I have done some cable work or other complicated stitches before but the idea of lace work had been intimidating to me. To increase my nervousness, a friend of mine asked me to do Monkey Socks by Cookie A. as a sample for her yarn trunk show in California. While I felt confident in my abilities to knit socks, this would be my first pattern with any type of lace work. I would also do anything to help Machete Shoppe as she is a wondrous human being. Always willing to try something new and be challenged I took home the gorgeous yarn, downloaded the pattern and cast on. It took me a few tries to get out of my normal sock habit of beginning them at the toes and knitting both socks at the same time, although I did do the slight adaptation of the pattern for magic loop method.
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Once I got to the actual lace work I did have to frog it a couple of times. I wanted them to be as perfect as I could possibly make them! I have that personality type where I need to please people. It is sometimes a blessing and a curse but almost always feels like a curse.
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After I got the hang of the lace pattern it was quite lovely to knit while doing some Netflix binging. I kid you not, I finished them both in 16 days.
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Now that they are cast off I am in love with how the lace work turned out. I can’t wait to cast on my next pair of lacy socks. Only problem is that Fall is right around the corner so its time to put energy into winter Holiday gifts.
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I also took this opportunity to buy my first pair of sock blockers. Mind you, this is my first time blocking anything! I must say they did look better once they had been blocked. These photos are all post blocking, except for the couple below.
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It is either placebo effect or the lighting that makes me think the blocking appears so much nicer.
Regardless, this pattern is a lot of fun to knit, I thought it went extremely quick for size 2 needles and fingering weight yarn. I would recommend this for knitters trying out their first lace pattern. Also a good pattern for lace knitters who want to try socks.
Thanks for perusing 🙂
Susan
Water and Wool
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: Peachy King by Machete Shoppe