July KAL: Toe Up Sock

The Third Knit Along (KAL) for 2013 starts next Thursday, July 4th. Michelle Hunter of KnitPurlHunter is doing a Summer Rerun of a favorite KAL, a toe up sock project that she has named "Center of Attention."

This design uses Trekking XXL sock yarn in the color "Susanne." Skacel, the distributor of this yarn, donates $10 to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research for every skein of "Susanne" that is purchased. Needle size for the sock design is US #1 (2.5mm) or size necessary to achieve a gauge of 8 stitches per inch in stockinette. The pattern may be knit with double points, two circular needles, or the magic loop method. Sizing will be for adult medium or large.

Michelle will post the first week of the KAL on her website next Thursday and then each stage of the KAL will appear on the successive Thursdays in July. A Knit Along is a neat way to encourage yourself to knit daily. You will have a goal each week of finishing a section of the knitting. Then you wait for the next post and, presto, pretty soon it is the end of the month and you are done!

Now, here's a really cool thing about this Knit Along. Because the KAL is a repeat, you get to see the socks. Go to Michelle Hunter's designer page on Ravelry. There you will find a photo of the sock design and you will see that there are three cables that climb up the center of the sock. These lines of cables are the "center of attention." Very clever.

Keep in mind that these cables might get lost in a multicolor sock yarn. If you are thinking of doing the Knit Along in another yarn, just be aware of the cable interest in this design and be thinking of using a more solid color yarn if you want the cables to stand out.

• Click HERE to go to the Knit Along directions page.
• Click HERE to go to our website to order Susanne. Any order that includes a skein of Susanne will ship for FREE from now through Monday, July 8th, so see if you want anything else from Graywood and we'll be happy to process your order.
• Click HERE to see Trekking XXL Tweed, another yarn that would show off the cables. 

I hope you can join the Knit Along in July. If you've made more than enough socks for your drawer, then consider making this pair to donate to a good cause or knit a pair for a holiday gift.

Happy knitting,

Wanda

P.S. I counted up the colors of sock yarn that we have on our website one day this week and stopped counting when the number went beyond 60. We carry twenty colors of CoBaSi, the non-wool sock yarn that is great for warm weather knitting, and I just added eight new colors of Trekking XXL today.