Not Short on Shortie Socks

Ready for one more pair of shortie socks? It's been a summer full of them!

The very day I cast off the last pair, I cast on a new pair! I found one ball of self-striping yarn in the stash, and got started. I quickly realized that my usual short-row toe was not going to give the best results with the stripes. (If by "quickly" you understand that I knit the toe and then had to take it out.)

So I tried a more common toe that starts at the tip and increases to the full width of the sock. I started with 12 sts (on each needle, 24 total), and quickly increased to 22 (44 total) by increasing one stitch on the right and left of the sole and top every row. Then I increased every other row to 32 (64 total) stitches.

Six days later, I was casting off the first sock. Or almost casting it off. I had started the sock right where the yarn changed from blue to grey and wanted to start the second sock in the same place. Well, I only had five stitches left on the bind off and only had about 2 inches left of blue. Not enough to cast off five stitches and leave an end to start the next sock.

I was stumped for a minute, but then noticed the other end of the ball was dark blue so I used it for the last five stitches. Makes a couple more ends to work in, but I had preserved the colours. Later I noticed that I could have used the tail at the beginning of the sock too. It was longer than normal (and of course blue).

I then cast on the second sock starting at the same grey/blue colour change and hoped it would match the first. This would depend on knitting it the same as the first sock, keeping my tension the same, and the yarn being dyed consistently over six repeats (three for each sock).

And guess what! It worked!

I think I had to make a slight adjustment when I went around the heel to keep the colours the same but it's hardly noticeable.

I made the heel turn a little different, making the short rows from short to long instead of long to short and I didn't like it.

There are little bumps from the short rows and they end up on the bottom of the sole instead of at the edge of the heel. I can't feel it while I'm wearing them but I prefer the look of how I normally do them. Now I know.

I finished with a 1x1 rib. It's a little shorter than I would have done but, as noted, I was constricted by the yarn stripes.

Totally worth it!

I love the muted colours of this stripe. This was a ball of yarn my sister found at a second hand store and passed on to me because she wasn't knitting socks at the time. Then later when she got into socks again, she knit a pair with the same yarn!

These are a little small for me which is a good sign that they will fit the person I'm giving them to. :) At first I was confused about why they were small because I did the usual number of rows before doing the heel, but then realized the new way I did the toe is fewer rows than my usual toe. That would do it!

Project Stats
Started: 22 July '19
Finished: 5 Aug '19
Pattern: none (improvised); toe-up, gusset, heel flap
Materials: Patons North America Kroy Socks Ragg Shades (in Blue Stripe Ragg), 45 g
Ravelry project page: Grey self striping shortie socks

Preparations for a Vest (and a Class)

I made a trip to Red Purl today. Had to get out for a bit. Had to take a drive in the glorious sunshine. Also couldn't wait a minute longer to wind the wool I bought about a week ago.

So I bought these two skeins of wool from Estonia

last week but didn't take the time to wind them at the time. Then I had to look at them at home realizing that I couldn't actually work with them because they weren't wound yet. Very frustrating!

They might look like a variegated colourway, but that's not quite true. Instead of changing colours every so many inches, one colour goes on for yards and yards before changing to the next colour. So as you knit you get wide stripes of consecutive colours.

I'm planning to use it for a patterned vest and it's going to make it look like I changed colours all the time, when really I worked from one ball and it did the work for me. (It's similar to self-striping sock yarns, although in the sock yarns the colours change much more often.) It's a great trick for making yourself look very talented while doing a simple fair isle!

I've been gloating to myself about this wool every time I've looked at it for the past week, and really couldn't wait another minute to roll it into balls, and then perhaps start my swatch. (Oh, I can't wait...)

Can you see the stripes in the ball?

How it changes from light in the center, to dark, to light, to dark, etc? This will be the "main" colour in the vest and will be used for the waist, armhole and neck ribbing. I'll have to see how I get the two arms to match...hmmm, something to consider as I go.

And then the one I really love:
Green to purple to orange a couple times. Amy has a sample knit up in this colourway and I just love it. It's going to be so fun to work with!

I think the two colours will play well together:
We'll have to see how the light and dark variations of the grey play against the more drastic colour changes of the other. Always an adventure!

And while I was at Red Purl and we had some time to talk, Amy and I picked some dates for the class I am going to teach. Oh yes! Hadn't I mentioned it? I am going to be teaching my first class at Red Purl to show you how to make a Better Plastic Bag for yourself! Look for details soon at Red Purl's website.

Maybe I'll see you there,

christina