Anniversary Socks (For Reals This Time)

It has been a long time coming, but Troy finally has his "anniversary socks." (Now that we are approaching one year from when I started the first ones, it is about time!!)

I started these socks for something to do when we went to a Notre Dame football game last fall. When they came out a little big for me and Troy's original anniversary socks came out a little small for him, these became Troy's socks.

I mentioned they did quite a bit of traveling with me. After the football games, they went to a taping of Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me in Elkhart and a day trip to Chicago. They also went to Missouri and then to Ontario over Christmas. And finally they were complete in mid-January.

And then they sat around waiting for me to take pictures so Troy could start wearing them. Which we finally did this past weekend.

They started with short-row toes:

Troy astutely noticed that they are not quite the same. After doing the first one, I acted on the nagging feeling that I was doing my short rows wrong. I tracked down the tutorial I followed when I first started this method and sure enough I was! So the second sock looks a little better. The turn on the short row is just a little bit smoother.

He also noticed there is a sharp colour break on the left sock, about half way up the foot. Yup, that was a knot. Very annoying in a self-striping yarn, but what can you do? Troy said it reminds him of the aurora borealis so I don't think he minds. :)

Next up to the gusset and short-row heel. I think this is also before I reexamined the short row tutorial.

I did the heel over a massive number of stitches to really make sure it would not be too tight!! To make sure it didn't get too long, I started turning the short rows with two and three stitches left unknit. It seemed to work pretty well.

The "faux argyle" pattern then was continued all around the leg.

And the sock ends with a good stretch of 1x1 rib and my favourite Kitchener bind off.

You can see I used a different yarn. For one thing, there wasn't enough of the main yarn to make the socks long enough. For another I think this wool left over from the original anniversary socks is sturdier and will hold the shape of the ribbing better. The colour matches pretty well so I went with it.

They are a little wild, but mostly muted blues and brown. (Just a little purple.)

Troy says they are not too flashy for him, and I think they look nice.

I can't say too much about the pattern itself. I did get the design from the pattern, but I did my own toe, heel, gusset, changed them to toe-up, etc, etc. The faux argyle pattern is made with twisted stitches (or two-stitch cables). The only "hard" part is that they're done on every row so there are no "resting rows" where you can just knit mindlessly. (A key thing to keep in mind if you, say, bring them to a taping of a radio show and you are sitting in the back row of the balcony and it is rather dark. Just for instance.) On the other hand, this means you can't mix up what row you need to cable on--you have to be doing it all the time, every row.

Project Stats
Started: 2 Nov '13
Finished: 12 Jan '14
Pattern: Business Casual by Tanis Lavallee
Materials: Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi, color 118 Blueberry Pancakes (100 g, $18.40) with a little Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (colour 1292) for ribbing

From Head to Toe

Ok, I know I've been showing a lot of hats and cowls lately, so I thought I'd change it up and show you these socks that were supposed to be for Troy:

As you may recall, I started them last March when we went to Alberta to celebrate our 12.5th anniversary. (Seriously, that's a thing if you're Dutch.) I worked on them very much during the trip and little bit after the trip, but didn't finish the first sock until mid-August.

I had Troy try them on along the way and had him try on the finished sock as well. They were "snug" but I carried on with the second sock. By mid-August, having completed the one sock, I was determined to have the pair done by September 9th, the date of our actual anniversary. I made it: 8 pm, September 9th they were done.

Troy obligingly tried them on that evening and although we could get them on his feet (yes, "we" since I actually had to help!), it really was no longer realistic to say they "fit." It was very disappointing.

I chucked the socks to the side as I thought about ways I could fix them. The length of the foot was ok. The calf width was ok. It was mostly the heel and the part around the ankle. Could I cut a row out right above the heel and re-knit it? Should I just take out the lower part of the leg and somehow graft the wider part onto the foot again? These and other ideas swirled around in my head for a while until I came up with the easiest way to fix it--I would wear these socks (they somehow magically fit me perfectly) and knit a new pair for Troy. Sorry about the wait, honey.

So that is what I am doing.

It took me a while to take pictures (socks in timeout do not get their picture taken) so that is why I am sharing these so long after they were finished.

I made up the pattern (hmm...maybe the first problem?). Toe up, the sock has a basic 2x2 rib on top of the foot and all around the leg, a simple and basic gusset, and a flap heel.

To make sure the leg fit, I added increases on either side of the center six stitches, incorporating the new stitches into the rib pattern:

They're very warm, and I have to say I like wearing them! I did a lot of worrying about whether the socks would stay up while making them and took the trouble to knit in elastic band with the top ribbing. It seems to work pretty well. It's not like the socks never slip down, but they stay up pretty well.
Project Stats
Started: 9 Mar '13
Finished: 9 Sep '13
Pattern: my own
Materials: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine (1292 Brown), 1-1/3 skeins ($21)

And Troy's socks? Well...I started a pair with this Mini Mochi I purchased last December.

I've made one pair of socks out of this yarn and, although I don't think it's the most durable, they are by far the comfiest socks I have. The yarn is soft and fuzzy in all the right ways.

I actually started the socks in early November because I needed a project I could take to the Notre Dame game.

By the time I pulled it out again to take to the live taping we went to of the radio show, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, it had occurred to me that it was coming out a little large for me and would work for Troy.

(It wasn't the best pattern for knitting
in the near dark, but I made do.)

A week later, the sock was traveling with me when I went on a day trip to Chicago with some family.

A lot of knitting got done on the train rides.

All this is to say that this sock is having an exciting time of it. I have the first one done up to the final ribbing and have the second one done to the gusset. (It's with me in Missouri right now so still traveling!) I seemed to have made enough notes to make the second one match the first. (Always a plus.)

Yes, Troy has tried them on and we agree that they fit. I hope this time we are right...