Baby Socks: September 2007 Archives
Well, my first baby sock experiment was pretty much an unequivocal failure when it comes to actually being a baby sock. So rather than rip and re-work (I'm just lazy that way, not to mention the fact that I have a fair amount of left over sock yarn to experiment with), I've decided to re-purpose this little sock into a Christmas tree ornament as a memory of Z's first months with us.
Where did I go wrong? Well, I had decided that, since baby socks tend to come off the babies who wear them, that I wanted the sock to have a relatively firm material that would have some give but would generally want to stay where it was put. I accomplished that goal by knitting this Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn on size 0's (which gave me a very firm fabric and about 9 stitches per inch). I also wanted it to have a relatively long leg portion that would hug her leg. The garter stitch cuff was meant to be stretchy at the top, but firm. But when I tried it on her, I discovered that while my size calculations were spot on, the stiffness of the fabric didn't work very well when combined with the length of the leg and cuff of the sock and the relative stiffness of Z's ankle.
So, next time around I'm going to work with larger needles to create a looser fabric, stretchier yarn (Shepherd Sock is a wool/nylon blend and I don't think it has very much give, a 100% merino yarn like Koigu or Socks that Rock might have bee a better choice) or both -- and perhaps a shorter stretch between the ankle and the cuff. I'm going to need to get cracking, because the cool weather has already made an appearance here in Chicago and a baby whose favorite travel method is a Baby Bjorn is going to need to have some extra insulation for her feet.
On the positive side, it was a small sock, so I didn't end up wasting that much time, and I did get to try out that magic toe up cast-on and once I got the hang of it, decided that it was a pretty good deal. It certainly beats the standard provisional cast on that I was doing before for toe-up socks.
I didn't really need to start another project, but I've been jonesing to start a new pair of socks. Since I haven't finished my last pair, I couldn't justify starting a new pair for myself, but I could justify starting a small pair for a certain someone. There's a little chill in the air and baby socks mean that I can not only stash bust, but stash bust from my sock yarn remnants, of which there are many.
How sweet are baby feet when they are 3.5" long and 3.5" around at their widest point? So sweet the baby feet.
