Borders

I finished the Border Socks this evening. I think, that with these socks, I can consider myself a confident stranded knitter.

In the past, I tended to dither about the stranded work – I could only do it while focusing on nothing else, I was nervous stranding in public (although I did it), I worried about changing colors. But after all those mittens and the vest I made last summer, I just kind of flew through this project. I didn’t bat an eye when the color work came up. Granted, this is much simpler than those projects, but I was pleased with how natural the stranding began to feel – not some special maneuver to be tackled, like Kitchener stitch. I’m still not throwing as comfortably as I pick, but overall, progress on this project was silky smooth.

I may have mentioned this earlier, but these are pretty bulky socks. They’re knit on 2.75mm (and 3.25mm for the stranded part), whereas I usually do socks on 2mm needles. So they’re looser. Plus, the Knit Picks Stroll fingering weight yarn that I used is a bit bulkier than what I usually make socks out of. These will be more for wearing around the house or in a pair of boots. They’re not going to fit into shoes very well.

Now I just have to wait for it to get really chilly. Well, what passes for chilly in central Texas, anyway.