these are my ode-to-spring-socks - it's pair #37. the yarn is Lana Grossa India 2305 and it was a dream to knit with. they were done really quickly - because i enjoyed knitting them so much! - and would have been done even more quickly had i not waited for daylight to finish off the second heel because i took some photos of the process to write a tutorial some time soon...
i could have easily matched them and made them twin socks but that's just not a thing i do - but i did kind of meta-match them because i made the first cast-on loop exactly at the change between two colours which gives me a differently coloured top edge (which is only a thin line really) but i like that they have that in common.
the inspiration for the leg came from Babajezas Wundertüte - i think i have linked to it in another post already but i'll link it again anyway... you can never have enough reference to the places that inspire you i think...
she doesn't say anything about the exact number of rows knitted and purled so i counted them as best as i could from the screen and then just went with it. i've called it the "caterpillar sock" and if i'm stepping on anyones toes by naming the pattern that and posting my way of doing it here, i do apologise...
this is for 4-ply sock yarn, instructions for 6-ply in ( )
- cast on the desired number of stitches
- *knit 2 - purl 2* 10 rounds (8 rounds)
- *knit 10 rounds (8 rounds) - purl 5 rounds (4 rounds)* as many times as you like to achieve the lenght of sock leg you want
- knit 10 rounds (10 rounds) before starting the heel
- finish the sock as you normally would
you can use the 4-ply instructions for 6-ply yarn of course. i've tried it but didn't like it so much so i changed it a little for thicker yarn. here is an example:
(although i started with the purl rounds right after the rib on this pair but it really does not matter...)
for pair #60 - you can find it at the bottom of this post - i modified the 4-ply pattern a little: i changed every other purl rib from "purl 5 rounds" to "purl 1 rd - knit 1 rd - purl 1 rd - knit 1 rd - purl 1 rd". it makes the purl section appear lighter and gives it a nice and soft look. you could do that for all the purl sections of course.
T has very sweetly requested another pair of socks for himself to wear to bed. after making his first pairs i got the impression that he didn't like wearing hand knitted socks very much because whenever he wanted to wear them he took them off rather soon again. then i realised that a) they are too warm for him to wear during the day - busy, playing children hardly ever get cold feet i think; at least mine don't, and b) they didn't fit him quite well because he kept stopping what he did to pull them up. so now when he said he wanted a new pair (the other ones might also be getting a little small already) i was very happy and instantly set to work. his favourite colour at the moment is red and when i pulled out the ball of yarn remembered what he had said when i first bought it back in autumn: "mama, you just have to knit me a pair of socks from this!" and the "just have" came with a big sigh to emphazise the importance of it... (he forgot it again and so did i to be honest but he remembered when i made the crochet fox doll.)
so now i'm calling T's new socks-to-be the fox-sox...
they have a roll down cuff, no ribbing and very little leg - more ankle socklets than socks. they'll get a three-segment heel (more on that soon) and i hope that it will fit him better than the normal heel (which apparently does not want to stay in place on his feet).
by the way: i've knitted 37 pairs of sock and this is the first one that is all one colour - and it is so boring! good thing they are so small...haha!