Get your Drunken Bees here

Here at last is the pattern for the Drunken Bees Socks. Fair warning, the pattern is not laid out to a T. I've left out specifics like how to do a cable, how to knit a heel turn and the toe, and all those very macro details like how many stitches to knit across first before you start the heel, how to distribute stitches, etc. If you're an experienced sock knitter - as in you've knit at least one or two socks - you don't need to know exactly how, so I don't want to fluster myself trying to spell it all out!

All you need is the chart and you can work out the rest to your liking.

But feel free to contact me if something makes no sense or looks wrong.

For more photos, see here.

DRUNKEN BEES SOCKS

Yarn: Fingering weight sock yarn. To really show the pattern, use semi-solid to solid colors.
Needles: 5 size 1 dpns (or whichever method you prefer for circular knitting) for S/M foot, Size 2 for L foot.

Pattern is deliciously squishy and should stretch comfortably to fit.

For socks that pull in a little more, you can knit through the back loop of every yarn over that was done in the previous row.

CAST ON:
CO 69 sts. Distribute 17 sts on 3 needles, 18 sts on one needle

CUFF:
Repeat (k2, p1) ribbing until cuff is 1 inch long or desired length.
Begin last row of ribbing with a k2tog.

Now you have 68 sts to work leg pattern.

Slip stitches =
RS: repeat (sl1,k1) to end
WS: sl1, then p to end

LEG:
Work leg pattern chart 3 times, or to desired length (make note of where you left off).

HEEL FLAP & HEEL TURN:
Divide sts so that there are 33 sts for the heel flap, and 35 sts for the instep. Make sure you split in such a way as to allow two "honeycomb" patterns to continue down the side of the heel. I started the divide in the middle of a bee flight pattern. You might have to knit across some stitches to get to the start of heel.

Slip first stitch of every row. Except for the honeycomb patterns and the purl gutters, knit the heel in slip-stitch pattern, until you've worked 26-30 rows.

See chart above.

Follow flap with your preferred heel turn. I used a square heel.

GUSSETT:
Pick up the slipped stitches on side of heel flap, and continue chart pattern for instep.

INSTEP:
The instep is symmetrical. For the first and last 6 stitches of the instep, follow the first 6 stitches of the "bee flight" leg pattern chart (stitches 6-11). Or, just knit them in Stockinette. Or ribbed. Whatever you want.

Continue until desired length, then knit your preferred toe method.

Bzzzz!

Comments [45]
Filed Under: Socks | Drunken Bees

A Swarm of Socks

Pattern: My own! I have christened thee Swarm Drunken Bees.
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight in Midsummer's Night
Needles: US1 dpns

I finished them!

And then I sat for hours and hours more trying to think of a good name for them.

Everything that I came up with was bee-themed, because I think the zigzag pattern looks drunk yet curiously deliberate, bzzzz like a bee in flight bzzzz, and the mini-cables on the side resemble honeycombs.

So I came up with
1. Bumblebee (too cutesy)
2. Honeybee (way too cutesy)
3. Worker Bee (too slavish)
4. Royal Jelly (too weird)
5. Beehive (maybe)
6. Swarm (hmm)

Yessss, swarm...I see a swarm of stitches swirling in and around each other.

It's not the prettiest sounding word though, unfortunately. But a quick run through the thesaurus in my head came up with lovely words that conjured up such lovely pictures, such as locusts, plague, infestation...So back to Swarm it was.

Now I name you Drunken Bees! Back from a long day's work, intoxicated with nectar, buzzing and teetering and bouncing off each other just outside your honeycombed nest!

Close-up of heel: Slip stitch at the center, flanked by honeycombs which continue down from the leg, and purl gutter, and bordered by more slip stitches. Finished with a square heel.

At some point I will write up a pattern for these, probably after we move (3 more weeks!). When I do it will most likely be a pseudo-pattern: more of a general overview rather than stitch-by-stitch instructions. Really all you need to know is the stitch pattern, and if you know how to knit a sock, you can do the rest without explicit instruction, and use your favorite methods of constructing the heel, the toe, up or down...I just hate telling people what to do, especially when there's no right way or wrong way about it!

Bzzzzz!

Comments [83]
Filed Under: Completed Projects | Socks | Drunken Bees

Eye Candy Friday 4 U

First Socks that Rock purchase as possible yarn to use for my Sockapalooza socks.

Socks That Rock | lightweight | Midsummer's Night shaded solids

I had no sock pattern in mind when I bought the yarn, so I picked out a something from my Japanese stitch dictionary. It's got some mini-cables, some 4-stitch cables, and a whole lot of ktog's and ssk's.

It is quite an interesting pattern. A little fussy, a little whimsical at the same time.

For the heel, I continued the mini-cables and the purl gutter down each side, and knitted a slip-stitch heel using the stitches from the main "wave" pattern. Then I finished it with a square heel.

This is a fine example of the technique commonly known as Making It Up As You Go Along.

I think I like it. Not sure yet.

Another thing I'm not 100% about is them STRs. I really love the base yarn, love the way it feels in the hand and the way it knits up, but I must say the dye job is completely underwhelming. The colors are muted, unremarkable, doesn't induce me to want to eat the yarn the way Koigus usually do. But it's the pooling, my GOD ALL THE POOLING, that I just can't ignore. Even for a shaded solid it does that icky, diagonal pooling, the unintentional blotchy striping which seems to be its trademark.

Seriously though. What is up with the diagonal pooling. You know of which I speak, I know you do. I noticed it on the first STR I ever knit with, so kindly given to me by Scout. Since then I've seen the diagonal pooling all over flickr. I see it now with the solids. It's so consistent that it drives me crazy, because, wouldn't it be easy to "fix" if you wanted to? Now I say this without having ever dyed a single skein of yarn in my life, and assuming that others want it "fixed" too, which they clearly don't because those things sell out like kittens at the kitten store.

But like, could you paint/dye shorter lengths of yarn in the same color? Dye the each color interval more randomly? Something? Then there won't be so much pooling? Maybe...?

I do wonder a little how these socks have achieved rock-star status. Kind of like Obama. Hmm.

******

Has everyone forgotten Dottie, because I sure have! Eeks oops sorry don't hate me! She's been reposing all this time in the office cubicle. Now she's finally enjoying the great outdoors, reposing on a bed of soft frilly peonies. It's one last hoorah before the flowers start fading away.

Comments [54]
Filed Under: Postcards from Dottie | Socks | Drunken Bees | Yarn Stash