A Bluestocking Knits

At last! my summer knitting — Jane Cochran's classic Hedgerow Socks from Knitter's Review, with the matching mitts designed by Amy Ripton.  It was no fault of the pattern or yarn that it took me so long to finish these, as they were a pleasure throughout — it was purely due to my vacation state of mind, a last-minute heat wave, and a few good books for distractions.

The yarn is Fyberspates' Bamboozle in Plums (the purple) and Foxglove (the pink). 
Pity this yarn doesn't seem to be available any more — it is lovely to
knit with.  Squishy and oh-so-soft, but with a nice weight to it.  There were three splices in the purple skein, and
if I remember correctly at least one of them made it into a sock, but
other than that I've no complaints at all.

The socks are made exactly to pattern except that I was knitting along enjoying the rhythm of the stitches and the softness of the wool as it slipped through my fingers, as one does, and I realized that I had gone quite past the mark for leg length.  They felt so nice on my leg that I left them that way and hoped that there would be enough yarn to finish both socks (thinking that if worst came to worst, I could finish one toe with the lighter color!), but there was more than enough.

The mitts I also made quite long, on purpose this time, but I did adjust the rest of the pattern fairly significantly.  I found that with two gussets as written — one at the thumb and one at the little-finger side — the mitt was far too big for my hand, and so I re-knit it with only the thumb gusset.  Even then it was still rather roomier than I generally like, but with the 6-inch repeat in the stitch pattern, that is difficult to get around, I guess, and I like the triple-increase so much that I don't mind.

I made these considerably shorter in the hand than in the pattern, too, as I've found that I don't like the "crinkle" in the mitt that comes from bending the fingers.  I really like the elegant arm length — like evening gloves!

And the more I look at them, the more I like the colors —