Braided Gem Socks

Once again, I have a project to share but not much to say.

The yarn is new to me: Wonderland Yarns & Frabjous Fibers Mary Ann in colorway 299 Moonbeams. It’s a soft yarn with a little bit of fuzziness that I hope won’t pill. The hand-dyed colors are gorgeous splashes of purples, blues and pinks against shades of gray. I had absolutely no problems with pooling.

The pattern is Braided Gem Socks by Elizabeth Ravenwood, from the book “Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn” by Carol Sulcoski. It’s easy to understand and I memorized the pattern repeat early on, but I had a few issues with the stitch count when I reached the toes. I’m not sure whether the fault lies with me or the pattern, but I was able to make it work without much effort so it wouldn’t prevent me from knitting the pattern again.

Temperatures here are now consistently high enough that my toenails are painted and my sandals are seeing regular use. But there’s still so much going on in the world right now that I’m continuing to use sock knitting as a form of therapeutic stress relief. At this rate, I’ll have a lot of happy surprises when I revisit my sock drawer in the fall.

Take care out there.