Earlier this year I treated myself to yarn from dandelion & dogwood . The left yarn is a sock yarn and was called “The queens gambit”, named after the TV series, and I find the name very appropriate. The right yarn is “Lauree” and intended for gloves.
I knitted the sock yarn into two pairs of socks. First I knitted the Cornish Cream Tea Socks by Helen Stewart. According to the instructions, I was supposed to knit size L, but that was too big, and I ended up taking M, which fits well. The socks are knit top-down. The pattern was easy to remember. I discussed with myself for a long time whether to knit heel and toe in the pink yarn; it is a big contrast and I usually like it better tone-in-tone. In the meantime, I got used to it and I like it quite well.
The leftovers were just enough for the Fordingbridge Trainer Socks by Ami Lowden.
For the band in the middle, you decrease the stitches, so it is nice and tight on the foot. The pattern was also easy to remember, but I found it difficult to knit because you always had to knit 3 stitches together. It was always fiddly somehow. The socks are knit from the toe up. This was a first for me, and I found it quite interesting. But I can’t say now that I like one or the other method better. To bind off, a “stretchy bind off” is recommended, and you should definitely follow that. I chained off one sock “normal” and the other “stretchy”. The “normal” one is a bit of a pain to put on and take off.
