Hello friends,

Yes, I've been knitting socks again. As the days grow colder, I'm always drawn to cosy things, and right near the top of that list are hand-knitted socks to keep my feet warm throughout winter. I seem to have developed a rather bad habit of buying more sock yarn than I have time to knit, which means there's always another pair of socks waiting to be cast on.

In this case, the yarn had been waiting patiently in my stash since 2024, when I bought a 100 g skein of Belladonna, a sparkly 4-ply sock yarn from Dye Studio 54, at the 45° Fibre Festival in Gore. Made up of 70% Merino, 20% nylon, and 10% silver Stellina sparkle, I was immediately drawn to the rich purple tones and silver sparkles, and knew it would eventually become a pair of winter socks.

Wanting to try something new, I pulled out a knitting pattern that had been sitting in my collection for a while, the Seasalt Socks by Maya Macdonald from The Wool Barn Knits. I love the subtle texture of the pattern, and thought it would work beautifully with the semisolid colour of the Belladonna yarn. With the pattern and yarn finally paired together, it was time to cast on and enjoy some cosy autumnal knitting.

It didn't take very long to knit the socks once I had figured out the pattern. The trickiest part was working the gusset decreases while keeping the textured instep pattern flowing correctly, but after quite a bit of scribbling on paper, calculations, and writing everything out line by line, I eventually managed to make it work with the help of hubby.

With the socks all finished, I'm happy to say that they are wonderfully comfortable to wear. Even with the silver sparkle running through the yarn, they are beautifully soft and perfect for keeping my feet cosy on cold winter days.

I'm really enjoying these socks every time I wear them. The little flashes of silver sparkle never fail to amuse me, and they've been keeping my feet cosy throughout winter so far. For now though, I think I'll be taking a break from knitting socks and spending some time working on some of my other crafts. Besides, it's not as if I don't already have a mountain of spinning and other creative projects patiently waiting for their turn!

Have a wonderful day,

Julie-Ann

If you'd like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Mastodon, Bluesky, and Facebook.

I'd love to hear what you're knitting, making, or creating this winter.

Tags: 2026, 4 Ply, Knitting, Knitting Project, Merino, Sock Yarn, Socks, Sparkle Socks