Treads and Linen Threads

I finished the Kohle Socks this past weekend, and since I was waiting on a package of yarn to come in the mail, I thought it prudent to jump on another pair of socks. I decided to pair this cool blue yarn with a pattern I'd been wanting to make for a while.

The pattern is called "Treads" and it's from Debbie Stoller's Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. The original calls for much much thinner yarn. It recommends casting on 100 stitches on size 0 needles. I was okay with size 0s, but I couldn't imagine castin on 100 stitches with any yarn I had around. So I'm changing the pattern up a little to work with this yarn -- 72 stitches. The circumference is right, but the cables are a bit larger than they are in the original. When they stretch out, the make little O's. And the yarn is 45% cotton, so I'm thinking that maybe this pair will have more versatility than some of my more wooly socks.

The package I mentioned earlier came in the mail today. It's Louet Euroflax linen yarn. I had a gift certificate from my sister-in-law that I hadn't used and which made this purchase affordable. Three of the four colors have arrived -- the cream-colored hanks will come later. These are destined for something completely different -- a piano bench cushion. If you have a copy of Mason-Dixon knitting, you can see what it's supposed to look like on page 42. My piano bench hasn't had a cushion on it for nearly 20 years. More about this later...