Holidays Revamped!

I finally got around to updating my Ribby Holiday Socks pattern! It now includes additional sizing information so that you can knit it at three different gauges with fingering, sport, or DK weight yarn. This came about because I decided I wanted to knit the pattern in Socks that Rock Mediumweight yarn and I realized that the stitch count wouldn't work to fit me in that yarn as written, so I changed it and finished my fifth pair of 2012 socks to boot:

STR Mediumweight, colorway On Blueberry Hill

These were my Gone Fishin' socks, and were perfect for travel knitting while I worked on the boat. I'm already planning my next pair. I revamped the layout of the pattern and changed the way the sizing works. It now includes a table in which you find the gauge that you get with your needles and yarn and the desired fit you want (in circumference around the ball of your foot) in order to figure out which size you should knit. I've often been frustrated with how sock sizes are indicated in patterns and have found which yarn/needle/gauge combos work for me only after much practice and trial-and-error, so I'm hoping the sizing table will take some of the guesswork out of the whole thing, especially for new knitters. No guarantees of perfect-sock-fit-nirvana, of course, since everybody's feet are different, but I'm hoping it will still provide a useful jumping-off point for figuring out what might work best.

Ah, gotta love eye-searingly stripey socks, no? And there's really no need to wait for the actual holidays to roll around before you knit a pair of these for yourself, you know. You could think of them as summer holiday socks, or vacation holiday socks, amIright? Anyway, I'll be spending the rest of my day at a Renaissance Faire partying like it's 1499. Enjoy your holiday weekend! ;)