I have a thing for challenges and knit-a-longs, so when Leeni Hoi announced that she's hosting a KAL for her cool X Sox design I knew that I wanted to participate. I had bought a skein of her Lystig Merino Sock in My Little Pony Overdose at the Knitmare Fest in October, and this would be the perfect occasion to knit socks for me using that yarn. Or so I thought. We had arranged for the kids to spend a week of their Christmas holiday with grandparents in Kuopio. That's north enough to have snow and a real winter; something that we have had in Helsinki for only the last couple of weeks (and that'll be gone by Thursday when we'll get rain showers that will melt the precious snow away). I was planning to continue with my last GAL projects until end of the year, and then cast on my X Sox on first of January. Then, on the train, I realised that we didn't pack woolly socks for Troll Princess.

"You can't possibly knit a pair of socks that fast!" said Business Woman, and if that's not a challenge, I don't know what is. I had three days before returning to Helsinki, but, obviously, there are other obligations when visiting the in-laws so it's not all knitting time. However, I had 4 hours on the train so I could get a good start.


The pattern has instructions for heavier and lighter weight sock yarn, and a note saying that you can get a larger size by using heavier yarn with light weight stitch count. I figured that it would work the other way around as well, and started with the stitch count for heavy yarn using this light weight yarn. It happened to fit perfectly, so there was no need for further modifications. The legs could have been longer, but I bound off the socks 10 minutes before we headed back to the train station. This was the size that was doable in three days. In the end, Troll Princess had a lovely week of playing in the snow with warm feet!


The problem with these photos is that you can't see the X in the Sox! I only realised when I looked at the pictures that she should have worn them the other way around for the X to show - now they look more like diamond socks... Sorry, Leeni!


It's CreaDienstag!