smoke and fire

It's that time of the year again! Christmas? No, I mean that time where I scramble to photograph and document all the projects I finished this year. I usually avoid wearing my handmade items until they've been properly photographed, so these socks and gloves have been languishing on my dresser. It's cold now, and I want to wear them!

In August, I finished these Smooth Operator Socks. This was my first time knitting top-down socks (unless you count the stockings, I guess). This pattern works really well with self-striping yarn, since the stripes continue evenly and don't become distorted at the ankles/heels.

The yarn is jitterbug fingering from Rock and String Creations, which I bought at Kentucky Wool Fest last year. I was feeling sad that the festival was cancelled this year, so knitting these socks made me feel a bit better. The colorway is called Campfire S'mores and I love how the stripes look like embers, flames, and toasted marshmallows! I even had a perfect chance to photograph them in front of a fire pit while making s'mores at my parents house in the fall.

I finished these Basic Gloves in September. The yarn is Knitted Wit sock yarn in the colorway Great Smoky Mountains, a gift from my friend Kathy. Althought it's listed as a sock yarn, the weight feels closer to sport weight, so it was well suited to this pattern. I made the increases for the thumb gusset similar to my Fiesta Mittens. I adjusted the stitch counts and length for each finger, so they are perfectly customized for my hands!

I also modified the pattern slightly to have thumb flaps. This way, I can flip the thumbs back to use my phone. I keep forgetting I don't have to take off my whole glove to send a text message! At some point, I'll have to try out those conductive threads that you can knit into the tips of your gloves, so you can use them with touchscreens. For now, I'll stick with the low-budget thumb-flap option.

More details for the socks and mittens on Ravelry.