The KAL only lasted under two months this year (technically only 49 days!), which is much quicker than in previous years, so I was pretty pleased to manage to get three pairs knitted (nothing compared to the person who knitted 16 pairs during the challenge!).
Pair one: Pretty in pink!
I cast this pair on during the first weekend of the sock KAL, using some very pretty Easter-themed yarn (the pale pink yarn) from Cuddlebums, with some West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in Sarsaparilla as the contrast (the darker pink). The Easter yarn was part of a sock set, with 50 g of the pale pink, and a 20 g contrast skein. I struggle a bit with sock sets as my feet are quite large, and I prefer my socks to be on the longer side, so generally need roughly 75-85 g of yarn for a pair of socks.
I did initially cast on the sock set to make a pair of vanilla socks, but I realised quite quickly that I would prefer adding some extra pink rather than the green that came in the set, so hunted through my stash and started again.
I was in the mood for knitting something a little bit different, had bought the Hygge socks pattern by Nordic Stitches* a while ago, and it fitted the bill with just the right level of interest. I didn’t really follow the pattern (it’s only written for one size), just used the slipped stitch panel from it on my standard vanilla socks. If I did them again, I would double wrap every other stitch on Row 2 to make the slipped stitches longer – the slipped stitch panel pulls in really badly vertically, so the socks look like bananas when you lie them flat! They are ok once on the feet though.
These socks added 337 m to the Marathon total.
Pair two: Dark Side
I love Knit Picks Felici yarn,** and cast on socks in it when I want a mindless treat knit. This batch of Felici came from a destash and I was so pleased to get my hands on it. I cast the socks on during a weekend in April when we had snow (!), and they made me feel all warm and cosy.
The rainbow in the yarn is not a complete rainbow, so I thought I’d jazz it up a bit with an extra contrast colour for the heels. I was torn between orange and pink, but chose the pink because it was already leftovers (from the first pair of Marathon socks; and I didn’t fancy getting the ball winder out!). I love how they turned out!). I used some Novita Venla in Charcoal because I wasn’t confident that I could get the whole toe out of the charcoal stripe in the Felici.
These socks are destined for Socks for WMAS, who are collecting socks for the ambulance staff at West Midlands Ambulance Service. You can read all about it and other charities collecting hand-knitted socks here.
Another 320 m added to the Marathon total!
Pair three: Giant socks!
I like to knit a couple of pairs of hand knitted socks for my husband every year, and he likes his socks to be on the thicker side, so I cast on these socks using some deep-stash West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK. I improvised the pattern (and will be releasing it later in the year), and these made for a very satisfying knit – the combination of thicker yarn and a simple pattern made it obvious that they were getting bigger, so I didn’t need to measure them repeatedly.
That’s the final 382 m from me for the year.
How many metres did you add? My total for this year was 1039 m.
*Ravelry link: may affect people with photosensitivity, proceed with caution.
**Knit Picks Felci is released as limited-edition batches and is not available at the time of writing.
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