FO Friday

TGIF, kittens! To celebrate, let's talk about a recent FO.

Pattern: Gothy Gauntlets (Ravel it)

Needles: US 2 1/2

Yarn: Rainy Days and Wooly Dogs Goth Socks - Goblin King

This was one of my fun cast-ons last week after I realized I'd had a bit too much pink for the time being. I needed some neutrals in my life, and my first shipment of my Goth Socks clubs was just the ticket: a colorway based on The Goblin King--black stripes with bronzey brown, silver, and a small touch of blue. How can you not love a color way inspired by David Bowie?!

Before discussing my mods to this pattern and my thoughts on it, I would like to take a moment to rave about this yarn and the club it comes from. Prior to Goth Socks, I had been involved in only one club. It was nice enough, but the yarn colors never matched our choices and I found myself continually let down because of it. As pictured on my monitor, they sang to me, and I kept focusing on what I thought I was getting but didn't. Anywho. They just weren't me and I ended up destashing or getting rid of every single skein from the 4 or 5 months I was a member. I swore off yarn clubs because I thought I could never be happy with yarn I hadn't chosen for myself: surprises would never do. (Anyone who knows me in meat space can attest to my dislike for surprises and the unknown.)

Then, I started following the Goth Socks group on Ravelry and every month, the club yarn was something I would lop off a finger for. I lurked for awhile, pining after pretty striping yarns and gorgeous variegateds. I managed to score one skein of a club yarn from a destash, and then a striping color way from an update. (BTW, if you want one of these yarns, have a fast internet connection and be prepared to zip along. These are some of the worst updates I've been through, and I survived all of the Sundara cluster fuck updates from 2 years ago. All the yarn goes in under 2 minutes so you have to be there right away, grab your skein and check out. You've been warned.)When it was announced that Stephanie was expanding the club, I knew I had to have a spot. I managed to be on right when they came up and SUCCESS! I am now in the most awesome yarn club ever. My first two yarns have been Love, the very first one being what I made my wristlets out of. The second is a gorgeous semi-solid Absinthe green, and the spoiler for next month is that it's a non-black striping inspired by Sailor Moon. Swoon. I have found my people and my yarn club. As if the colors alone are not great enough, this yarn is like buttah and there was not a single slubby bit, loose ply, over twisted section, broken section knotted back together...nothing. I have never had this happen with an indie dyed yarn. Ever.I am convinced that Stephanie is some sort of a yarn goddess.

Enough enabling; back to the gauntlets.

Since it's no secret to anyone who reads this blog that I'm a tight knitter, I cast-on 2 needles sizes up from the recommended size in the pattern, and then I cast on 4 additional stitches to be safe. If I were to make these for me again, I would cast on one size larger and make it an additional 8-10 stitches...or keep the same needle size and cast on even more. I do like the fabric that the 2 1/2s produced with this yarn. I had to cut these short because of my large forearms and even with the compensations, I could not get them that far up. That made me a bit sad, but they're a nice length as they are.

The only other pattern change I made was to make sure I had even numbers for the thumbs and finger sections, because as-written they were odd and I can not stand K1P1 ribbing that is not symmetrical.

These were easy and fast and would work great in any self-striping sock yarn. I will definitely make more in the future.

Probably in pink.