Birthday socks

I have been knitting "like the wind" for the past couple of weeks in order to finish two pairs of birthday socks. One pair for Katie from Artesano Alpaca Inca Cloud in a plum shade (the photo makes it look much more purple that it actually is), which I think is new since it doesn't even appear on their website.

I used a rib stitch pattern from the Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches II. It's a less attractive (and I suspect cheaper) book than the Vogue Stitchionary but just as chock full of great stitch patterns. I've decided that there's no point in trying to do anything other than simple textured stitch patterns in alpaca as it has very little in the way of stitch definition. However, anything that mixes up a bit of knit and purl, such as moss stitch, waffle stitch or mistake rib, is a perfect match for its soft fluffiness.

Despite snatching all the knitting minutes I could (on my bicycle whilst waiting for the lights at the roadworks, waiting for my dentist's appointment, a whole day of knitting and rugby on Saturday!) I just missed the Saturday evening deadline (20 rounds short) and as there was no way I was going to be able to knit through Hot Fuzz at the cinema (way too funny for knitting) I had to present them at the knitting group on Wednesday.



The second pair knit up much quicker thanks to the genius of the waffle pattern - two rounds of *K2, P2*, two rounds plain stocking stitch. They just flew off the needles! I actually started these for the first time at Katie's ball-winding afternoon when I knit the foot plain and on metal needles. By the time I got to the heel I had realised that (a) the pattern wasn't working for me and (b) knitting alpaca with metal needles really hurt my hands, cue a post-work dash to the local yarn store for a set of these babies. I really do love my Brittanys.