Friday 10 June 2016

My Pretty Pink Socks


I continue my sock knitting saga with another pair, and I think the prettiest yet. (Perhaps I can't call myself a novice sock-knitter any more, since this is pair number four.) They are knitted from Stephanie Pollmeier's Double Lace Rib Toe-Up Socks, which I found on ravelry. The pattern appealed to me firstly because the socks remind me of the white school socks that my daughter used to wear to school. I thought that the pink wool that I was planning to use needed a lacey pattern, but with the pattern just containing four rows this did not look too difficult.

While knitting these socks I have learned some techniques that were new to me. The first of which was the provisional cast on. I wasn't even sure what this was, but youtube always comes to the rescue and I found a video that was easy to follow on iknits glossary. I'm sure seasoned sock knitters know all about this, but if you don't it is a method where you cast on using a piece of waste yarn, keeping your cast on stitches live so you can knit on them and also in the other direction. You then can use both sets of stitches to knit in the round, and have a lovely smooth toe to your sock.


My next new technique was the short row heel. Since I use short row turns a lot in my own patterns this was fairly simple, and I quite liked this method since you don't have to pick up stitches from a knitted edge always a bit of a worry whether you are doing it evenly or not.

Knitting from the toe up does seem a good idea, especially if you are a bit uncertain whether you have enough wool. I wanted these sock to be fairly long,.

I hit another problem when I came to casting off. I am not sure if I have chunky calves, but after my first cast off I realised that if they were to fit I would have to cast off much more loosely. With a combination of switching to larger needles for the penultimate row and cast off row, and using this loose cast off method, they now fit perfectly.   

What I love about these socks are that they fit my feet really well. I guess that is one of the advantages about knitting your own socks. Perhaps buying socks will be something I don't do any more. Though they did seem to take me a long time. I only used 84g of wool (which was My First Regia), but with fine wool it feels as if you are never going to get to the end of the ball. 


I am now pondering what to knit next. I still have a yearning (or should I say yarning? ha ha) for some spotty socks, but also have been thinking I may make some for Mr Ginx.  Though when I mentioned this to him, his colour choice seemed to be black, brown or grey. I don't think I will be sticking to that.

16 comments:

  1. These are gorgeous, you are definitely not a novice sock knitter any more. I like to use the term adventurous beginner. The pattern is beautiful, I haven't seen this one before but I have added it to my queue.
    I'm glad you've learned some new techniques. I think that is one of the most enjoyable thing about sock knitting, there's always a new technique to try. As far as the cast off for your socks is concerned, have you cheked out Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off on YouTube? I find this has great stretch and works well for socks.
    Have a good weekend. X

    ReplyDelete
  2. These are so pretty, love pink. You are far from being a novice as I am struggling with some fingerless mitts atm. Love the idea of polka dots such fun

    ReplyDelete
  3. They are beautiful socks, I love that shade of pink too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just never think to knit socks but several people I follow on instgram are posting all sorts of lovely homemade socks so I am definitely warming up to the idea! The pink is so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These socks really are pretty! Thanks so much for sharing at the Submarine Sunday Link Party!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. They look fabulous - you making knitting socks sound do-able!! They still intimidate me though!

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow knitting socks, I think that is so clever #TheRealCraftyLinkParty

    ReplyDelete
  8. They are lovely, the lacey pattern looks so pretty with the pink yarn. Thank you for linking to the pattern, might try a pair of these myself at some point :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. There seems to be a knitted sock revolution happening in blogland at the moment. And after seeing these lovely pink socks I'm tempted to put down my crochet hook and give them a go!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great job! I think provisional cast-ons are fun.

    ReplyDelete
  11. They turned out awesome. I guess the first pair is the hardest. After that, you're a pro! Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty link Party this week. Pinned!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Really gorgeous! I think you should knit some more architecture, maybe this time a skyscraper like the Empire State Building or how about Big Ben? Thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Són preciosos. M'encantaria aprendre a fer uns mitjons però la veritat és que sembla dificilíssim.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh, wow! These look great! I'd like to feature this post at Tuesdays with a Twist today! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

    ReplyDelete
  15. Lovely socks and such a pretty colour, all of those techniques sound a bit scary to me I'm still a novice sock knitter and if I can produce a pair using the simplest of patterns I'm over the moon! I really must be more adventurous. Thank you for linking. :) xx

    ReplyDelete