Secret socks no more!

Even though not quite finished, Husby's secret socks were gifted to him at Christmas, after much teasing about the fact that I was making socks for my brother, but no more socks for Husby. Heh.

This is where I got to before Christmas - so close but not there yet - it was just too hard to find time when he wasn't around to knit them without him finding out (although sometimes I think I could knit them in front of him and he wouldn't take any notice of what I was actually making. He can be quite the absent minded professor).

So I did a bit more on them on Boxing Day, and finished them on the 6 hour drive back to Sydney. Except for the kitchener graft, which I finally did yesterday, along with the end sewing in - my least favourite part, except for the fact that it finally finishes them!

Hurrah - now Husby has 3 pairs of handknitted socks. And I only have one pair. (Hmmm, is there something wrong with that picture??!!)

Details:

Yarn: Regia Royal colours (colourway Brittania, I think) 1x100g ball. I think I might just have enough left over for baby socks, especially if I do a contrast heel and toe. I like the Regia, it is not the softest but knits up well and I'm sure it will soften when washed. I really like the patterning with the small semi-solid colour striping evenly throughout.

Pattern: I used the Madder rib (I think) from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, which is a simple 3x1 rib (with 1x1 rib on the cuff) but otherwise pretty much made the pattern up - it's just a basic sock, no calf shaping (I love ribbed socks for that reason!), CO 68 st and go for it!

Sticks: 2.5mm Addi dpns. I have been using bamboo for socks but I quite like the Addis - I think I do knit faster with them. They are more slippy, but not in a bad way (the needles won't fall out of the knitting, for example), so I'm quite happy with them really.

Time: Well, I think I started these back in September? And I intended to finish them for Husby's birthday in October! Ha! So much for that! The knitting finished on 27 Dec, grafted on 11 January 2007. Probably, really, my last FO of 2006.