Tag Archives: toe-up

by

Self-striping socks, I never tire of you.

Say what? More self-striping socks? What a shock. I bought this yarn back in December, intending to make Matt another pair of socks. They’ve been hiding out on the needles, moving at a glacial pace for a few months. I keep putting them down for something more interesting, but I thought I should haul them out and make note of them so they don’t fall into a UFO (unfinished object) black hole in my closet. I don’t consider something a true UFO in hiding until it’s been stuck in a drawer for about 6 months or more without me remembering that it exists. The blog keeps me accountable.

matt opal socks

The yarn is Opal Sport in color 5103. It’s 60% wool, 15% nylon, and 25% polypropylene. The polypropylene is supposed to provide temperature and moisture control. I thought it might be a nice feature.

This time I did make the socks match. After winding the skein into two balls I only had to remove about a yard of yarn to make the repeats match up. Too easy to resist.

I knit a LOT of plain stockinette socks from the toe-up. I have so many self-striping or patterned yarns in my stash (or I go looking for them) that I usually have one or more pairs going at a time. I know there are patterns that work with variegated yarns pretty well, but I have to have some project going that I could work on without looking at all times. I’ll save the patterns for some luscious Malabrigo I have hiding in my stash.

I don’t get to the movies as often as I would like, but I try to make sure I have at least one stockinette project going in case I need to take it to the movies. Optimistic, right? Really, I will fidget like a maniac and be antsy for the end of the movie, no matter how brilliant it is, unless I am able to knit on something while I watch it. I know I’m not the only one out there that feels this way.

If you want to know the basic recipe for my stockinette socks, take any of my sock patterns, subtract the lace or cables, and knit away. My Earlybird socks on Knitty even have the heel short rows written out line-by-line, which is something I don’t typically do on my sock patterns. You can do them both at once, or one at a time. Most of my patterns are written to do both at once. The trickiest part is the heel turn and gusset pickup, where I urge you to read, and reread, and then read carefully as you knit. That’s also the most interesting part of a plain sock, in my opinion.

I really want to finish this pair or these  before I start new socks. I never used to hesitate to have four or five pairs of socks on the needles at a time, but realistically, neither pair are getting worked on because they’re too simple, they’re both for other people, and I’d rather finish up my Citron or Matt’s sweater. Casting on another pair right now won’t move these any faster. I probably need a break from vanilla socks. I think when I get myself to finish one pair, I’ll cast on some Ivy Trellis Socks. At least I’m doing these pairs two at a time, because I’d definitely be experiencing some second sock syndrome otherwise.

by

Fraternal twins.

I have had these socks on the needles since the beginning of December. I was perusing WEBS for some hard-wearing self-striping yarn for another pair of socks for Matt, and I stumbled upon (or went looking, rather) for more yarns for me, since the yarn I found for him was half price. That’s a reason to buy more, right?

photo (3)

This hasty phone pic doesn’t do the colors justice.

I had never knitted with Zauberball Crazy yarn before, but I’ve seen it in a few yarn stores and I’ve been tempted. When you see a whole page of gorgeous colors staring you in the face, it’s really hard not to resist. I got the skein for this pair of socks, and color 1660 (Brown, Green, Blue) as well.

This yarn has long stripe repeats. I intended on trying to make them match up when I wound the skein into two balls, but it seemed like I would have to cut out a large chunk to be able to do so. You can see from the picture that it would have been about 2 inches of knitting lost. The yarn has generous yardage (460 yds), but I just couldn’t bring myself to cut it down.

The socks are fraternal, rather than identical, twins. In a way, this is relieving and allows me to only think about the knitting (or not have to think about the knitting). Sometimes when I get really matchy matchy with the socks, like on this pair, I end up getting a wee bit obsessed about making them match perfectly and I end up thinking about the matching on almost every round, trying to knit a little looser or tighter on one sock to even out the colors. Yeah, I’m a little bit obsessive-compulsive sometimes.

I also decided that these should go to my mom, because I found out over Christmas break that she wore a hole in the heel of the first socks I ever gave her. They were out of some delicious Koigu yarn and had a short row heel. That was my first and last time to use a short row heel. I just don’t believe they will be strong enough. She repaired the socks, but I still felt like she ought to have another pair, so these will be hers. We are both size 9′s, so it’s easy to turn a pair for me into a pair for her. I’m mostly knitting these on the bus or in movie theaters, so it’s a bit slow going, but I’ll make her model them when I finish. That’s my price for gifted socks.

by

Staccato!

Another pair of socks? Why yes. Of course. I can’t stop knitting them these days. They are keeping me sane amidst the extensive reading and writing for my summer class, packing and moving all my belongings at 9 months prego (don’t worry…no lifting), and being now 9 months pregnant. The emphasis of a staccato note feels like an apt description of the kind of frenzy I’m feeling this week. I have been breaking down in tears on a nearly daily basis from the stress and losing sleep, which only compounds the situation. I know that this is a combination of hormones and the two fairly big life changes taking place, and that it is all temporary (at least the pregnancy and moving) The parenting part is a different story I will explore shortly. Even though we are moving to a teeny house, I think I’m unwilling to move again until we move to a place we want to own.

Uh, yes. So, the socks… They’re made from Plymouth Yarn Sockotta Limited in 9850 for the colorway. I’m not in love with this yarn, but that’s mostly because it is nearly half cotton. I think a cotton/wool blend would wear well for more seasons, but the yarn does not have the spring in its step when I’m knitting it, like so many of the merinos I covet. The pattern is Staccato Socks by Veronik Avery from the book Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn.

I gave these to my friend, Kathleen. I think the yarn wanted to be socks for her all along, but it wasn’t totally confirmed until I knit the heel flap just a bit too long for my size 9 feet and they perfectly fit her size 9.5 feet when she tried them on at knit night a week and a half ago. That sealed their fate. Kathleen said her feet are often too hot in socks, so I’m hoping the cotton blend is also perfectly appropriate for her. She’s a Wisconsin native, so not only are Arkansas winters mostly likely a joke to her, they’re also not always meriting wool socks.

I am still knitting on my Featherweight, and I’ve started a new pair of socks (of course). I’ll have more updates on those soon. I also have a favor to ask: If anyone knows a fella with size 13 feet, I could really really use a measurement for socks. I realize everyone could be slightly different, but I would love to know circumference at the ball of the foot, total toe to heel length while foot is flat on the ground, and toe to front of ankle length while the foot is flat. I really like foot measurements in centimeters for exactness. If anyone can provide this info, I’d be most grateful.

by

Albatross Socks

These socks lived on my needles for a looooong time. They felt like quite the albatross around my neck at times. This yarn started out as Copper Penny Socks, but when I picked them up to work on them again there was a tiny hole in the toe area and I wasn’t even to the heel flap yet. I explained this more fully in this post. I cut those socks off from the ball and started anew as stockinette.

I believe the yarn from this particular Etsy vendor was weakened before I got it, since the Monkey Socks I made with her yarn also developed a hole within two wears. I believed this more and more as I was working to finish these socks. I had to repair at least four weak spots. By this I mean that I came to several areas that were frayed down to a tiny strand. I cut these parts out and Russian joined the ends together. This was incredibly frustrating, especially the one that was two rows before I planned to bind off. I don’t know if these socks will hold up at all, but I was determined to finish them anyway. I’m not sure if this is moth damage or just a poor yarn base. I am so terrified of moths. Most of my stash is inside bags inside a plastic container, which also contains little satchets of lavender flowers for good measure. I have little hunters (aka cats) that take down moths on a regular basis as well.

Well, at least they’re done. I still love the colors. I wish I knew they were going to be sturdy.

by

Jaywalking in the park

I’m definitely a fan of the Jaywalker socks, as you can see here and here. I made them with Koigu two other times, which was wonderful and delightfully soft. This version is made from Vesper Sock in the colorway Astro.

When helping me pack up my yarn room for my impending doom (I mean move), my friend Missy saw this yarn and remarked on its beauty. It had been sitting in my stash (wound even) for at least 4 years. I decided it was time to make it into something. I have habit of buying a lot of self striping or variegated yarns because I love them, even though they mostly lend themselves to a lot of plain stockinette. I first started knitting these in the Charade pattern, but I wasn’t in love with it, so I started over and made the Jaywalkers to give those colors and stripes the glory they deserved.

Vesper sock yarn comes in some amazing colors. It seems like this colorway is not currently available. I’ve heard she dyes in small batches and they’re snapped up quickly, so if you like the yarn, keep your eyes on the site or subscribe to their mailing list. I was a bit confused by the label. The yarn is 100 percent superwash merino, yet recommends hand washing. I checked with Missy to see if she would be amenable to caring for socks like that, and she said yes with no hesitation, so I forged ahead. If anyone has machine washed Vesper sock with luck, please let me know. Koigu is another yarn is superwash merino, and though the label doesn’t say it is safe to machine wash, I’ve had lots of success doing so. I don’t know Vesper sock well enough to risk it.

This is my first time using an afterthought heel. This kind of heel is mentioned all the time on the Knitmore Girls podcast, which I’ve been obsessed with lately. I didn’t want to interrupt the perfect little stripes in those Jaywalkers to make the heel flap. There are many different tutorials for afterthought heels available online if you’re interested in trying them. I think I will always love the heel flap for its inherent sturdiness a little more than the afterthought, but this heel was easy enough to execute, and it allowed for no color interruptions. It made a nice little bulls-eye with the colors.

Each pair of Jaywalkers I’ve made was knitted from the toe up so I could use the maximum amount of yarn. I find this especially important with yarns like Koigu that come in 175 yard skeins. I cranked these out in about a week. Now I’m on to some Staccato Socks for this week.

by

Faux argyle for the fella.

I finished the Sneaky Argyle Socks by Wendy D. Johnson. The yarn is ONLine Linie 33 Cosmo in colors 13 (Teal) and 10 (Black). The yarn feels wonderfully soft, and is 70% Merino, 5% Cashmere, and 25% Nylon.

I altered this pattern slightly by making the toes and heels teal. Matt wanted black socks, and was excited about the argyle, but I wanted to add a little more color to make the foot part interesting. These things flew by on the foot part. I think I got to the heel flap and heel turn in one day. I also did them both at the same time, using the magic loop method, so this was a pretty good feat on the feet. Wah wah wah…

The argyle part on the cuff is done using Fair Isle. There are some long floats (10+ stitches), and I was really surprised that the author didn’t mention weaving in the floats so toes don’t catch on them. I read and reread the pattern to make sure I wasn’t missing it, but it’s never mentioned. She recommends this as a good first project for colorwork, but with no mention of how to do floats, I’d disagree. I started learning colorwork with Endpaper Mitts and I think those were a bit easier to make.

Why weave in your floats? When you are doing Fair Isle and carrying one strand of yarn behind the other (aka the “float”), the longer that strand is, the messier the back can become and the more likely you can catch a finger or toe or miscellaneous body part on that strand as you’re putting the garment on. I designed a hat, called Zooey awhile back, and for that pattern it is also best to weave in floats. You can learn more about how to weave in floats here.

I also think that the cuff sizing has to be done very carefully to make sure it can be pulled over the heel. Luckily, Matt was available to me in person to try these on a few times. I ended up going up an extra needle size by the third repeat of argyle to make sure that it would fit over his heel after I read some of the project comments on Ravelry and noticed that many reported sizing struggles.

All in all, I liked that the pattern uses Fair Isle to make the argyle, because I have yet to attempt intarsia. I suppose this is the part that makes them “sneaky” or “faux” because argyle is usually done with intarsia. If you make this your first colorwork project, study up on weaving the floats first. Definitely try these on as you go when you get to the cuff to make sure they fit over the heels. If you want to know how I modified the heel, you can study my Summer Slice or Tuxedo pattern, since I did the heel exactly in the same way for these socks.

by

Weekend “work”

I appreciate all of the great input on the last post about ripping. I think I will ultimately finish it, and if I don’t want it perhaps it will become a gift or I’ll sell it to someone for the cost of the yarn. After switching to the Araucania, there was such a difference in the springiness of the yarn. I’m not sure if I really want to rip and knit anything else out of the Solemate after all. I’m only about 12 rows from being finished when I do pick it back up, so that seems like the better option in the long run. The Araucania Ishbel is finished and gorgeous. It has been blocked and I will post pictures soon, along with the finished Featherweight Cardigan. It’s been hard to find a time of the day to take pics with Matt (the fella) when it’s not sweltering and neither of us have other things going on. What I wouldn’t give for a cloudy 75 degree day right about now…

The socks you see above are what I did for most of the weekend. I’m pretty proud that I got about half done while knitting these just a bit on Friday, a good chunk of Saturday, and more on Sunday. I thought about switching to something else on the heel flap, because, as knitters that knit heel flaps may also attest, that goes so much more SLOWLY than any other part of the sock. I refuse to do short row heels, no matter how cute they look, because I just don’t think they would wear as well and I didn’t particularly enjoy them the one time I knit them. Matt says I was able to get so much done because I “have no life” but I wholeheartedly disagree. On Saturday I spent time hanging out (and sometimes knitting at the same time) with four different sets of friends at different times during the day. And I baked lavender cupcakes. So there.

These socks happen to be for Matt. They’re Wendy D. Johnson’s Sneaky Argyle Socks from Toe Up Socks for Every Body. I have two of her toe-up sock books and this is the first I’ve gotten around to making a pattern in one. I don’t make a lot of patterns from books, but I love owning them. Matt wanted black socks. I refused to make them that boring, and cables don’t have a lot of oomph in black socks. He was ecstatic about the argyle option. I added colored toes and heels to the sock to make them more interesting.

If you’re curious about the lavender cupcakes, I used this recipe, added some homemade lavender extract (1 cup vodka and 1 TBS dried lavender flowers in a jar for about a week), added 3 TBS dried lavender flowers to the batter, and used this recipe for the icing, subbing lavender extract and a little lemon extract too. My lavender extract was not nearly strong enough yet, so after I used some, I added 2 TBS more of dried flowers and I’m giving it more time. I’ll get it right eventually. I think they’re pretty good though, because we can’t stop eating them.

by

When Black Friday comes, put your Tuxedos on.

Make yourself some socks instead of shop! Or shop for sock yarn…no judgement. This Black Friday I’m releasing Tuxedo. This pattern is a toe up lace sock, done two at a time and magic loop for the sock adventurer. The sizing is custom as you go. I love knowing all of the elements that go into sizing a sock, and these type of custom patterns are helpful for that learning process. You better understand the construction of the whole piece when it’s over.

The lace is a very simple repeat that you can easily memorize, and it is stretchy enough to accomodate several foot widths. You can also add additional stitches on the leg and continue until you are able to use all of your sock yarn.

I made these out of Malabrigo Sock, aka deliciously buttery merino, in a color called Alcaucil. This color is shown as a dark green on their site, but it actually appears to be much more black in person. Regardless of the color differences, the yarn is heaven to knit touch while you knit.

The pattern is available on Ravelry. You can read more about it here or but it directly by clicking on this button:

Photos by Matt Petty.

by

Ode to color 1364.

Ty-Dy sock yarn by KNIT ONE crochet too.

My fingers will travel a quarter of a mile down this 100 gram strand of wool as I knit one stitch after the next, shaping and forming toes, heels, legs, and cuffs. My fingers have committed this route to memory, so much so that I only need to know the width of the foot, length to the heel flap, and total length of the foot. My fingers do all of the rest of the thinking. This is comfort.

This is color 1364.

by

Socktober is finito!


Behold the glory of the finished Bacchus Socks. I was flipping through old Interweave magazines a couple of months ago and stumbled upon these. I was shocked to see a pattern I loved that was already toe up, and I couldn’t resist the cables. I’ve been in a picture-forming cable frame of mind for awhile now. When my LYS got Tosh Sock in Twig I felt like it was the perfect yarn for this project. I don’t normally make many neutral colored pairs of socks, but this one called to me.

I changed the pattern slightly. I prefer gusseted heels with nice reinforced heel flaps, so I did this instead of the short row heels. I was happily plugging along with the pattern, until I realized I would have to change the cable to make it look like it should on the sides. I improvised a bit, but since I was doing both socks at once, magic loop, it was easy to mirror them. I also continued the rib as it was throughout most of the body, rather than changing it at the cuff. I liked the continuity of the design better. To be honest, sometimes when given a lace or cable pattern I just use that and stick it into my usual way of making socks. It makes me happy.

The cable pattern was easy to follow and kept me interested. I started these socks a few days into October, but they had to share my hands with about 5 other ongoing or quick projects I knitted on this month. This is the first time I have legitimately participated in a Socktober event. I usually am always knitting on some kind of socks though. I still have 2 pairs on the needles…

Next up is NaKniSweMo! I’m really excited about this because I want to knit more sweaters, and I like the motivation of a KAL to make me finish. I was still trying to decide between this gem and this one. I have the patterns and yarn ready for both. I think I’m going to go with the Still Light Tunic. It’s fingering weight, and miles of stockinette, but lately I’ve found that stockinette is great to study with when I have to read, as long as I have articles/books on a book stand. It helps me stay focused. I also have two other cardigans nearly done and haunting me.

More finished knits to come as well as yarn pics for the NaKniSweMo project after I sleep on it for one more night. Happy Halloween!