My 2017 resolution was: Design, knit and publish 12 pairs of socks this year. A pair for each month. I failed. I made it to 10 only. And two of them are no proper socks. Plans change, I guess. I am not unhappy. So, are ready for a bit of scrolling? And yes, there will be a free download of the Chili Vanilla Socks at the end as promised in the headline.
MY YEAR 2017 IN SOCKS
The sock year 2017 started minimalistic: A small, irregular cable meanders over the leg and top of these socks. Voilà: MinimalSockz.
Saskia from Ovis et Cetera sent me these 2 wonderful colours on her Texelaar Base. I was inspired to knit Dotz. It is the only colour work sock pattern I designed this year. I have to get back to these.
Then, I tackled my first toe-up sock – a wild knit with cables. Therefore, WildkableSockz. And from now on I was stuck to the toe-up version.
I remember that I got this yellow yarn on a day with dreary weather. The acquisition from my LYS brightened up the day. I took the wip to Edinburgh Yarn Fest, daffodils were blooming everywhere, hence the name. DaffodilzSockz are featuring lace and cables.
Liliez-of-the-Valley were next. A lacy knit in a natural colourway. My tribute to May and my own favourite design for this year.
I got lazy in summer, so I shortened the socks ;-). Lilaks and Daisiez are comfy sneaker socks with a picot hem and different mesh patterns.
Time to knit up some yarn leftovers. The blue-bell stitch I used for MemorySockz (a tribute to the Cosy Memory Blanket) reminds me of a crochet stitch used for granny squares.
When I visited the Alpakas from Saaralpaka, Christiane, the owner gifted me two cakes of the softest sock yarn. I knitted Walnutz and they are my favourite socks this year because they are soooo soft. In fact, I am wearing them right now, while typing this blog post…
There was still one skein of sock yarn in my stash, namely the 2nd skein of John Arbon’s Exmoor Sock I bought at the Edinburgh Yarn Festival (Above shown Liliez-of-the-Valley are actually knit with the same yarn). So I decided on another cable pattern for AvokadoSockz.
Then I had to stop sock knitting for a while, for sanity reasons. And I was a bit bored by my Instagram feed, too. Only socks showed up. But then I received this bright red sock yarn from Novita to test. So I decided to knit a plain vanilla sock with my favourite recipe. Only some mindless stockinette, a few purls. A project that I could take to my Tuesday knit night and work while chatting.
Chili Vanilla socks – recipe
This is the toe-up version I used for most of my patterns this year. Even for the sneaker socks. It starts with Judy’s Magic Cast-on and a nicely rounded toe. It features a gusset heel and a heel that is shaped with short rows. I usually end my socks with Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off. All instructions are in the pattern and there are link to tutorials I consider helpful. You can download it here.
Now I have to finish one more pair of socks for Christmas. As a gift for my dad who made me the wonderful sock blockers I am using. They cannot be show here, anyway, they are plain vanilla do. So at least I knitted 12 pair of socks in 2017.
Ah, and yes … I have a question. Can somebody tell me where the name vanilla comes from?
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