I learned something yesterday.

I learned that knitting dishrags is fun! These will not be called “dishrags,” but rather “dishcloths.” They are Made By Hand and are therefore, Not Rags. At least, not yet.

I got to the join in the Honeydew Top – I don’t have a picture because right now it just looks like a pile of fabric. I do have a picture of the start of my April socks:

**Added 4/22/2006: You can print out the complete HayStack Socks pattern here!**

I am calling the pattern the Great Socks of Aten. The new Elizabeth Peters is out (I have it on my iPod – I’ve been reading about Peabody since middle school) and the socks are sun colored so I have taken all of these things as a sign from the sock god, Soccus. Not only does he have eight legs (with a different sock on each foot), but he also is the one to whom your dryer is sacrificing one sock out of every pair. Thank you, Cynthia for the…er…vision.

Making sock patterns is kind of organic for me. I start with my Concept, draw a little picture and then figure it out as I go along*, beginning with gauge. With the sunshine yarn, I started out with 8.5 sts to an inch on #1s, but the yarn was doing a weird pooling thing so I dropped down a needle size and I am getting about 9sts to an inch. If anyone has decided to Knit Along At Your Own Risk**: you want your gauge to be 8.5sts=1″ if you have a wider foot (sock will be 8.5″ around when relaxed) OR 9sts=1″ for a more narrow foot (sock will be 8″ around relaxed). I am using 4 dpns because all of my circulars are occupied at the moment. If you like circs better, use them.

Cast on 72 sts, divide them onto three dpns (24-24-24), join (don’t twist!) and work *K1,P1* ribbing for 1.5 inches. The next post will have the leg instructions.

*As opposed to writing the entire pattern out and then working from that. When I am making up a pattern for Great Gran, I write out the whole thing at one time, but on my own I am much more haphazard.
**I don’t know why anyone would want to take a risk like that, but it sounds like something I would enjoy, so here you are. I will post a completed pattern when I finish the socks. There’s no pressure to follow along or anything.