July challenge - check!

I guess I could have cheated and re-purposed May's hand-dyed socks for the July challenge but . . .

I'm always up for a challenge. Since I'd already made 3 pairs of socks from the 3 hanks of yarn I hand dyed at Shepherd's Harvest '07, I only had dribs and drabs left. So rather than dye more yarn, I decided to use what I had left to make some crazy striped socks.

To further challenge myself, I decided to learn how to do a jogless stripe in the round. A quick peek at Grumperina's tutorial and 3 false starts and I figured it out. In the top photo, you can see where the color change jogs should show up, in the transition from the 1x1 rib to the sole stitches. NO JOGS! So cool! I used one yarn for the toes, another for the heel flap and the 3rd color on the ribbing, so the sock would show the original color ways in their analogous glory.

Since the colors really never were meant to be used together and each of them flashed pretty strongly, the resulting pattern is nothing if not garish. I've named them Tropical Punch - mostly because the bold colors tend to "punch" you in the eye.

But they were a great learning tool and they're super warm and should work just fine this winter, keeping the tootsies nice and toasty in cold hockey rinks.

Although they are a bit more vibrant than my usual color pallet, I'm seriously thinking about using the bits I've got left to make a pair of matching wristlets.

If you're going to go bold, might as well go all the way.

August challenge is on the needles and September is percolating in the ol' grey matter. How's everyone else doing?