Socktoberfest isn't over until the socks are done. (Put down your beer; they're done.)

I have to admit--favourite sock pic yet! :)

Ready for some pictures?

I didn't finish my Soctoberfest socks in October, but that didn't mean I gave up on them. As I recall, I got the first sock done in the month, but then the project sat for a while.

As other projects wrapped up, I set to the second sock and got it done in "no time." Then it took almost as long to get pictures done!

Tip of the day: if you're taking pictures of socks you are wearing and are using a tripod, set up the picture with a spare set of shoes. Then replace them one at a time by the shoe on your foot. I happen to have a 2-sec delay option on my camera and it works great for these situations.

Back to the socks...you may recall that I converted them to toe-up with a short-row toe. The original pattern had a purl ridge on the top where the toe meets the foot because of the way the sock was cast off. I liked the look of it, so I kept it in even though it was completely unnecessary.

I ended with just a couple rows of 1x1 ribbing and an "invisible" cast off:

I would normally do more ribbing, but I wanted to finish the pattern repeat and then I was running out of yarn. And I haven't forgotten that I promised a video on the invisible cast on. I think I'm really close to getting it done. (My poor Hourglass socks...they have been waiting since early June to be finished because I'm going to use them in the video!)

I think the mock cable pattern showed up fine through the colour changes:

I was worried the changing colours would distract (and detract) too much from the pattern. But I think because they were relatively long colour runs, it worked out fine.

You can see that the colour runs did not work out to make matching socks:

but I'm ok with that. (They're termed "fraternal" in the sock world.)

Yes, when I wore these socks for the first time, I wore them with these heels. (But I chickened out by wearing them with long wide pants.) Project Stats
Started: 1 Oct '11
Finished: 26 Nov '11
Pattern: Nutkin by Beth LaPensee (free)
Materials: Lang Yarns Jawoll Magic (colour 84.0063), 1 skein ($20.14)
I know there is a strong tradition of wearing your hand knit socks with heels (especially mules), but I have never felt comfortable with it. But close to finishing these socks it occurred to me that they would look good with these brown heels and then I had to try it.

Mock me if you want; I don't care!! :)

Socktober Progress

Have you been enjoying Socktober? We've certainly had some cold and wet enough weather to warrant warm socks. I, for one, have been enjoying my hand knits. (Especially those Mini Mochi Circle Socks I recently finished. Best. Socks. Ever.)

The current pair I'm working on had a pretty rough start. They were too big with the recommended number of stitches and needles. So I foolishly changed two variables at once and went down a needle size and decreased the number of stitches. This turned out to be too small so I made some increases after the short row toe. The right number on the smaller needles turned out to be what the pattern call for!

There were a few other small mishaps that affected how the sock looked. I told myself that I was going to just live with it because it in no way affected how the socks would work. But before I finished the first repeat of the pattern, I realized I couldn't live with it. So I ripped them out and had a much better second start.

One detail I really liked about this pattern was the purl row between the toe and the patterned part of the foot.

When I actually read the pattern, I realized this wasn't a purl row, but in fact was the cast off. The pattern calls for the socks to be knit from the cuff down. The short-row toe is knit from the bottom, around the end of the foot, and back to the top of the sock. The two parts (toe and foot) are then seamed together with a 3-needle bind off. This is what forms the ridge that I thought was a purl row.

I decided to mimic the design element with a purl row across the top of the sock after the toe, even though it was not necessary since I was knitting the sock toe-up.

Once the sock was off to a good start, it has been good knitting ever since. I made up some increases for a gusset and a larger short row heel. The leg of the sock is 72 stitches. (I started with 64.) I'm learning that I need a larger leg than foot. (Most patterns are written with the same number of stitches around the foot as around the leg. This just doesn't seem to work for my body.)

Once the heel is done, the cables are added at the back of the sock. To incorporate the increase stitches, I added two additional purl stitches between the mock cables. That reminds me, I decided to go with mirrored cables on each sock. (I mentioned I was debating between this option and mirror imaging one sock to the other.)

I have a ways to go on the leg yet. After the first two chart repeats, I changed to one size larger needle. I expect I may do that one more time yet. (If needed, I may add more purl stitches as well.)

So there you have it. Now that all the details are worked out, I just need to finish this one and then make a second just like it. The wool has been nice to work with (a little splitty but I can live with that) and the colours are perfect for fall knitting. There was a knot already so the colour change was interrupted and abrupt, but I'm not going to let that bother me. (I'm not!)

Socktober Once Again!

If you've looked at your calendar today, you should have noticed that it's Socktober!! (I know most calendars do not have it labeled correctly--let's work on that, shall we? Find your calendar. Grab a sharpie. Write a little vertical squiggle in front of "October" and it should now say, "SOctober." Problem solved. Well, unless you made your squiggle go the wrong way and then it will say, "ZOctober." I guess that would make it a German celebration of socks. In that case, problem zolved.)

Anyway, back to socks. Knitting a pair of socks would be the perfect fit for my current "knit small projects only" condition. I have selected a sock yarn from the stash:

(The name kind of looks German, doesn't it? "Jawoll." It might be, I suppose. The label says it was made in Italy for a company in Switzerland.) It is 75% wool and 25% nylon which means it should wear really well and last a long time. You can also see on the label that it is superwash. How convenient.

I purchased this ball at a yarn store in Bowling Green, KY, when we were there visiting friends last March. I searched out a yarn store and Troy and Isaac indulgently let me shop for a bit. They had a lot of nice stuff but this ball was the best thing that fell in the overlap of the categories of things I could afford, things I liked, and things I actually knew what I would do with. (And things I couldn't easily get at my LYS at home.) Now as I knit on these socks and eventually when I wear them, I will be reminded of the nice visit I had with my friends too. Like a memory book (scrap book) I can take with me.

But no wool is any good without a pattern to shape it. I have chosen Nutkin by Beth LaPensee. It is a very popular pattern on Ravelry and with good reason--I think it looks great!

I hope the colour changing properties of the wool don't overwhelm the stitch pattern. I looked up other projects using this combination of pattern and wool on Ravelry and many of them did not look great. But there weren't really good quality pictures in the batch so I am going to try it for myself and see what I get.

Automatic modification will be to work toe up and to start with a short row toe. I'm pretty sure I am going to mirror image the mock cables as well. Just not sure if I will mirror them within the sock (and thus each sock will be identical to its mate) or knit one sock according to the pattern and knit the second sock mirror imaged. So many choices...