Sunday, January 06, 2008

FO: space invader socks

Another vintage FO that has so-far been hidden from the internet (squirrelled away as a secret Christmas present). Space invader socks, made for my little brother. Completed late this summer during flights to and from Tokyo.
space invadors socks 2

I had an idea for these socks ages ago. But great minds think alike and Aija produced her great pattern last Spring. I thought I might as well use her specifications as they were much nicer than the vague idea I had half-formed. However, my (bamboo, 2mm) needle snapped a few cm into the charts. As I was on an aeroplane somewhere over Russia at the time, I was limited to the only other needle in my hand luggage, which happened to be a size up. So, I re-gauged and in doing so had to enlarge and simplify the pattern a bit.

Still, the bigger space invaders show up neatly, and the looser tension means the socks are slightly stretchier. As with the pirate argyles I made my brother last year, these are a pair of socks that are quite silly, but can look respectable under a suit. Let your trousers sit naturally and the embarrassing big-sister knitted motifs entirely disappear: lift them up a few cm and your childish alter-ego is revealed (though you might spot a green monster poking through the left foot on this photo).

space invadors socks hidden

The yarn is matchmaker 4ply for the black and knitpicks essential for the green (grass colourway), for those who wonder about such things. And I ended up using a 2.5mmm 80cm addi circular, toe up method.

15 comments:

Stacey said...

Those look great! :) I think wacky socks are the height of fashion personally. :)

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

How appropriate that you knit these to and from Tokyo, capital of space invader fashion!

Oiyi said...

I like the duality of the socks.

schrodinger said...

Fantastic! I love how you adapted the pattern to your environment. I bet he loves them.

Christie said...

How fun!

aija said...

So rad!! I love the secret agent aspect ;) yn

spajonas said...

awesome! i love these! if only i loved doing fair isle ;)

Elemmaciltur said...

Brava! Very nice work!

Anonymous said...

What a great present!

Anonymous said...

Those look great, I like the slightly simplified version (though, Sock Porn's pattern is fab, I have it in my queue)

Just found your blog, love all your work!

Anonymous said...

Wow, lucky you had a spare pair of sock needles, even if they were a different size!

Stacey said...

so cute!!!! love the fact that the pattern is hidden

ремонт и смета said...

To my mind everybody have to glance at it.

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