Not too girlie for man!

I converted this free pattern from Knitty from a cuff down to toe up. I'd made them for the home owner of our house sit in the Waikato but they came out too large. So my brother-in-law in Australia is going to try them for size. I made them in a yarn I've used before from The Loopy Ewe. The yarn has gone full circle. Australia-USA-NZ-Australia! I hope they fit him and that he likes them.

On on to the next pair

Next pair will be 100% cotton for the 2nd Quarter Challenge at the Loopy Ewe using this  yarn. Can't yet decide what kind of pattern...something lacy maybe...

Socks for Moi!

Finally a pair of 100% wool socks for myself.  This is the second pair of arch shaped socks made from the toe up. They are very comfortable. There is a free pattern for the regular cuff down available here and more web research found a toe up sock instructions from Yarmando.  I used some yarn out of my stash which has been stashed for ...well a long time.... This yarn (no longer available) came from my usual yarn supplier The Loopy Ewe. 

I used 2.5mm needles and 68 stitches...worked just fine.

Candle Power Socks

After the Monkey Socks I wanted to make a pair in this wool/cashmere with a bit of nylon yarn from The Loopy Ewe. This yarn is soft on the hands and lovely to work with. The white "spots" are where the dye seemed to "miss" on the skein. I was a bit concerned about how it would look and because I'd never used this yarn before whether this was "normal". However the flecks look quite attractive.

I used this free pattern. 

I had previously made this pattern (forgot to photograph before giving away) from this pattern but for these ones I adapted them for toe up socks.

Monkey Socks

I used this pattern by Cookie A from the Knitty site in this yarn from The Loopy Ewe. They turned out very well with only a small spot of pooling when I shaped the heel. I liked the way the illusion of stripes changes around the foot as well as the pattern creating wavy lines. Except for some reason the top of the sock is blurry!

Clarkee