Socks: March 2006 Archives
I'm incredibly late getting to the Family Sock Challenge update this week -- and there's been a lot of activity and I haven't had time this week to update my lists completely. So I'm going to hold off until Monday.
I will, however, not end the week without posting a sock project that I am working on -- socks and spinning are about all I've gotten to this week.
This sock is partly to blame for my not being able to get up-to-date on Sock Challenge goings on. I actually knit a short row toe, thought it was just about the most dreadful (not in a good way this time) thing I'd knit in a long time and ripped it out and finished the sock with my regular toe. I'm not sure why the heel looks more or less okay while the toe looked so awful, but it did. I gave it a while to sit while I thought about it, but the more I looked at it, the uglier it got. I was so proud of myself that I didn't get at all distraught about ripping out 36 stitches worth of grafting the toe to the bottom of the sock.
I'm beginning to think that short row heels and toes work best when your sock fabric density is quite tight or you're working with a yarn that's squooshy and likes to fill in the gaps. I'm knitting these socks on US 1's and I could probably go down a needle size and still get a nice result. Also, while I think Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock is soft and foot-friendly, I don't consider it to be all that thick and squooshy. Of course, it could also just be something about my technique with those yarn over wraps or how tight I pull my yarn or some wierd artifact of the fact that I knit continental style.
Normally, I wouldn't draw attention to a ball of yarn (although I do want to mention that immediately after sewing in the ends of the first sock I cast on for the second one), but tonight I did a little experiment with the one you see here. You see, I've been reading Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning
Thank goodness for better weather in Chicago this weekend! As a result, I got some really nice pictures of the first finished "down-scaled" dragon scale sock. While I might be willing to suffer for my handknits, my male sock model isn't willing to head outdoors when it's cold.
This is the completed sock. It, like the previous dragon scale sock, has a short-row heel and a grafted toe. The leg of the sock is about 6" tall, and has a garter stitch cuff. The cuff helps to stabilize the top (otherwise they would probably roll too much for a guy) and to keep the opening stretchier. I think this picture with the sock being worn really shows off the pattern the way it is supposed to be (the picture of the heel below is even better) -- the bars aren't nearly as prominent when the sock is stretched across an actual foot. The sock is a bit less snug than I had intended for it to be, but, as it turns out, it fits John exactly the way he wants it to, and he commented that the textured pattern gave it a more airy feeling that thought it would. So you don't need to worry that wearing this sock is going to be like wearing scale mail.
Just about the only bad part about this sock is the amount of yarn it takes. For a US 10.5 man's sock, I'm definitely going to need more yarn than is in the one skein of Socks that Rock (I got out my scale, did some weighing and did some math and got the result that I expected by didn't really want). This pattern does eat up some yarn. Good thing that there's another skein waiting for me at the Fold for me to pick up this weekend. Hopefully there will be enough left over after I finish up John's sock for me to get another pair of unpatterned socks for myself...
I was a bit worried about how the toe was going to turn out, but after seeing it on a real foot, I'm happy with the results. The smaller scale pattern made it a lot easier to carry more of the pattern farther down the toe.
This is probably my favorite picture. This heel detail just makes get a happy little smile every time I see it. And, according to my sock model, it is not a problem for those of a manly persuasion. It almost makes me want to go out and buy a pair of Birkenstocks. Almost.
Not exactly a matched pair, but I hope this pictures demonstrates the differences in the looks of the socks.
I'm working on writing up the pattern now. It will include both sizes and all the charts you need for the toes and the heels. Patterns always take me longer than I think they will -- I forget how long it takes to make sure that all the instructions make sense. And I like to add information as to how the pattern can be customized to meet different sizes and needs. But it will be coming soon. I promise.
I just have too many projects that I want to work on right now. I'm trying to rotate through all of them, but most of my time is being divided between the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket and John's green Dragon Scale socks. I've shifted most of my energies today to the sock since I would like to start putting a pattern together. Right now, I think I'm about 2 pattern repeats before I start decreasing for the toe. So I'm making okay progress and still have a fighting chance of getting a good first pattern draft over the weekend.
The soon to be owner of this sock has been an excellent sport about the design process, too. Every couple of repeats I make him try it on so I can see if it fits correctly or needs to have the shaping modified. So far, it's working out well for a man's size 10.5. And I am also fairly pleased about how the short-row heel came out (the side with the knit wraps is neater than the side with the purl wraps, but it's definitely better than most of my earlier attempts) and now that they look nice, I'm finding that I like the process of making short row heels better.
Speaking of heels, here's the detail on the heel of this sock:
Like the sock with the larger scales, I carry the center scale pattern down into the main part of the heel. This is something that you could always omit if you didn't like the detailing, but I think it gives the sock a little extra oomph but, at the same time, isn't too fussy for a guy sock.
I've been contemplating socks a lot lately. And doing laundry.
What do the two have to do with each other? Not much, other than the fact that while I was folding said laundry I realized that I had just washed and dried most of my sock collection and since it was all arrayed in front of me, it seemed like a good time for a picture.
Something about taking pictures really brings things into focus that I hadn't noticed before. In this case, I had been under the impression that my sock collection was brightly colored. But as I looked this picture over, I realized that my socks might be multi-colored, but there's not a whole lot of bright vibrant color. Apparently, I knit bright colored socks, but those are the socks I knit for swaps or to give away. How strange. And I had never noticed it before. But this collection is stunningly void of anything like a vibrant red, orange or yellow. It's as if I went to the colorwheel and consciously selected cool colors. And as I looked around my room and in my closet, I discovered that this type of color collecting also extends into my wardrobe (although I do have a couple of red turtleneck sweaters, they're definitely outnumbered by the grey, black and brown garments). If I didn't know I was a Midwesterner before, it became painfully clear on Tuesday morning. Either that, or my quest for guy-friendly sock yarn has seriously damaged my perception of what "brightly colored" means.
Now the clothes, well, I can live with that. Orange and yellow next to my skin are just not a good thing. Cool colors and colors with blue undertones go best with my skin. But socks are not meant to be worn next to the face and should give me the freedom to go wild with some bright happy colors. And, of course, when I looked into my sock yarn stash, the whole bright color thing doesn't get better. Not surprisingly, the only bright vibrant colored sock yarns are ones that have been given to me by other people (the orange and purple and yellow striped Opal socks were part of one of my trades with Emma!). Clearly, when it comes to socks, I need to follow the Apple mantra and apply a little "Think Different".
As a girl who believes that there is no such thing as too much sock yarn, I'm always looking for something new and interesting when it comes to socks -- and I've got a lot of time to look as I work away on my Family Sock Challene socks .With that in mind, I'd love to know about everyone's favorite bright colored sock yarn. What companies produce your favorite colorways? What colorways make you think of happy summer afternoons or bright spring mornings? What sock yarn makes you happy when you just look at it -- even if it hasn't yet become socks?
