These have taken far too long, but at last my truly, madly, deeply neon socks are done. The extended knitting period was caused by the fact that I wasn't that keen on the very wide repeats and lack of stripe definition as shown on the photo on the ball-band, and by the fact that I had to buy a second 100g ball to finish the pair when it seems there is virtually none of this yarn in the country.
I may not have liked the programmed repeats but I do, however, love the different neon colours. So I decided to knit thinner stripes - mostly based on four rows - and to create greater contrast and alter the colour sequence by pulling out different sections from within and from the end. The more I knitted, the more I thought of the neon highlighter pens that seem to accumulate here on windowsills and in pencil cases. I always like the pink-yellow-orange-lime pens best, and the varying thicknesses of the stripes reminded me of the way you can make narrow or wide lines with the chubby felt-tips.
Even before I'd finished the first sock I could see I was going to be short of yarn for the second, depsite the fact that these are my usual size socks and nothing extra-large. So I scoured UK websites for another ball and eventuall tracked one down, but I could believe how different it was to the first. Admittedly it's a different dye lot but while it's bright it's also totally un-neon and even contains shades that didn't occur in the first ball. It took quite some planning to disguise the introduction of the new yarn but in end it worked out OK because I'd kept back some of the blisteringly hot pink (as opposed to the dainty pink in the new ball) which worked well with the paler new yarn. There are far too many ends to sew in for my liking because of the colour changes but, as it's still summer, the socks aren't needed just yet and can sit around on a windowsill or in a pencil case, looking very much at home surrounded by bright neon highlighter pens.
The sock pattern is in The Gentle Art of Knitting and the yarn is Regia Fluormania 'Rainbow' (4-ply).
[I'm now wondering if there are two version of this yarn. The less neon version seems to be available in the US while the the very neon version is the one in the UK (NB the one on eBay is exactly the same colour as the yarn I used but is 6-ply), even though my second ball came from a UK seller.]
WOW!
Posted by: Lisa G. | August 03, 2014 at 17:22
I've got a ball of this, might knit it up to see how it works out. I got mine from PurpleLinda. I only have the one ball, and I'll be annoyed if I need a second one.
Posted by: Nikki | August 03, 2014 at 18:05
Circa 1970 when 'fluro' was in for the first time, it was instantly appealing in fabrics, especially paisleys with a splash of one of these juicy colours. Fluro was the epitome of 'mod'! I remember underwear packaged in fuoro packs, each pair of knickers was one of the colours of your stripes. But if I had owned something so wondrous as a pack of neon hi lighters, I would have been the coolest girl at school. It's hard to imagine now that there was a pre-hilighter time :) Love the sox!!
Posted by: Sally | August 03, 2014 at 19:59
Love them!
Posted by: Cathy | August 03, 2014 at 22:32
Love them! A close second to the beautiful apple green and grey. You've inspired me to try my hand. I recently found a Pinterest pin with instructions for knitting two socks at once, looking forward to trying it!
Posted by: Sue | August 04, 2014 at 03:13
Wow
Totally with you on dye lot variations. Had some black/grey sock yarn for my husband. Another dye lot, of ostensibly the same stuff, turned out beige and very dark blue/grey!
Posted by: Bronchitikat | August 05, 2014 at 12:14
Forgot, but remembered.
Why not knit your ends in as you go? It makes the making up process a whole lot easier and more pleasurable. The knitted-in ends hardly notice, promise.
Lay the new yarn alongside the old yarn. Knit/pattern three or four stitches with the doubled yarn, continue knitting with the new yarn, weaving the end of the old yarn up and down on the reverse of the fabric. There you are, done.
If you are joining in another colour you can tweak the knitted loops on the double knitted stitches so that they are smaller, once they are knitted in the next row.
As the Meerkat says, simples - and a lot more simples to do than to describe I reckon!
Then there are the good ol' techniques like spit splicing (whatever that is) and various other methods illustrated beautifully on YouTube. Seriously, you need never sew in ends again.
Posted by: Bronchitikat | August 05, 2014 at 12:46
Wow!
Posted by: Geraldine | August 14, 2014 at 22:56