Sorry I’m late, folks - busy morning :)
Among many other things, I’ve been thinking about socks lately and I returned to have another look at one on my list of like-to-trys. It’s “Judy Sumner’s” Bell Lace Wool-ease Socks. I have always like the look of the stitch pattern so, having nothing better to do yesterday afternoon, I grabbed a ball of Woolease and cast on.
I did increase the cast-on stitches to 48 and then increased another two stitches when the ribbing was done for a total of 50 sts (pattern repeat is a multiple of 5) because I knew it would be too small otherwise. After several repeats of the lace (kind of moose lace - but it still qualifies, I guess), I slipped it all to a circular needle so I could try it on. Perfect!
The lace is a pretty cute trick as it’s five rows tall and four of those rows are knit!
In the round: Cast on a multiple of five stitches.
Rows 1, 2, 3 and 4: *K3, P2*; repeat to end of round
Row 5: *YO, slip 1, K2tog, pass slipped stitch over, P2*; repeat to end of round.
My only problem now is that I keep thinking this would look terrific at a smaller scale - say on size 1 or 2 needles. So I’m hesitating about going on and trying to decide whether to try this in fingering or sport weight.
The other thing that’s making me hesitate is that having put away the entrelac afghan for the spring and summer hasn’t resulted in any decrease in my desire to do entrelac :) I have several ideas floating around in my head including the amazing entrelac socks in Socks, Socks, Socks! - and I have some lovely variegated sock yarn to use for them too! Ahh, how to choose amongst the myriad possibilities!
Last, but not least, I scored some more of the gorgeous Classic Elite Wings yesterday and managed to get six hanks of the same color!
So I’ve actually got enough to make something besides toddler socks - not that toddler socks are a bad thing. I love this stuff to work with - soft, and silky and warm. The possibilities for this are (acquires a dreamy expression) endless! No, decisiveness is not my long suit!
See you tomorrow night for Knitting Chatters!
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Robbyn, I have never done socks on circular needles. I love to do socks, too. When you get down to the heel, do you just put the heel stitches on the DPN and leave the rest of the sock on the circular needle. I guess i just have to do it, cause i can’t picture how you do the whole heel and then get it back on the circular needles?? I’d like to see if the sock “lie flatter , with no “lines” along your sock where you switch over to another DPN. Do you know what i mean, or am not explaining it right?
Ellie - I do think I know what you mean, but I don’t generally work socks on circulars either. I just moved this onto a long circular so I could try it on (without dropping stitches off both ends of the DPNs!) and then I put it back on the DPNs. I have tried both the two circular and the magic loop methods only to find that I prefer the DPNs after all :)
I’ve longed to do the bell lace socks on fingering weight, too. But with so many socks to try, and two pair already on the needles… maybe this time I’ll just watch you design.
Lovely yarn score, by the way.
Oh heavens, Colleen! Don’t wait for me - I may get side-tracked with the entrelac notion and not look at this again for 5 years :) Besides, all my sock yarn is vari-colored one way or another and the stitch pattern would just be completely lost.
I have done Bell Lace as socks in 4-ply sock yarn - looks great but probably looks great only in a solid color. Multicolor yarn would of course obscure the nice lace pattrn.
Ann - Yup, yup - I completely agree - solid colors for the fancy stitch patterns, self-stripes and variegates in ribbing or stockinette.
Not that I always follow my own rules, mind you :)
