Socks for Mom
Elizabeth wondered yesterday where the socks were.
Heh. Well, the socks are sitting on the same desk with Liberty and the random bits of crochet that I'm playing with.
These socks are for my Mom. They are an interesting challenge for me because mom has both shapely calves and bit of arthritis in her feet that make the ball a bit wider than you might expect for a size 7 shoe size. I had to get a few more measurements to make sure that things would be more accomodating in certain places. The ribbing started with 112 stitches and by the time I had reached the top of the ankle I had tapered the sock to 72 stitches. I opted for a Dutch heel for this sock because I wanted a little deeper heel for mom than I usually get with a short-row heel (and I don't like less sproingy sock yarns for short-row heels... the little gaps are too obvious for me). I'm in the process of doing the decreases after shaping the heel and picking up stitches. I'm going to decrease down to 68 stitches, which I hope will give a nice snug, but not too snug fit.
Given all the shaping, and the way the yarn is colored, I decided to stay away from any complicated stitch patterns. Instead, I decided to do something simple to add a little oomph to the socks: whenever two dark stitches meet, I purl the dark stitch instead of knit it. This means that the dark stripes have a raised relief character compared to the rest of the sock and I think it makes a neat impression with tiger striped socks.
I'm almost done with the decreases, so it should be pretty smooth sailing down to the toe from here on out.
I love hearing about your socks. Can you tell us what your favorite references are for sock heels -- books or online? I'm looking for good resources for socks, specifically for heels. I don't know all the different constructions, or what they are called/how they differ from each other. I'm looking for both the "how-to" techniques of different sock heels, as well as the "pros and cons" of each heel. Something like what Nancie Wiseman does in her finishing techniques book... I was hoping that, in your sock knittign and designing, you might have come across some references that you like. Thanks!
They look very cool! I have some similar exciting challenges when making socks for my dad, who has two very differently sized feet and VERY large calves.
They look very tiger-y. I love tiger-y.
Neat idea re. puring the black stitches. I'll have to try that!
What a neat tweak! It's looking great.
I should knit a pair of socks for my younger daughter out of this yarn. She plays soccer (european football) in a team called Mimmitiikerit,what translated from Finnish would be about girltigers or galtigers. Guess what the team mascot is ;-). I love your idea with the purl stitches! Something for my Family Sock Challenge part two...
Wow, that yarn is sooo popular right now. But, I have to say your means of making the dark areas raised the is the best use of that yarn I've seen! I'm sure your mom will adore these socks!
I love that idea of purling the black stitches. Wonderful!
How fun! I love your purling the dark stripes idea! Very cool!
And I learned something very useful from your post. I tried my first short row heel with a less than sproingy yarn, and even with the wraps, the holes were overly obvious to me. Now I see that I need to try again with a heavier yarn.
Thanks for saving me from trying again with the other sock and thinking I was just a short row heel failure!
The socks look great! Very ferocious!
That is a really creative way of adding texture to an otherwise plain sock. Very cool!
For those of you interested in a book with sock tips, maybe think about Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks, Warm Feet.
http://www.tradewindknits.com/cool_sock_bk.html
I don't own the book but I have flipped through it, and it's got some really neat patterns and ideas. The tip about purling the dark stitches in the self-patterning yarns for relief is from there; the book seems to be about making good use of space-dyed yarns.
Like I said, I don't own the book so I can't promise it's great, but it looked rather interesting.