SlipStripeSpiral

Pattern: SlipStripeSpiral
Yarn: Paton's Kroy (Summer Moss Jaquard) and Knitpicks Stroll (Forest Heather)

I love the way the stitch pattern creates a plaid look. What I don't love is the color combination. After seeing the pretty socks that other Sock Madness competitors were knitting, I could think of half a dozen other yarn choices from my own stash that would have been better. But by then I was halfway up the fist foot and  not about to start over.

It's not obvious from the pictures, but these socks have proper toes. I'd tried a similar technique before and just couldn't get it to work, but these were a lot easier than I expected. I'll be using that cast on again. The heels are a short row technique I'd never used, the Sweet Tomato Heel. I'm a lot less enthusiastic about that one.

These socks were knit in seven days. Not a personal record I don't think -- I've made faster progress on long road trips -- but for learning new techniques and working with more than one color, I was pretty impressed with myself.

I took a picture each night before bed to keep track of my progress:

I'd hoped that Sock Madness would help get me out of this rut I've fallen into. It worked, but now I'm not sure what to do with myself until round two starts next week.