i've heard it said that i give good knee. or, german stockings complete

German Stockings by Cookie A
Fearless Fibers Sock yarn, colorway "Royalty"-- 2 sk.
US 1, 2.25mm dpns -- 9 sts/inch **different gauge than patt**
Started: March 19, 2007 (?)
Finished: May 20, 2007

Beautiful, inspiring, impractical... all the things forbidden love should be! I really like this pair of stockings :)

I think I wrote about the things I wanted to cover already when I finished the first of these, but a little echo. The yarn is FF Sock and knit at a tighter gauge than the Louet Gems Pearl of the pattern (9 sts/inch v 8 sts/inch), but that with Cookie's sizing options in the pattern, I was able to use her numbers for a large sized stocking (I'd usually fit a M) and it worked out well as far as fit goes. This is pretty cool, since as long as you know your gauge and can spotcheck your math for the important circumferences (calf, ankle, foot) you can easily switch in your yarn of choice.



The Fearless Fibers yarn is great-- I love the color. I know that this stocking's patt pops more on a solid background, and also more when on a light colored background, but since I knit the sample pair of these stockings in white I wanted something different this time around. When on, the pattern pops much more than when taking unmodelled shots (you can see some pics of the stockings off in my flickr stream). The variation of color in the yarn was just fun for me to knit with, and I'm happy with the choice-- however impractical.



I used US 1's to get 9 sts/inch with the yarn, but I think that the yarn will do best on US 0's. I have a mental block when it comes to the idea of kneehighs on US 0's, though. :) I used 2 hanks of yarn (4 oz each, 120 gm) but only used 70 gm & had 50 gm left over from each. That means I have enough for another pair of purple socks (yay! I'm thinking anne from knitspot's smoke socks...?) and that if you have a smaller calf/leg than me you may be able to eke out a pair of stockings for yourself from only 1 hank of yarn.



Don't think that the 2 months it took me to knit these was an indication about the pattern or yarn... life and spinning just has a way of distracting me sometimes. I think it took me less than 2 weeks to knit the (XS) sized pair, so its not a tough knit at all... just one you need to stick to. (To be honest, the "hardest" part is the cuff ribbing... it seems to go on forever! Stick it thru and you'll just sail, really.)



I know, in the back of some of your minds you're thinking this is an obnoxious color pairing for these, and if I wore them out the house I'd look a mess. (It's okay!) Really though, they're already impractical since I don't wear skirts or shorts, and looked actually pretty silly taking these pictures downstairs with my neighbors all wondering about my apparent foot fetish again. I think they're just really fun, and will be a little nostalgic for me... I used to wear thigh high stockings with a garter belt when I was in high school-- underneath my jeans. I did it for me, because I liked the way they felt and looked, and that they were a secret that no one else knew about. I think these are going to be like those.



I also think I may need sock garters for them. They slouch a little too much during actual wear for ocd-me, but they feel really good on. :)

I think that's it! Very anticlimactic :)