Hebi Socks - Pattern Now Available

Yay, I finished my Ravleympics project in time! The pattern was knit, checked over and over and over and over, and published on Sun 28th Feb 2010, with only a few hours to spare till closing ceremonies.





These are the Hebi socks, so named because the cable and lace pattern reminds me of the patterning on a snake's back (Hebi means snake in Japanese). It might be the green colour that looks so reptilian, but my feet did kind of look like big snakes to me :)



The sample is knit in Regia 4 fadig, in colourway no. 327, on 2.75mm needles (US size 2). I used about 1.75 balls, which is approx 402 yards (368m), but if you have two balls of Regia then you'll be fine. Of course, any fingering/sock weight yarn can be substituted. The pattern is written for a women's medium foot/leg, but if you need it to be bigger, then you can substitute bigger yarn and needles.

I would suggest using a solid coloured yarn for these socks to show the pattern. I tried it in a variegated, and it didn't really work, though of course the choice is yours :)

They're knit cuff down, and the pattern is both written and charted. The yarn overs make the pattern quite stretchy, but it's tempered by the cables twisting, so the finished socks are very comfortable.

The pattern is available to buy on Ravelry, or you can use this link to buy

I'm very pleased with these socks. The snake-like aspect was totally unexpected. I just charted and knit, and I like very much how they turned out.

Ravelympic-ing

If you're on Ravelry, you'll no doubt know all about the Ravleympics - a group event challenging ourselves during the winter Olympics. I'm taking part this year, in the team for the Manic Purl podcast (it's one of my favourite podcasts, and she's based in Vancouver where the Olympics are actually taking place, so I figured that would be the team for me. Go TeamManicPurl!!!

I was going to knit and write up a shrug pattern that I've been thinking about for ages, but the sizes were really too much to think about at the moment. There would only have been two measurements, back width and arm circumference, but it was really too much to think about. So, a few days after the Ravelympics had begun, when I still had nothing cast on or even thought about, I decided to change tack. I'm pretty much used to desigining socks by now, I've got the hang of all the sizes and measurements for that, so I decided I would design a pair of socks for the Olympics. This was about 3 days into the 17 day event. Goodness knows what I was thinking!!

So I spent the first day swatching and trying to come up with a pattern for the socks. That went kind of well, except the yarn I was using wasn't really showing the pattern up. So I switched to another yarn, but this one was too variegated to show up the pattern.



It photographs well enough as you can see, but it was just invisible in real life. So I went to a solid yarn.





Finally it's working!! I'm nearly at the toe shaping on the first sock, and I'm very excited about the pattern. I just had to post pics to show you all! Normally I would be a bit wary of posting photos before I publish the pattern, (I've already come across one pattern that may just have been a coincidence, but it was very similar to another that someone had been talking in depth about, and well, part of me doesn't really believe it was a coincidence... but I just won't knit that one, that's all) but it's my intention to knit the 2nd sock and have the pattern published by Sunday the 28th. Um yeah, that's only 5 more days. But I think it's do-able. It might drive me insane, but I think I can do it. So long as I can stay off Ravelry and Facebook, that is!