Sock it to me again

A long time ago, in a far away universe, there was sockapalooza. Intrigued by the thought of making something for a person I had never met *and* getting knitted socks for myself out of the bargain, I signed up. My pal didn't ask for anything specific, but I quickly became obsessed with finding the right yarn, colors that would flatter and bring squeals of delight. I checked my pal's blog daily, hoping to find clues tp make the perfect socks. I finally decided to try my hand at KoolAid dying, armed with some color your own merino from KnitPicks. Decided on a rainbow of colors with short repeats, and remembered to take a picture in case it came out well. After much fiddling and playing with stitch patterns, I ended up with these. I used a slip stitch pattern to break up the color repeats, with a short row heel and a plain old wedge toe. Glad I saved the picture, since I would love to duplicate the yarn again.

That experience was a freaking blast. I loved seeing what everyone else was working on, and wondering all the while if this might be my socks. Could it be these striped socks, or the cute instarsia ones, or maybe those very soft looking long socks? Watching all of us play with pattern and color was inspiring, and pushed me forward into doing something whimsical and all my own. Then came sending off my completed socks and waiting to see if they fit, and more importantly, did she like it? She did. Then mine came, soft and blue and handpainted love for my feet.

It's that time again. sockapal-2-za has begun.

Decisions, decisions.....