FO: Earl Blue

Whatever I knit, I always make my bf look at it, and I expect him to compliment me on it. Sweet guy that he is he takes it with patience. I have knitted this pair of socks for myself a while back. The pattern is Zombie Socks by Sheryl Giles.

my Zombie Witch

When I finished them he happened to be sitting on the couch complaining about how cold it was in the house. I had JUST the solution for that. He was a bit reluctant to put on socks that had this crazy color (Knit Picks Imagination Hand Painted Sock yarn, colorway wicked witch) but I convinced him that nobody would see it if he wore them at home. He ended up wearing them all day, even when he left the house. He came back saying that he didn't like how the socks feel in shoes.

I decided to knit socks for him that he would like. He thinks socks should be simple and in a dark color (*sigh*) so I gave him a few simple (yet not stockinette stitch only) pattern to choose from, and had him pick a yarn from my stash. He decided on the Earl Grey Pattern by the Yarn Harlot, and Cascade Yarn Heritage Paints in colorway 'isle of sky'. I bought this yarn more than a year ago when I took my parents to Chicago (including a great lys). The yarn is not very soft but it's nice to knit with, and the color is really pretty. I started off casting on the number of stitches given in the pattern, and after a few inches into the leg I thought it might be too wide to fit his skinny legs. He looks at me and says "Well, they will fit YOUR legs" (which are, well, a little more sturdy).
I started anew, with fewer stitches. Then the ankles. Even though bf's legs are very skinny, his feet and ankles are not. Plus, he has this funnily shaped feet. They are very flat and almost rectangular but his big toe is the highest point. So it's more of a trapezoid actually. Since I'm really bad at improvising, I just followed the pattern as written, only that I left more stitches after the heel turn to make the foot wider than the leg. The toes of the socks converge at the center, although they should slant towards the big toe. Again with the inability to adjust. Anyways, they fit ok. They are a little tight at the leg (hmm) and bf has some problems pulling the socks over his ankles. Still, he likes them. And I know now what I have to change to make better fitting socks. For starters, use stretchier yarn.

Earl Grey socks on bf's foot