Monkey

I will admit that the first couple of hundred times I saw these socks on people's blogs, I didn't really see the attraction. They looked nice, but they aren't the Twisted Flower socks (by the same designer) or anything. But at some point, I got it. The stitch pattern isn't complex, but it is pleasing and, best of all, it works well for variegated sock yarn. Not a lot of patterns can say that. In fact, when I got this Meillenweit Bosco and first cast on, it was for a pair of Cablenets. A very nice pattern, but it just didn't work with the dark, multicolored yarn. But Monkey was perfect.


Details:
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meillenweit Bosco in a dark purple and lavender colorway, one 100g ball.
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. in the Winter 2006 Knitty
Needles: US size 1 dpns
Comments: With the combination of a) having cast on 72 sts for Cablenet socks and worked an inch of 1x1 rib, b) not being able to find my size 2 dpns and c) having fat little calves, I stuck with the 72 sts (instead of 64) and just added 2 sts to each repeat. This meant I also worked the rib plain instead of twisted. I worked two pattern repeats like this, then decreased 4 sts, then worked another repeat and decreased another 4 sts, ending up with the original 64.
I added one repeat before starting the heel flap. I worked my gusset decreases one stitch in from the instep, rather than next to the instep, which fits better with the toe decreases, I think. It's a good thing I didn't use size 2's, because the socks would have been way to big.



They are super comfy! But despite increasing the size at the top of the sock, my calves are still fat enough that they slide down a bit. Damn genetics!

It's been a while since I knit a pair of socks and it was a really nice change of pace. I have issues with knitting socks - the usual "why knit them for $16/pair when you can buy them for $2" - but I'm trying to get over it. As the Yarn Harlot pointed out: it probably took 20 hours to knit these socks, so that's less than $1/hour for 20 really enjoyable hours and I got a nice pair of socks at the end. I've been wearing them regularly around the house too, so they don't just sit in the sock drawer.