Hat on Top, Coat Below
« previous archives home notify list e-mail next »
Three Makes a Pair
June 10, 2007
Last night I finished another sock, which means I now have two made from the same yarn that pretty much fit, so I’m calling them a pair. This one is the reincarnation of my first-ever sock knitting attempt; it was so big and floppy. Because my second attempt, while much better, still resulted in something a bit on the large side, I cast on fewer stitches for this one, just moving over one column in the The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns pattern. Doing that meant the colors fell differently; it’s especially noticeable on the foot, where this new sock has some blocks of blue and rust that the other one didn’t (I guess based on my online knitblog reading that that effect is called “pooling” or “flashing” or possibly “puddling”). But that part will be covered by my shoe, I figure, so I’m not that bothered by it.
What I was bothered by was grafting the toe. I don’t know why, since I didn’t particularly struggle with this step on either of the other two socks–heck, the first one I Kitchenered with a bobby pin and that went okay. But last night, I made a mess of it multiple times and kept pulling out more and more reference materials and getting more and more confused. I finally ended up shoving my sewing pincushion up in the toe and slipping all the stitches off one knitting needle, securing them with pins so I could have at least one side under control. Only then was I able to thread the yarn through in the right pattern.
So now I’ve knit my first pair of socks. They’re fraternal rather than identical twins, but that’s okay. I’m still not 100% happy with the fit at the ankle, but I’m not sure I’d want the foot to be a lot narrower so I’m not sure what to do about that. I haven’t seen any patterns that decrease to the ankle and increase for the foot, but I haven’t seen that many sock patterns period. I think next time I’m going to try two at once toe up on two circulars (hey, why not–the worst that happens is I end up with two socks that don’t fit at the same time), but I don’t have the book I want for that technique yet so I won’t be starting on that adventure right away.