Hatch Day

Common Welsh Green Socks
Stitch Pattern: Marnie Maclean's Wyvern Sock, with modifications
Needle: 2.75mm Aero metal circular
Method: Toe-up, Magic Loop
Yarn: Sweet Georgia's merino handpaint, colourway "Dragon"
Yarn Source & Cost: Pick Up Sticks, $22
Cast On: March 13, 2007
Bound Off: April 8, 2007
Modifications/Notes:
As discussed, the yarn is very soft. Because of this softness, I think durability will be an issue. Also, due to the loose spin, a lot of felting happened while short-rowing the heel.

As to the pattern, I was disappointed that, though it comes in several sizes, the central "scale" pattern remains constant in size. So, because I knit the largest size, I had to find something interesting to do with the extra ten or so stitches, to avoid the appearance of a narrow strip of pattern right down the centre of my foot. Also, the pattern as given does not have the scale design on the back of the leg - instead, the back stitches are in ribbing, as are the sole stitches. I didn't care too much for this, so I changed the sole to stockinette, added twisted 1x1 rib on the sides of the ankle, and continued the scale stitch pattern to the back of the calf.

One good thing about this pattern is that, being a basic double-increase/double-decrease, it was easy to memorize and quick to knit. Each sock only took me a couple of days to actually knit, though there was some time off in between socks so, altogether, the pair took me three weeks.

Short-row heels seem to be too loose for me, so once I got the heel knit and started in the round again, I did a couple of decreases at the centre back of the heel to nip it in a little bit. This worked well, but I think next time I will reduce it even further, to make a tighter ankle. With an hour or so of wear, they are starting to feel a little slippery in the heel. (This is in part because I short-rowed the heel about 4 rows too far - you can see, in the above picture, that the right heel is slightly square and pointy. That will go away with a bit of wear, though.)

I wanted to have some sort of flow when transitioning from the inc./dec. pattern to the ribbing at the top of the leg, so I did some fiddling around with the 1X1 twisted rib and ended up with a cuff that's slightly reminiscent of Pomatomus. I like this part of the sock, though no one else might notice it (you can see it a little bit in the above picture).

I'm not 100% happy with how these socks turned out. I think if I were to make dragonish socks again, I would look a bit harder for a more effective scaly chart, or invent one myself. Also, I'm not sure how I like that twisted rib panels on the sides. Not worth fixing though, for house socks.

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Before I leave you, here is our Easter Tree. It was nice to do but I must say the weather could have been more cooperative. It started to rain as we were hanging the eggs on Sunday morning, and it poured all day and all night. By Monday morning it was a woebegone sight, chilly wet eggs dripping pastel shades of rainwater onto the sodden grass. I must say it wasn't the triumphant-return-of-life celebration I was hoping for. We'll try it again next year though - the children had a lot of fun with it.