My Socks ROCK!

They're done. They're DONE! THEY ARE DONE!!!!

My very first pair of socks. They are squishy - and springy - and they massage my feet with every wonderful step! So, without further ado, here are some pictures.



The socks were knit to be reversible, and the two sides are very distinct! The "reverse" side really shows the ribs and cables whereas the "normal" side is much more mellow. The striping is inherent in the yarn and had little to do with my knitting. I'd stitched in a few different sizes and never could really get the 'pooling' effect shown on the actual pattern. I know I'm not the only one that ended up with this color scheme; but I must admit, I really wanted to get that effect!


This is a better picture of the "normal" side and shows the cables more clearly. You can also see the ribbing that is on both the foot as well as the instep.

Another view of the leg - with a better look at the short-row heel. I really liked this heel technique. It is unbelievable SQUISHY! It was challenging to knit since it is so dense and really curled up tightly on the needles. I knit using two circulars rather than four double-points, which may have made things more challenging, but who knows? I doubt I'll go back to double-points unless I have to (and I did for my Jaywalker socks).



In this view, they are both "reversed". Again, the ribs and cables are very visible.



Finally, a close-up of the pair; one right side, one wrong side. The light is a little crummy, but so it goes.

I'm excited about next month's sock! I can't wait for the yarn to arrive and to start poring over the pattern. I'm torn as to whether or not I should splurge and order the Addi Turbo needles (everyone seems to knit on them) and give them a shot. The Crystal Palace needles that I've been using don't have a good seam between the bamboo and the cable and it's been difficult to get the yarn to slide back on to the circular.

Whatever.

It's just more money to spend on knitting foo ... right?

Turning the heel

So I've rounded the corner and am on the home stretch of the first sock. Yes, it should have been done by now, but let's just say that I'm effectively knitting three socks instead of two. :-) Also, I've had my first run-in with the 5-1-5 cable. I've been so schooled by this pattern to knit TIGHTLY that I forgot about the looseness required for easy cabling. I also don't have a cable needle that's the equivalent of a 0 knitting needle, so it's bit more "interesting". I suspect there's at least one more trip to the knitting store tomorrow to pick up some 0 double-points. Might even be easier to work the leg on double points rather than two circulars.

No pictures today - I'll take some tomorrow when I (hopefully) finish up the first sock. Then I've got to get back to my book club book. It's due next weekend!

More sizing musings - addressing the "foot"

In helping a fellow knitter with smaller feet, I've managed to work out the following to make a smaller "foot" portion of the sock.

Specifically, johussion measured her foot and got to a completed toe that is made up of 52 stitches. Looking at the STR pattern, there's an approximately 25% increase in stitch count from toe to foot to compensate for the rib and the smaller needle gage. Doing some simple math gets us to a target of 64 stitches all around for the foot (52 stitches plus 25%).

Here's the hard part - given the [p1, k2] rib on the instep and the [p2, k2] rib on the sole, it take a little fiddling to work it out. Also, the set-up row is done in groups of 7 and 8.

Using the "new math", I ended up with this for the next two rows:

Set-up round: P1, [k2, p1, k1, kfb] 5 times - 31 instep stitches. K1, kfb, [k2, p2, k1, kfb, p1] 3 times, k2, p1 - 30 sole stitches, 61 total stitches
Round 1: [P1, k2] 12 times, [p2, k2] 6 times, p1

Now, the instep will have 10 k2 ribs and the sole will have 8 k2 ribs. Knit away and turn the heel a little later - likely at 1.5" from the heel rather than 1.75", given that we're working with a smaller number of stitches overall.

Last part of the pattern is for the leg and it's worked in repeats of 24. That means trouble. We've got 61 stitches coming off the toe - and that's 13 more than two repeats and 11 less than three repeats (standard pattern has 3 repeats). Should you will fill the gaps with purl stitches? Increase around the leg to get up to 72? I really don't know. I suspect johussion and I will figure this out when she turns the heel. It's all about the sizing, you know.

Progress is being made ...

It's been three days since I received my sock yarn and I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I haven't had any large blocks of time to work on it, but it's still satisfying to see that there will be a pair of socks one day!

From some of the other knitters, I've seen some cool "pooling" of colors. Specifically, here's the first one I saw with cool "teeth" and "points". My socks, on the other hand, are looking more like ordinary "self-striping" yarns.



I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and convince myself that this color pattern is cooler than everyone else's - and also that things may be very different with the second sock! Others have advised to rewind the ball in the opposite direction (that would pose a problem with the twist of the yarn) and heck - I don't WANT to rewind the ball! It looks so good ...



Nope - I'll march on. I'll knit on (and purl on and W&T on) and see how the sock comes out. I expect to finish one of the two w/in the next day or so. Tomorrow's a vacation day from work and I'm looking forward to some concentrated knitting. It is therapy, after all.

Sizing The Sock

When trying to size the sock to fit my feet, the big thing to worry about is the size of the toe. For the February sock pattern, the toe is created by casting on stitches and then using the wrap and turn technique to create the toe. It's not a true "toe-up" pattern - it's more like a "toe around" pattern.

Measuring to confirm the size of the toe starts by figuring out how wide the toe box should be. That's accomplished by measuring across the base of the toe, as shown in this picture:



From the picture, you can see that the correct width is 4". Double that to 8" and that's the "circumference" of the toe box. Here's a picture of the finished toe (and the start of the foot):



Changing the sizing for the foot itself is a little more difficult as it requires understanding the pattern repeat. The instep is a 2 x 1 (3 stitch) repeat and the sole is a 2 x x (4 stitch) repeat. I'll talk about that when I have time later tonight.

Let the Knit-a-long Begin!

Wonder of wonders, my shipment from Blue Moon showed up today - a beautiful skein of hand-dyed merino superwash wool and a wonderful pattern for reversible socks. They look great! I'm excited to get started on the pattern, but first a picture of the skein as it arrived:



It's amazing at how soft and supple the yarn is. I always grew up with "scratchy" and rough wool - the merino blend is amazing. While hard to show, the color mix goes from gray to purple to yellow to green.


I'm now merrily winding it in to the usual ball and I'll take pictures as the sock progresses. It's so exciting! The pattern is simple and it seems like I should have no trouble getting it done before the next pattern shows up. Woo hoo!