A Bluestocking Knits

I started out making these for Laura, and they fit rather snugly, so they went on to Julia instead, as she didn’t have a knitted pair of her own yet — these are still on the big side, but I can almost see her growing as I watch, so I think they’ll be fine after only a few months!

I used 68 sts — one st less per each side of the bias — a simple matter.  The bias pattern seems pretty forgiving, and can be sized down quite a bit.  (Grumperina offers some suggestions about resizing up here.)

The Shepherd Sock is lovely yarn to work with — it feels wonderful in my hands, makes a beautiful fabric, and the colors are rich and intense.

But here is proof positive that when it somes to space-dyed yarn, I have no idea what I’m talking about — I remarked earlier with great confidence after the first sock that since I was making the pattern in a smaller size, the stripes were coming out slightly thicker than they would have done.  You will notice that the second sock I worked, on Julia’s left foot in the photos, has the stripes in a fairly narrow pattern.  So much for predictability!  And the socks in a yet smaller size — casting on 60 — did not stripe at all, merely blobbed, and so unattractively that I tried again two more times before I gave up in despair.  (Another reason that I gave the socks to Julia instead of Laura.)

The second pair started out very promisingly, but then started to go up straight — at the center shaping line in the photo on the left, the purple is on one side and the green/blue on the other — very disconcerting.  So I’ve ripped them out and hidden the yarn away for another day, and decided to enjoy the ones I do like, the ones that Julia is so pleased with that she wanted to take a photo herself!