FO Friday: Strands of Drunken Watermelon

By pure force of will (and a good bought of pregnancy related insomnia) My Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks are FINISHED!

In full disclosure a good bit of the second sock was knit at 2 am…while eating cereal….and crying for no good reason other than I couldn’t sleep. I’m not sure what kind of karma that knits into this sock…but hot darn I have a FO!

Pattern: Strands of Gold by Linda Garland

Yarn: Miss Babs Hot Shot in Drunken Watermelon

Needles: US 1s

I used roughly 332 yards of yarn for this pair which or 94 grams. I have a nice little ball of leftovers to tuck into my memory blanket and to save a little for any future sock repairs. I was really happy with this yarn. It’s a nice plump 3-ply with great stitch definition. The pattern was a pretty good one. I memorized the pattern really quickly and really didn’t read the pattern after that. Which is evident because I didn’t use the short row heel written in the pattern, lol.

The socks fit pretty well even on my 36 week swollen cankles….so I’m confident the will be ready to fit for fall when hopefully I’m more normal sized. But this finish leaves me with NO SOCKS ON THE NEEDLES. I don’t want to start a bunch of stuff before PB’s arrival but I need at least a vanilla sock for work/purse knitting. Time to go stash diving!!

Happy Knitting!!

Drunken Watermelon Heel

I managed to meet my goal of working through the Drunken Watermelon heel yesterday!

I do admit this was quite a bit of knitting for me, especially given I am working a 72 stitch sock and gusset increases can feel like FOREVER.  But I’m pleased with my progress and gusset heels just fit me so nicely. Now I only have 13 pattern repeats or 52 rows of leg knitting to get to the ribbing.

Not going to lie, the weather is improving in Kansas and between conference calls and outside playtime for Jellybean……I’m interested to see how far I can get today and tomorrow on this….

Dare I dream that these are a FO by the weekend?

 

WIP Wednesday: Drunken Watermelon Socks

In a fit of pregnancy nesting I have been steaming through some of my languishing WIPs in my UFO bin. This week’s project is my Drunken Watermelon socks.

Last I shared about this project I was at the progress keeper shown hanging out at the toe. And for this week’s webex and webinar craziness, I worked on this project. I mean it’s just criminal to let Miss Babs yarn sit hibernating for almost a year!

I cruised through the rest of the foot and started the gusset increases. I have set a personal goal to get through the heel by tomorrow. The good news is that I have the first sock to compare to and it’s easy to count my rows/stitches so that I can make equal sized socks!

A Smidgeon of Sock

I have been cheating on my Pigskin Party knitting.

This is a WIP that predates the KAL so it doesn’t count for points. But my Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks have been living in my desk and I’ve put some stitches on the second sock during long webinars and conference calls. I’ve made maybe an inch? Slowly but surely this will be sock someday!

Happy Knitting!!

So Easy To Get Offcourse

My Strands of Drunken Watermelon have a very easy slip stitch pattern. And now I’m working the pattern all the way around the sock. So it’s easy to get off course.


The slipped stitches are worked worked with the yarn held in front. And the bars created in this process are offset/alternated by two stitches every other pattern row (if that makes any sense). This is not captivating TV show or late night knitting. I lose the ability to count to two and my bars go all wonky. I tried working on this late into the evening Labor Day weekend and I ended up tinking more than I knit.

Lesson learned…

Now The Drunken Watermelon Leg

The heel is turned on my Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks!


I did go with the toe-up gusset heel. I may have started it a tad bit later than I should have. The foot length looks loooong. The slightly more objective tape measure versus just eyeballing it assures me the foot is just slightly over 9 inches. Which should be fine. Should be…

For now I’m just going to admire my heel. Plus now I get to work the pattern all the way around. One less marker to fuss with!

Happy Knitting!!

Ps. How awesome is Miss Babs Hot shot!?!?

A Little Pulling

My Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks are still living in my desk. The foot now measures 7 inches. The pattern said to insert your favorite short row heel. But A) I converted these to toe-up and B) I don’t know any short row heels for toe up off the top of my head. I briefly flirted with short row heel patterns on Ravelry but ultimately I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I just decided to work a standard toe up gusset heel. I can continue the pattern over the top of the foot and do my increases in stockinette in the bottom. My brain knows how to do that so that’s what I’m doing.


The progress keeper shows my process since last I blogged about these. You may also noticed (as I did only just now) that the slipped stitch patterning is pulling the fabric on that half of the sock.


The designer warned in the pattern to work the sole tightly and the top loosely. I sincerely tried. I’m not *too* worried as the slip stitch fabric stretches nicely when pulled. I’m hoping a nice aggressive blocking arranges that. Regardless they will be perfectly serviceable socks even if the front is shorter than the back.

Happy Knitting!!

Ps. Jellybean is still on his sleep rebellion. This time thanks to growing pains. I’m really tired so apologies for any nonsensical errors in the above post 🤤

Update: Watermelon Socks

My Miss Babs yarn finally spoke to me! I found the Strands of Gold sock pattern by Linda Garland and thought the yarn floats would be awesome in this highly variagated yarn! It a simple toe up socks with short sections of holding the yarn in front and slipping the stitches behind it.


So these are now called my “Strands of Drunken Watermelon” socks. I set aside some time this week and cast on both toes. The first I put onto my 9 inch circ to work and the second is on DPNs inside the WIP minder that came with the bag.

These are probably going to wait until after I finish my sister’s socks. here’s hoping that helps me fight SSS!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Crazy Watermelon Socks

I decided I needed a little selfish sock knitting after the last couple of pairs of socks have been for gift knitting. I have a golden skein, so to speak, sitting in my stash. It’s my first ever Miss Babs yarn. I got the Hotshot base in the Drunken Watermelon color. I have had it since 2016 and it’s been calling me for months.

Well, I listened and it’s wound up and ready to go in my 19 stitches bag. I just haven’t decided if this variegated yarn wants to be a pair of vanilla socks with gusset heel or if it wants to be some other pattern.

I can’t wait to dive into this summer inspired yarn! Happy Knitting!