Knitting stuff: socks!
Mar. 17th, 2008 01:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaThese are my first pairs of socks, and already I'm in love with socks and knitting in the round with DPNs.
Pattern: Endless Knot Socks by Robbyn at the Yarnpath blog
Yarn used: Knit Picks Palette in Ivy and Golden Heather, fingering weight, about 4/5 of each ball was required. These are my grad school colors from the University of Wales, Bangor; I know they look like I'm wearing odd socks when you can't see the mosaic part, but I liked the idea of the yin and yang socks. Plus, this way I only needed one ball of each color.
Needles: Size 2 and 3 DPNs
These were my first try at socks, and I had wanted to try a bit of stranded colorwork on them, only realizing after I'd started that a mosaic pattern isn't that kind of colorwork. However, the slip stitch pattern still made it interesting enough, at least on the leg portion (the foot got a little boring with all that stockinette). I found the following tutorials especially helpful with learning how to do socks: the posts on socks in Sara's Let me ExplaiKnit blog, Silver's Sock Class (practically walks you through it, so I tried to reference it only when I was really stumped), and this kitchener stitch tutorial.
The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and size 2 needles, but as I have small feet and a tight gauge I used fingering weight and cast on the same 60 stitches the pattern uses. However, I did not find, as the designer suggests, that the mosaic pattern retains enough stretch to get the foot past the leg part comfortably. It does stretch a little, and now that I've worn them a few times they fit better, but I used size 2s for the green sock and I still have to be careful when taking the sock off. To help adjust for this, I used size 3s for the gold sock - unfortunately this makes the mosaic pattern a bit longer on the leg on this sock, but there's not a huge difference, just enough to make it much easier to get the sock on and off. A yarn with some nylon content would probably have been a better choice for this pattern.
I used the same Dutch flap & gusset heel with eye of partridge pattern the sock pattern calls for, but substituted a traditional wedge toe instead of the star toe. I like the way the wedge toe looks and feels compared to all of the others I saw online, especially due to how seamless the graft looks. I found this a great pattern for a first-time sock knitter, just interesting enough to keep my attention but not too overwhelming. So far the yarn is wearing pretty well, though it does pill a bit. If I did them again, I'd probably make them taller to use up a bit more yarn, and use a stretchier yarn instead of 100% wool.
Pattern: Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh
Yarn used: Knit Picks Essential in the Riverbed Multi colorway, about 1 and 3/4 skeins
Needles: US Size 3 (3.25mm) DPNs
Hours Spent on Google: Countless
Sanity: Mostly Lost, but Worth the Sacrifice
I altered this pattern quite a bit from the original, b/c I wanted to knit them cuff-down instead. Although I'm not averse to trying a toe-up sock one day, I'm glad I changed this one to cuff-down, as it was the best way to really learn about sock construction and why each step is done the way it is; instead of following the pattern I had to think about it and adjust. Substituting a flap & gusset heel instead of the short row heel was a nice exercise in having to think about the math involved - the Heels by Number resource was absolutely wonderful for this, as well as the ratios mentioned in the above linked ExplaiKnit blog.
I cast on 72 sts, the same number the pattern ends up with for the leg portion, and for the most part just did decreases where the pattern called for increases. However, I didn't account for the decreases before the cuff in the toe-up version, but I wish I had b/c it probably would have made the socks stay up a bit better, as the stranded pattern isn't very clingy on the leg. I stuck to the same number of instep sts the pattern calls for, but did my heels on 30 stitches instead of 25, as that seemed a bit too few.
One thing the pattern doesn't seem to mention is that the leg not only requires the alternate row 5 (borrowing a few stitches from row 6 to complete the pattern), but b/c you have an even number of stitches instead of odd (as for the instep), the last stitch for each row will be eliminated (or carried over to the next row, if it's a knit stitch). For the cuff-down version, you also have to shuffle stitches around when arranging the needles for the heel flap, in order to line up the pattern so the instep will be as written. Otherwise, this was a great pattern, and good practice for learning how to stretch floats as a precursor to doing any stranded knitting. I loved how the pattern wasn't lost in the variegated yarn, even when the yarn pooled slightly differently for each sock.
One note and a question: I've noticed I seem to wear out my socks the most on the very bottom of the heel, so I tried knitting the heel turn with two strands of yarn held together as I had seen recommended. It made a nicely thick fabric, but I don't like the way it creates a more pronounced ridge at the edges where I decreased. Is there any other way to make a thicker heel cup that would avoid those ridges? I can tell I'm going to be knitting a lot more socks, so I'd like to be able to find a way to knit a heel cup that won't wear so quickly but not be too bulky at the decreases either.
Pattern: Endless Knot Socks by Robbyn at the Yarnpath blog
Yarn used: Knit Picks Palette in Ivy and Golden Heather, fingering weight, about 4/5 of each ball was required. These are my grad school colors from the University of Wales, Bangor; I know they look like I'm wearing odd socks when you can't see the mosaic part, but I liked the idea of the yin and yang socks. Plus, this way I only needed one ball of each color.
Needles: Size 2 and 3 DPNs
These were my first try at socks, and I had wanted to try a bit of stranded colorwork on them, only realizing after I'd started that a mosaic pattern isn't that kind of colorwork. However, the slip stitch pattern still made it interesting enough, at least on the leg portion (the foot got a little boring with all that stockinette). I found the following tutorials especially helpful with learning how to do socks: the posts on socks in Sara's Let me ExplaiKnit blog, Silver's Sock Class (practically walks you through it, so I tried to reference it only when I was really stumped), and this kitchener stitch tutorial.
The pattern calls for sport weight yarn and size 2 needles, but as I have small feet and a tight gauge I used fingering weight and cast on the same 60 stitches the pattern uses. However, I did not find, as the designer suggests, that the mosaic pattern retains enough stretch to get the foot past the leg part comfortably. It does stretch a little, and now that I've worn them a few times they fit better, but I used size 2s for the green sock and I still have to be careful when taking the sock off. To help adjust for this, I used size 3s for the gold sock - unfortunately this makes the mosaic pattern a bit longer on the leg on this sock, but there's not a huge difference, just enough to make it much easier to get the sock on and off. A yarn with some nylon content would probably have been a better choice for this pattern.
I used the same Dutch flap & gusset heel with eye of partridge pattern the sock pattern calls for, but substituted a traditional wedge toe instead of the star toe. I like the way the wedge toe looks and feels compared to all of the others I saw online, especially due to how seamless the graft looks. I found this a great pattern for a first-time sock knitter, just interesting enough to keep my attention but not too overwhelming. So far the yarn is wearing pretty well, though it does pill a bit. If I did them again, I'd probably make them taller to use up a bit more yarn, and use a stretchier yarn instead of 100% wool.
Pattern: Leyburn Socks by MintyFresh
Yarn used: Knit Picks Essential in the Riverbed Multi colorway, about 1 and 3/4 skeins
Needles: US Size 3 (3.25mm) DPNs
Hours Spent on Google: Countless
Sanity: Mostly Lost, but Worth the Sacrifice
I altered this pattern quite a bit from the original, b/c I wanted to knit them cuff-down instead. Although I'm not averse to trying a toe-up sock one day, I'm glad I changed this one to cuff-down, as it was the best way to really learn about sock construction and why each step is done the way it is; instead of following the pattern I had to think about it and adjust. Substituting a flap & gusset heel instead of the short row heel was a nice exercise in having to think about the math involved - the Heels by Number resource was absolutely wonderful for this, as well as the ratios mentioned in the above linked ExplaiKnit blog.
I cast on 72 sts, the same number the pattern ends up with for the leg portion, and for the most part just did decreases where the pattern called for increases. However, I didn't account for the decreases before the cuff in the toe-up version, but I wish I had b/c it probably would have made the socks stay up a bit better, as the stranded pattern isn't very clingy on the leg. I stuck to the same number of instep sts the pattern calls for, but did my heels on 30 stitches instead of 25, as that seemed a bit too few.
One thing the pattern doesn't seem to mention is that the leg not only requires the alternate row 5 (borrowing a few stitches from row 6 to complete the pattern), but b/c you have an even number of stitches instead of odd (as for the instep), the last stitch for each row will be eliminated (or carried over to the next row, if it's a knit stitch). For the cuff-down version, you also have to shuffle stitches around when arranging the needles for the heel flap, in order to line up the pattern so the instep will be as written. Otherwise, this was a great pattern, and good practice for learning how to stretch floats as a precursor to doing any stranded knitting. I loved how the pattern wasn't lost in the variegated yarn, even when the yarn pooled slightly differently for each sock.
One note and a question: I've noticed I seem to wear out my socks the most on the very bottom of the heel, so I tried knitting the heel turn with two strands of yarn held together as I had seen recommended. It made a nicely thick fabric, but I don't like the way it creates a more pronounced ridge at the edges where I decreased. Is there any other way to make a thicker heel cup that would avoid those ridges? I can tell I'm going to be knitting a lot more socks, so I'd like to be able to find a way to knit a heel cup that won't wear so quickly but not be too bulky at the decreases either.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 03:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 03:21 am (UTC)The other option is to do an afterthought heel (here's (http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2007/12/28/an_afterthought.html) the Yarn Harlot's take on it), and that way you can just replace the heel when it wears out. Interweave's Favorite Socks book also has a pattern for socks knit with a separate heel/sole, so that you can just rip off the whole bottom when it goes and replace it.
And beautiful work! Socks are such addicting little things.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:05 am (UTC)The afterthought heel certainly isn't as pretty, but it's an interesting idea! Might have to try that some time. Thanks for dropping by with the suggestions :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:09 am (UTC)I confess I have not yet tried the afterthought heel, but it's on my list of techniques to master. =)
(And confession, I found your Rav queue and raided it for my own queue, and may I just say you have magnificent taste in sock patterns? =D)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:18 am (UTC)Who are you on Ravelry, if you don't mind my asking? I can always use more friends there who are sock knitters :)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:34 am (UTC)The Anemois are the most bloody amazing pattern ever. Eunny did a great job on the documentation, and I can't stand how beautiful they are. (Of course, by the time they are done it will be too warm to wear them, sigh.)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 03:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 05:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 07:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 11:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 11:29 am (UTC)Scarves.
*cough*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 12:38 pm (UTC)And dishcloths, lots of dishcloths.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 11:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 12:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 01:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-20 03:54 am (UTC)Scroll saw! What are you going to make?