hermione’s | First Light Handcrafts

I think everybody has a “go-to” sock pattern…one they can knit with their eyes closed, or at least without ever having to pick up the pattern. (If you read Knitting to Stay Sane, for example, you know that Glenna C.’s is Jaywalkers!) Hermione’s is mine. The texture keeps it from being as boring as plain sockinette (although as anyone who knows me can attest, I have no objections to knitting plain stockinette in the round!) while being simple enough to be my “knit in coffee shops and in front of the TV” knitting.

I almost feel funny blogging about them, as they are my fifth pair of socks (in 18 months) made with this pattern, but it is the first time I have ever used Fleece Artist Trail Socks. I picked up a skein of November Sky from a Ravelry destash. To this day, I am not sure why – completely not my colour set but I thought it might be nice to break out of my rut.

Now, when I really began knitting less than four years ago, I was one of those that could not understand why anyone would pay so much money for sock yarn. And worse, I liked the stuff with the cashmere…even though it was another $5-$8 a skein. But “oh noes!! Expensive yarn and all that time…to put on your feet?? Are you insane?” Turns out, I was! I blame my friend Liz, and my great teacher, Kate Atherley for making me a sock knitter.

After spending some time actually knitting socks, though, I realized that yes, while the socks with cashmere were yummier and more squooshy, the 80/20 (or 75/25) blends of merino nylon do wear an awful lot better. So I set out to find some good, sturdy-yet-comfy sock yarns. I have tried several but my two favourites so far have been indigodragonfly’s Merino Nylon Sock, and Tanis Fiber Arts’ Blue Label. These two bases are completely different from one another and I like them both for totally separate reasons. Trail Socks feels very much like Blue Label, both while knitting and after the fact. In fact, so similar are they, in the tactile sense, that I’d think they were the same base. However, the yardage stated on the label of each skein suggests otherwise.

In any case, it was quite pleasant to knit with and the resultant fabric is nice and comfy. And I am really in love with the colours. I am looking forward to having these when the leaves start turning.

Pattern: Hermione’s Everyday Socks by Eric Lueder

Yarn: Fleece Artist Trail Socks in November Sky

Who Was It Made For? Me

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? I don’t even remember what the pattern looks like anymore!

Did I Learn Anything New? No

Anything Else? Not that I recall.

Would I Make Another?: I am sure I’ll have another pair finished by Christmas.

(Photos courtesy of Shireen, over at the Blue Brick!)

For the past few months, I have been valiantly chugging away at two pairs of fingering weight socks, one for my Mom and one for my Dad. It all started when I was at home in Newfoundland this summer. Mom decided she liked the pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks I was working on, and because she had caught me at exactly the right point in the process and I was not all that enamoured with them, I offered to finish them to fit her. Once she had them, she told me she loved them and would really love another pair to go with her brown jeans. My parents have never asked me to knit them anything, ever, so I thought that was the least I could do.

Now, there are two things you should know about this. My mother has a size 10.5 foot – I have a size 7 foot. So as you can imagine these socks require an awful lot more stitches than I usually have to knit to finish a pair of socks.

The bigger issue: I loathe brown. With the fiery passion of a thousand suns. (That’s a slight exaggeration – indigodragonfly makes a Captain Tightpants colourway that I like, and I don’t mind it in variegated colourways like the ones in my Stillwater scarf…but that’s about it). So it should be telling of how much I love my Mom when I tell you that I knit a pair of size 10.5 brown socks for her.

It gets better. I cannot knit my mother two pairs of socks, and not knit any for my father. That just won’t do at all. This necessity for equality is come by honestly. When my brother and I were children, Mom kept a running account of what she spent on each of us at Christmas to make sure the numbers were even. So I ask Dad what colours he would want, since of course I need to knit him two pairs as well. His answer? Dark blue and….brown. Normally, being the dutiful daughter, I would have asked him which socks he wanted first; I skipped that step and cast on the Sweet Fiber Seastorm ones. Because one more brown pair of socks might have killed me. He’ll get the brown ones in the spring. After which I will be declaring a moratorium on brown knitting for a minimum of six months.

I am at the gusset decreases of the second Seastorm sock. It’s not brown but it’s still not exactly colourful. Last night, out of pure desperation, I cast on a Reunion Cowl. In indigodragonfly MCN Lace. In the most stunning red in the world, made even better by being named after one of my favourite TV characters…Inara from Firefly.