WinterWonderland Socks

Project recap

• Ravelry: PurringYarn’s MKAL Winterwonderland Sock
• Time spent: 41 hours
• Yarn
  • MC Blue: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply
  • CC White: Colourmart 3/10NM Cashmere (Sparkle White)
• Needle: US 1.5/2.5mm
• Duration: [2025-06-30 Mon]-[2025-07-09 Wed]
• Pattern: MKAL Winterwonderland Sock
• Designer: Heleen’s Knithouse

Yarn planning

I have white socks yarn, but I’m planning to use the sparkle white from Colourmart as the contrast colour to make it more interesting. I think it goes well with the pattern - very winter-ish - even though I’m knitting in summer, haha.

I wanted the two socks to match the colour stripe, but I only have one skein of WYS yarn so it really took me a while to divide them. It’s quite difficult to figure out where the colour starts because the blues are similar.

Modifications

Very straight forward pattern so I only did some minor mods based on my size and experience:

• German twisted cast on
• After knitting the 2x2 rib, I also knitted a plain row for a smooth transition.
• I did not do the repeat for all chart.

Initially I was using the CC as the heel, but this way makes me end up with too much yarn left, which I hate.

Project timeline

• [2025-06-30 Mon] – Cast on.
• [2025-07-03 Thu] - Finish the first sock. Not quite happy with how leg and the heel looks so I’m making some changes on the second pair.
• [2025-07-04 Fri] - Finish the second sock. Planning to frog the first sock.
• [2025-07-09 Wed] - Bind off and block.

Retrospective

Gauge when using different weights of yarn

The CC is a DK weight yarn while the MC is heavy fingering weight, so the circumference of leg where the colourwork located is noticeably bigger than the foot. Not a big deal for me but I can definitely feel the difference when wearing the socks.

I should probably avoid mixing different weights of yarn (thinking back on that now… I made the similar mistake when knitting Treysta Sweater, it’s just less obvious). But I have to say, the sparkle in CC is subtle yet super beautiful!

Reduce the ladder with DPN

See Knitlog [2025-07-09 Wed]​. I found my ladder is more significant when knitting with DPN comparing to magic loop. After trying few tips and techniques, the best and easiesst way works for me is to *adjust the needles’ angle so that the angle between three needles are perpendicular to each other. This small adjustment minimize the ladder and did not slow me down. Love it.