Clarisse's Sock Obsession

These socks are being knit from Steinbach Wolle Aktiv Effekt. It's a bit finer weight than what I've used before but it's really coming along nicely. The color way is "different" but my husband likes it and he really likes the feel of the sock on his foot. It "forms" to his feet better is what he said. I think I'm going to expand myself and look for a lacy pattern next. My mom likes fancy trouser socks so maybe I can have something for her by her birthday. It's in September so I'm giving myself plenty of time :)

The brown pair are my very first hand knit socks cir. 1999. They were made from 100% alpaca and are displayed to hide the holes in them :) I have since learned about sock yarns and the durability factors so I won't use the alpaca by itself again, but they sure are soft and toasty warm. Oh, my husbands favorite thing about the alpaca socks was that when they got wet out in the snow, they still held the heat in and didn't get his toes cold. The varigated yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease in the sport weight. Living in rural California my access to yarn was very limited and I would stock up when I went to town to Wal-Mart (the store I hate to love). Sometimes I would get a chance to stop at Michael's or Joann's on my way home from work in the "big city". Wool-Ease in both sport weight and worsted weight was all I used until I started shopping for yarn on Ebay and discovered Regia and the other sock yarns. Wow, what fun!

These are the very first pair of socks I ever knit. They were knit up on my Bond ISM using Mark's Birkey Sock pattern, way back at the turn of the century :). What fun that was and I've knit many pairs since. What's kind of interesting and I hadn't noticed until know, this yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy (so I guess they are really more of a slipper than a sock since they are too thick for regular shoes) but look at the pattern, this is a varigated that almost stripped when used this way.