Sock Footage
I like to think of myself as a sweater knitter. I knit shawls as well, but sweaters are really “my thing.” Lately though, I’ve been kind of obsessed with knitting socks. I have a good collection of sock yarn, mostly because I planned to use it for shawls or sweaters, but recently I’ve been using my sock yarn to knit socks.
Thanks to Kate Atherley’s book Custom Socks I finally figured out how to make a pair of socks that fit me. I would always make them a little too big, so they fit my mother’s feet perfectly, and I would give them to her. Now she has a drawer full of hand-knit socks, but this pair is only the first in my own hand-knit sock drawer.
When I told my friend Teri that I was knitting socks we decided to do a knit-along using Susan B. Anderson’s Smooth Operator sock pattern, and I cast on this pair.
I was having way too much fun watching the stripes change from blue to white sprinkled with gold speckles, and I got ahead of Teri, so I had to put them down for a while to let her catch up. Which meant, of course, that I had to cast on another pair.
I wanted to try Mina Phillip’s garter stitch short-row heel, so I am using her pattern for that, but I added my own texture pattern on the top of the foot and the leg. It’s not difficult, but I do have to pay a little more attention with this pair, which meant, of course, that I had to start another pair of socks for simple, mindless knitting.
And now I have three pairs of socks on my needles, and plans for more. Webs was having a sale on Opal sock yarn, and their 50 g skeins of Valley Yarns Huntington are perfect for heels and toes.
I am still knitting sweaters and shawls, but those are work knitting. Design samples that have to be carefully thought out and planned. Socks can be picked up whenever I have a spare minute, and put down just as easily. They are easy, portable projects that let my mind rest while my hands stay busy. I am really starting to understand the appeal of hand-knit socks. Do you knit socks?
Thank you for knitting, and May the fourth be with you!