This is pair #217. I've used yarn from the September 2019 Opal box but the colourway was part of the "Lifestyle" collection: Die Modebewusste 9873. The pattern I used is called "Tennarisukka" which is a free ravelry download. It's actually for short sneaker socks but you can do as many pattern repeats on the leg as you like to make them longer. This has to be one of my favourite patters yet. It's very easy to make - just a combination of knit and purl stitches to create the texture, it's fairly addictive and therefore grows quickly - just one more repeat! - and the socks feel particularly cozy and fluffy.
Pair #218 is a pair of super thick slipper socks for my mum. She got really excited about the custom order slipper socks I made in November 2021 so I made her a pair. They are too big for me which is why they look a little odd. These are made using two strands of 4-ply sock yarn held together on 3,5mm needles and they are great to use up left overs or colourways and designs you're not that fond of.
This is pair #219 using Aktiv 4872 by supergarne. T chose this yarn, another surprise choice I have to admit.
For now I can model T's socks myself as we currently wear roughly the same size.
This is #220 in a fabulous rainbow. I love this yarn! It's Meilenweit Soja Ministripes 324 by Lana Grossa. It has a soy fiber content, is very soft and lovely to knit with. I used my caterpillar sock pattern and an afterthought heel. A half finished sock had been sitting in the naughty corner for a while because I wasn't happy with the fit of the heel even though I'd made it before and it was fine then. I started searching for a way to fix it and found this wonderful tutorial to insert a mini gusset before starting the actual heel.
This evergreen blue crescent of knitting in the above picture is the mini gusset. It's created by working a few short rows that get increasingly longer, depending on how big you want the mini gusset to be. You do that on both sides, below the ankles, before following your afterthought heel pattern of choice. It really worked wonderfully - the fit was so much better!
I have only one criticism to make about the yarn - which is a problem most rainbow yarns have in my opinion: there needs to be another, darker shade of yellow to ease the transition between yellow and orange! This yarn has two shades of green, a turquoise to blend blue and green, two shades of red to go between orange and red and a magenta to blend red and purple. While the yarn is clearly striped the section from orange through red and purple to blue and green looks almost blended because the stripes are so narrow and the colours are fairly close together; when you get to yellow, which goes well with the bright, light green before, there's a very harsh break between yellow and orange. There is obviously a colour missing and it would have been so easy to put in a stripe in a nice egg yolk yellow to smooth it out a little.
But I'm being nit-picky here - it is one of the best rainbow stripes I've seen yet.
Pair #221 is another one with a half solid - half patterned heel like I've already shown in my previous sock post (3rd pair; you will find a link to my inspiration there). The yarn I used is Aktiv 2530 by supergarne (the red solid) and Opal Comedy 9837.
I really like these, I think they look kinda cheeky. The only negative I would find is that the German short row heel isn't the best fitting of heels but it's the only option to achieve exactly that look. I guess I could take the trouble of increasing a few stitches on top of the sock to create a roomier instep without distorting the look of it. It's also very important to make the foot long enough - most socks with short row heels I see photos of jump out to me because the foot is too short and the turn of the heel doesn't sit exactly at the heel of the foot but below that, which is actually the sole already and means the sock is too short.
I sometimes see people complaining about their socks slipping in their shoes; this is probably the reason why. It doesn't matter if they're store bought or hand knitted, if the foot is too short it might slip down or generally be uncomfortable to wear. I have realized recently that I have socks I never reach for, even though the yarn is really nice and there's nothing wrong with them. But I've been instinctively avoiding them because they are just a little bit too short for my feet and the heel won't stay where it's supposed to.
There's an easy way to fix that and I'll talk about that more in my next post.
Lots of love! xxx
If you're wondering about the Opal boxes I keep mentioning: I get these as a gift from my wonderfully indulgent husband and I explain all about this subscription and how it works in this post.
I don't get paid or free products for mentioning them here.
P.S.: I had this post in my drafts for roughly nine months now and never finished it. All of these socks are at least one year old already and I have lots more to show until I'm up to date. I'll really try to catch up!