Never have I been a sock knitter. I am definitely a self-proclaimed sweater knitter. Problem with that is sweaters are bulky to carry around, a pattern is usually necessary (or at the very least, notes to remember what I’m doing next), and it is sometimes difficult to pick up and put down in the moment. I love knitting toques but one actually really can have too many toques. I am not really a shawl knitter … although I have knit some lately that I really like. And it’s not cold enough here for mittens – although I do need a pair of fingerless mitts … So that leaves socks.
The marathon that was M’s anniversay socks finished and behind me, I decided it was time to finish the mates to the socks I had started in June for my parents. I took these with us on our trip to the Rockies with the goal to finish before we got home.
Success! Each took me two days to complete, a total of four days. The days that I worked on them were driving days so there was nothing else to do anyhow :)
The first pair finished were for my dad:
Pattern: Universal Top-Down Socks from Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Stripes in sing n’ the blues stripes
Needles: 2.75mm 32” circulars
For the heel, I incorporated Chrissy’s On the Go Socks pattern, which seems to fit my dad really well.
The second finished socks for my mom were a little more challenging only because I cut out all of the forest green in this colourway. I liked the softer colours a lot more, so cutting out the big repeats of green meant more of those colours.
Pattern: Universal Top-Down Socks from Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Stripes in rusty stripes
Needles: 2.75mm 32” circulars
My mom has very long narrow feet so while these look like they fit in the photos, they are actually way too long! She’s going to give me feedback as she wears them so that I can tweak her next pair.
On our way home, we stopped at Electric Tree Yarns in Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops is one of those places that is a drive through/gateway to many other places in BC’s north. Being from Prince George myself (a very northern town in BC), I really like driving into some of these places in the interior. Kamloops, while old, slightly rundown and not super super clean, has a special place in my heart – it’s a place we regularly talk about moving to. I bought some fibre, buttons and sock yarn … because apparently, I needed to cast on for more socks on our last leg of the journey (haha no pun intended!).
Pattern: Plain Vanilla Sock with the Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Single Disk Cat Print in colour 2174
Needles: 2.75mm 32” circular, magic loop
This yarn is neat because it comes in two disks for two identical socks and the idea is that they are knit at the same time. I only had one circular with me, so I knit these one after the other. There was a ton of pooling of colours as you can see and I would knit these much tighter next time (2.25mm needles instead – which is my normal go-to).
Mine are totally different because I only used one disk! One pair of size 7 women’s socks from ONE disk! Awesome. So I’m going to knit up another ‘pair’ from the second disk and then I’ll have four socks – and probably two pairs that are more closely matching as well :)
I cast on 10 stitches using the Turkish cast on method and increased until I had 56 stitches for the foot/leg. I knit 65 rows of St st then turned the heel and knit up the leg for 45 rows prior to starting 14 rows of ribbing, then cast off using a super-stretchy bind off. Easy! and fast.
So for a non-sock knitter, I’ve managed to finish 4 pairs in the past 3 months … that’s pretty good!
What are you working on? Have you found yourself enjoying something different recently?
Happy *sock* Knitting :)