First socks...

I know I just posted about my first pair of completed socks, but this is the first pair of socks I ever started... way back in the Winter of 2007. I mentioned them when I made a list of unfinished objects in January (the other socks were on that list too). In an attempt to tie up loose ends, I'm currently on a "finish-all-my-old-WIPs" kick.



I wanted to knit socks, but I was intimidated by DPNs. Too many needles, too short, too pointy... Instead, I found a pattern on the KnitPicks website. It's a pattern for toe-up socks on two circular needles. It calls for knitting both socks at the same time, but I opted to only knit one at a time. Since I had no idea what I was doing, the first sock was far from perfect... First, it's definitely too wide. The pattern says to increase until you get the right width, but I overshot it a bit. Plus, I think socks are supposed to have a touch of negative ease. Second, the afterthought heel included in the pattern didn't fit my heel well at all. It was a spiral heel, and my heel is not that round... Finally, I didn't use the right bind off, and it was not stretchy at all. Which meant the sock was hard to put on and take off. I started the second sock at the time (i.e. Winter before last, or maybe Spring...), but stopped at the top of the foot. I can't remember why I stopped. I probably had other projects to work on. But I do remember that I wondered if and how I could ever fix those problems...

I picked up the second sock last week and finished it over the weekend. I used a yarn-over bind off, very stretchy... I used a different afterthought heel. It's triangular and fits my heel much better. I also made the leg longer.



I unraveled the bind off on the first sock, lengthened the leg and bound off using the yarn-over method. I frogged the heel and replaced it with the triangular afterthought heel. They're still a little too wide, but I don't think I could have fixed that easily... still, they're very comfy!

Pattern: Two at Once, Toe-Up Socks, by Kelley Petkun. Replaced the afterthought heel with the one described in Sandy Cushman's Up-Down Spiral Sox, in Interweave Knits Favorite Socks.
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug, in Blue Parrot. About 0.85 skein or 270 yards (320 yd/110g)
Needles: 2 US 3/3.25mm circular needles (24")
Started: Winter 2007
Finished: June 16, 2008



Ta-daa! A pair of handknit socks!
Funny how fast a pair of socks are done when you start with one and a half socks...