Father's Day Socks 2016

Father's Day was on Sunday just past. I was working early on the Monday and so my sister and I spent the Saturday with dad. We got him a coffee machine that he's been wanting, some pods for it and two bottles of wine. So I don't think he will mind that these socks are a few days late. Although, I am taking him out for his Father's Day dinner tonight so maybe it's not too late.

My dad has become increasingly picky over the socks I knit for him. He basically wants just plain black. Anything else is too girly which I find ironical considering some of his choices for other things. I don't do plain black. I did it once and that was enough. So I compromised and added colour in at the toe and the heel.

The yarn I used for the bulk of the sock was a sock yarn by Heritage Cascade yarns. I got this from Wool Warehouse.  It's a Merino/Nylon blend and it was quite nice to work with. It felt quite sturdy and I think it won't wear thin any time soon. Perfect for hard during socks. The heel and toe is actually red! I know the images scream pink but it's red. It was from the mini skein set I got from Lisa of For The Love Of Yarn. I love all of Lisa's yarns so I don't think I need to say too much about it. It's slightly thinner than the Cascade yarn but it's not noticeably so and I think the two worked well together.

The problem with knitting socks for big feet is worrying about having enough yarn to knit with. I had ordered two skeins of the black because I know from past experience that 100g isn't enough for one pair. I didn't think I would need both though because I was using a contrasting colour for the heel and toe. I was right too. Which is good since I will be able to knit a second pair should my dad approve of these.

However, I worried about the mini skein. After I did the first heel (which is a short row heel since I was changing colour) I thought there was no way I was going to have enough. I knitted up to where I would change colour for the toes and stopped. I think started on the second sock. I thought if I could at least get two heels out of it then I could finish off in the black but I didn't want to have to unpick it all. This is why it's always handy to have two sets of DPNs the same size (and has nothing at all to do with me constantly losing them).

Thankfully I did have enough and I actually have a tiny amount left over. I'm actually quite pleased with the way they turned out. I love the contrast heel and toe. I think I'll do more of these. Although not in black. I quite fancy the idea of mixing and matching colours.

Oh and in case you are wondering the sock is just the basic pattern. I suppose you could do a pattern for the bulk of the sock but I wanted the contrasts of the yarn to stand out.