Weekend Sock Challenge News
Not only did I win a prize from the weekend sock challenge I entered at the end of February but I might actually get a wearable pair of socks.
I have been disappointed with some of the socks I have knit over the past year or two. It turns out I do not have a very high arch. I was using the after thought heel. My thought is that it does not fit me. The after thought heel seems to work best if you have a high arch. I just have a regular arch. I am starting to suspect that the heel that fits me best contains wrap and twist stiches and short rows.
I bought the book Custom Socks by Kate Atherley. Quite a few knitters I respect have mentioned she is the best at explaining and fitting socks. I must say her book is excellent. After reading it I know lots more about sock construction and design. She not only explains what to look for in a sock pattern, but what to avoid that will only bring sock heart ache.
I decided to work on a pair of cuff down socks. She also won my heart when she mentioned that she does not kitchner her toe ends but just pulls the stitches tight. I am not a proficient or even passable kitchner stitch maker. I tried it on the first sock I completed and it was a beautiful thing.
I had to measure many different parts of each foot to find my correct measurements. I knit a gauge swatch to find out how many stitches to cast on. I began with my 9 inch circular needles.
I am using a skein of Lion Brand Mani Pedi yarn. This line is discontinued of course! I swear almost every time I find a delightful yarn from Lion Brand they discontinue it. The nice thing about the book is that she gives you a recipe where you can fill in the blanks on the number of stiches and lengths based on your own measurements. I photocopied the page to complete it and it fits perfectly in my project bag. A small piece of copy paper is much easier to reference and carry around than an entire book.
Knitting life was going good until it wasn't. I got impatient and also realized I cannot measure all that accurately. The one drawback to knitting on 9 inch circulars is that you are unable to try on the sock to test fit as it is being worked. I thought it was the right length, bound off the sock and tried it on. It fit if I curled my toes under, too short:(
I had it in the naughty knitting pile for a few hours until it realized the error of its way. It was then frogged back and placed on my Hiya Sharp very long magic loop needles. I also wanted to mark better the stitches for the instep so it wasn't all bad. I knit the longer foot portion (trying on as I went) and after a day I had a completed sock.
As I suspected because I wound the yarn twice to try to find out where to start. The two skeins I have bear just a passing resemblance to each other.
