WIP: "Hermione's Everyday Socks" in Noro Sock Yarn

I have finally decided to use my ball of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I bought in college. You might be seeing a theme here: start using yarn bought over a decade ago. It's a noble cause. However, you get to the point were it's nestalgic, and then you don't feel like you can use the yarn unless you have found the absolute perfect project for it.

I divided the 100g ball into two seperate balls. I am making no attempt to line up the colors as I knit the socks toe-up. This will be my first pair of mis-matched socks, and I can't think of a better way to do this than rustic yarn that looks handspun.

Project: Hermione's Everyday Socks

Yarn: Noro Kureyon Socks (single-ply yarn), colorway 185 S

Needles: US 1.5 (2.25mm) and US 1 (2mm)

Started: sometime in 2018 (started for car-knitting, and then hibernated)

Although there's some purple in it, this colorway is really out of my regular colorway preference, so I hope the colors work up nicely.

This pair of sock lives inside my lovely Sailor Moon project bag from Otterly Adorable Knits and my bamboo yarn bowl from Darn Good Yarns. Don't you love how the colorway matches the colors in the bag? It's the little things in life. I got this bag almost a couple of years ago during a slump in my life. Sailor Moon was my favorite anime show back in middle school, so this is me channeling my inner child for a few smiles.

There's so many shades of purple in this sock colorway. In the wrong lighting, it almost looks like one giant purple chunk. The green/yellow really looks much nicer in person though.

I was planning on working another shortrow heel, but since there's already large sections of one color, I plan on doing an afterthought heel with a contrasting color from the leftover yarn.

In the midwest (Illinois), everything is shut down right now. We have having historic extreme temperature with -30's-40's+ for the wind-chill. They are telling us that if you stay out longer than 5 minutes, you might actually loose a limb to frostbite, or get hypothermia. Yikes. We are actually have colder weather than Antartica at the moment. Hopefully it blows over in 24 hours and our furnace and water pipes come through this unscathed.

Stay warm! Times like these really make you grateful for the basic necessities that you have--warmth, shelter, food and er, knitting.

Toe-Up Socks ("Skimmer Socks," aka "no-show socks")

I am really excited because I forced myself to learn a new skill: Toe-Up Socks. Well, actually, this involved two new skills because I first had to learn "Judy's Magic Cast-on" in order to do this.

I've knit plenty of socks, but I've been really stuck in my ways knitting them all cuff-down. Seriously, I would always say "Ok, self: the next one I'll try toe-up," but I never got around to actually doing that. Well, not until the Skimmer Socks (no-show socks) pattern. I bought myself a new pair of white Peds shoes, and this free pattern would be perfect for non-slip no-show socks!

So, in the car, on the way to the zoo, I decided to learn this new cast-on technique (word of the wise, it is best to NOT learn new techniques while in the car!) with the cellphone in my lap and needles at the ready. I used this video below to help me:

 And...voila! Several increase rows in, it's starting to look like the tip of the sock. Success!

Yarn: Paton's Stretch Socks (colorway: Sugar)

Needles: size US 1.5 (2.5mm) Addi Turbo circular needles

Pattern: Skimmer Socks (no-show socks) by Sheila Toy Stromberg

Skimmer Socks (by Sheila Toy Stromberg)--Source from Ravelry Pattern Database

I'm doing the sole right now. It's working up mighty quick. I can't wait to have a finished pair.
I decided to go with an elastic blend cotton/wool so that it can do a little bit of stretching; the blend should make for a sock that isn't too warm. My only concern is that the yarn is on the thin side, so I hope the sock won't be too small, overall.