Spring is the perfect time for lighter hand-knitted socks and Alexandra (Korora Knits) has just the right pattern for the season. She joins me at #KnittingHour on Twitter on Thursdays and gifted me this Snowdrops ankle socks pattern. As it happens, I had just the right yarn for it, too. Or so I thought. As it happens, I am wearing these socks right now! They feel good on my skin, but as you can imagine, silk isn't ideal for socks because it does make them rather slippery. The material is not as warm as pure wool or a wool and acrylic blend, which is great for the warmer days of spring. In future, I will steer clear of silk in sock yarn despite the good definition and cooler feel. I am not a fan of the constant slipping and twisting when I wear this pair. That said, it's purely my fault for choosing the wrong yarn. The knitting pattern itself is great and easy to follow. The yarn I had in mind is this sky blue speckled 4-ply from The Wool Kitchen. I bought it at a small yarn show, and as usual I didn't have any plans for it at the time. It wasn't my usual colourway, but I loved how silky the yarn felt. That comes as no surprise as it contains a blend of merino and silk. The colourway is called Earth & Sky.  Snowdrops offers a simple lace pattern that is easily memorised after a few repeats. The socks were quick and easy to knit and reminded me of my first-ever socks. For some reason, this beginner chose to start with a lace sock instead of a plain one. I like to make my life... interesting, shall we say. Something I really enjoyed about these socks is the picot edging. You actually start knitting from the top down, so the first thing you do is tackle the picot edging, fold it over to form the little peaks, and sew it in place. Only then do you continue with the leg. Trust me, that's the only bit that may take some getting used to if you have knitted socks before, so anything after the edging is a breeze. I did make a change to the pattern, come to think of it: originally, the heel was meant to be knitted using German short rows, which are not my friend. I tried and failed, so I resorted to my usual gusset and heel flap. You can sub in any heel you like and it will work just as well. Mine gives me the perfect fit and I am happy with the result.

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