Dance of the Cygnets

#24 is done!

Well, that's 24 pairs. These are the Conwy socks by Nancy Bush from Knitting on the Road. My socks were worked in Cygnet 4 ply yarn in blue heather.

Now, lots of people with access to Cygnet, turn their nose up at this yarn. To be fair, it's not got the same snob factor as Regia, Opal, Socka or Fortissimo, but it's a damn fine yarn. 75% new wool, 25% polyamide, machine washable and you can buy it for £2.10 - £2.25 per 50g ball in the UK (John Lewis , Oxford Circus). That means a pair of socks for under a fiver, which ain't bad at all. The yarn is soft and very pleasant to knit with. Pity that the shades are limited to about 20 solid/heathered shades, but if you're looking for plain yarns, you can do a whole heck of a lot worst. (that bargain hunter in me is still alive and kicking). If you're keen on knitting all those textured patterns, plain yarns are generally the best way to go.

Now, there was a Blue Peter moment in Liberty when Brigid worked on her Conwy and I yanked my out to show the finished product. It was just odd to have just finished my socks and to see someone knitting away at a sock where the pattern looks remarkably familiar. Why, yes indeed, it must be Conwy ;-)

See the decreasing for the shapped leg

This is the second time that I've made Conwy and I enjoyed it as much as the first time. One word of advice though, make sure that you try on your socks because the decreases on the ankle goes down to 60 stitches, which might make it a tad tight for getting over the heel. If you decrease fewer stitches for the calve shaping you might end up with some random 'dangling' stitches on the back of the sock. If this is going to bother you, you can

(1) use larger needles
(2) cast on 1 extra repeat and decrease as normal.

You'll need to center the decrease on the heel by adjusting the stitches on your needles.

Conwy works up quickly as it's composed of twisted stitches. (you don't need to cable at all). To improve the first twisting sequence, instead of 'knit second stitch (keep sts on needle), knit first stitch, drop both stitches off the needle', try this instead, 'knit 2 tog (keep sts on needle) , knit 1 through first stitch, drop both stitches off the needle'. It's a faster sequence to work and you'll find the stitches to lay flatter. Barbara Walker writes about this in her 1st stitch dictionary under the baby cable stitch. I remembered this from the baby cable socks that I did a few years ago and honest it's a small and subtle change but really works.

Here's the artistic shot.

Since there's at least another full day before we hit the end of 2006, there's still plenty of time to try to reach the goal of 26 pairs. I have to admit that #25 is done and I'm currently on #26. #25 was a bit of a cheat, since it's a pair of stocking stitch anklets, so I thought that I would stretch myself a little with #26.

I blame Kris for posting photos of her FO.

Posted by atu at December 30, 2006 06:10 PM | TrackBack