It is OuaS time again, the Monthly link up of fellow sock makers! You should join us!

Still not an awful lot of knitting happening at the moment but I have finished one Helical Bee sock. I am…not loving this particular heel on me and the foot is a tiny bit too short, which is a pity. However, I have just been back up in Yorkshire and it fits my mother, who loves handknit socks, to a tee so I shall be donating them to her once I’ve knitted the second one. Which I plan to cast on for shortly, in the hopes that it will be slightly less hot and sticky soon.

I am still loving the helical stripes though, so they will definitely make a reappearance in future socks for sure!

I am very tempted to try see if I can squeeze a pair of ankle socks out of some leftover WYS’s Rum Paradise as inspired by Paula‘s post for this month as my next pair of socks!

I might wear the full size pair I do have to Brighton Pride on Saturday (I’m in the parade, walking with Girl Guiding UK in my guise as a Guide Leader.) but I may make the final decision on the day as the weather is meant to be 27 degrees C, which might be a bit much for wool socks and a very long walk!

Posts, much like buses again! It is Once Upon a Sock time again and you can find everyone else (and submit yourself!) at the Once Upon a Sock linkup, which is hosted once again by Paula at Spin a Yarn.

So here we are – still knitting away on my helical beeeees (Incidentally, fellow OUaSer, Kat has a brand new helical sock pattern available, if you want to take a spiralling trip!) although they are not as far as I had hoped to be, partially due to my needles being yanked out of them at Faro airport on my way home from my holiday (I was not best pleased, especially as Gatwick had been fine with me flying out with them) and thrown away. I managed to fix them on stitch holders when I got home and then had to replace my needles as I can only assume all my 2.25mm needles have gone into hiding as a result.

But, I have started the heel, as you can see there because I wanted to make sure I knit the foot long enough on the first one. Very exciting! Because I am using the active yarn, I am knitting the heel from the other end of the ball, so they are a little tricky to take out and about at the moment but I plan to concentrate on them as my at-home project until the heel is done and then I’ll know what measurements I need for no. 2 and they can come back out as my out and about project.

Now to go visit my fellow OUaSers!

Behold! One completed sock and one almost completed sock! My Once Upon a Sock offering this month.

I am just at the end of the gusset decreases on sock number 2 and the zigs are zigging and the zags are zagging so I am optimistic about finishing them fairly soon (I have a long train journey and some at-home holiday time in the next couple days) which means that I can start digging out the yarn and needles for my actual holiday knits!

My plan is to take two new-to-me techniques from the Year of Techniques book and turn some previous holiday yarn purchases into some helical socks with after-thought heels and contrast cuff/heel/toes. I’m hoping to have a little play with the technique before I cast on the full sock as I want to make sure the colours work together as helical stripes.

I am also going to take some sock yarn along that will be turned into my Good Intentions Quarter 3 project, which is a Byatt Shawl.

So hopefully, by the time OUAS rolls round again, I will have several sock related things to show you!

The way we’re doing Once Upon a Sock is changing slightly due to numbers, so you can find us all (and join in yourself!) at the link up hosted by Paula @ Spin A Yarn.

Suddenly posts on this blog are like buses; you wait ages for one and then two turn up. Or something. But I am joining the lovely ladies of the Once Upon A Sock sockalong/monthly blog post so will be endeavouring to post about socks on the first Thursday of the month.

So, said sock! It’s still the first, solo Rivercat in La Bien Amiee’s Merino Twist. And it was once much further along than it is now until I looked down while at the hairdressers (I currently have blue-green under-layers, so a trip to the hairdressers is ideal for knitting time!) and realised that I had zigged when I should have zagged three repeats back and was continuing to zig instead of zag as a result. *sobs*. And I’d somehow picked up an extra stitch.

It was the kind of mistake that a non-knitter would probably have never noticed but would have driven me into second sock syndrome if I’d carried on. So I a) sulked for a wee bit and then b) ripped it back. And that meant all the way back. To the heel flap. *sobs some more*

But I am much happier having done that – the heel pick up stitches are neater, the pattern is back in the right place and I am almost back to where I was so I hope to be at the very least onto the second sock come May’s post. And then I can think about my next sock project, in which I hope to combine two new to me techniques and do a helical sock with an after-thought heel. Dare I attempt this TAAT?  Maybe at least have them on concurrent needles. We shall see, present socks must be completed first!

So, Once Upon a Sock Ladies: (links to be updated once they post)

• Kathy B at Compassionknit
• Steph at My Making Do Adventure *posted
• Liz at Knitty Little Sew and Sew *posted
• Reanna at Knit, Reanna, Knit! *posted
• Stefanie at Stefanie Crafts with Wool Paper Fabric *posted
• Katherine at Fiber and Sustenance *posted
• Paula at Spin a Yarn *posted
• Kat at Felinity Knits *posted
• Tammy at Life and Yarn or Yarn and Life ** new
• Lynn at Minding My Own Stitches **new

Can’t wait to see what they’ve all been up to!