A brief update on the Sock Project
The first eight pairs: now I'm working on #25
In addition to these colors, (the two blues are different--one is dark teal and the other a medium blue) I now have two purple pairs in two different purples, a light mottled blue, and of course...stripes...
"Sporty Shorty" socks w/ yarn from earlier pairs.
These short top socks are my own pattern, inspired by a picture in a sock-knitting book that has gone momentarily AWOL in the house. The rolled top, and short ribbing were in the picture, but I didn't like the yarn weight (fingering), the type of ribbing, the color, the heel, or the toe. So...I like these. I'm making more of them. More pictures will come. The first pair of "shorties" were made of red yarn with a single blue stripe (the ribbing) because red leftovers were the most I had. That was last summer. It took yarn from two pairs of full-size red socks to make one pair of short socks. On the second pair, the green ones on the left, I experimented with using four colors. The newest pair (not yet photographed) has more than that.
One of only 2 worsted-weight self-striping yarns I've liked so far.
This is Cascade 220 "Isle of Sky", a discontinued hand-painted yarn I would have bought more of if it had been available. I have another of the handpainted ones, in a light blue/lavender/aqua combination, not yet photographed as socks, and its leftover it going to be striped with plain turquoise. I haven't yet used the "Isle of Sky" leftovers in shorties.
Regular-top striped socks
After making three pairs of the shorties, I decided to commit yarn to making full-height (5 inches of ribbed cuff) socks with stripes. This is in Ella rae Classic, the red I like best so far and a royal blue. The blue were not leftovers, so I'm not sure I've got enough of it left for a full pair of royal blue socks. If necessary, they may have red toes. The Isle of Sky socks and the red/blue were both knitted last year, in the second year of sock-knitting. I make my socks with "anatomical" toes--mine are long and pointy, and a left and right sock are as much more comfortable as having left and right shoes. The first socks are beginning to wear out; they last about 100 wearings, on average. I need to learn to darn.