Socks, Socks, and More Socks

I first started knitting socks shortly after I started knitting. I saw the article in the magazine and all the fun sock yarns on the market and thought "I can figure that out. No problem!"

So I acquired some sock yarn and 4 pointy sticks. Shortly thereafter, I realized it would be much easier to use 5 pointy sticks and adjusted the knitting appropriatly. I should probably mention that this was the first time that I have actually knitted with double pointed needles.


When it was all said and done I ended up with these. My clown socks. I'm extremely proud of my clown socks. There was not a human being on the face of the earth that was able to ridicule them at that moment in time. No mam, I was proud to be able to join in the ranks of hundreds of sock knitting women that came before me.

So why wasn't I wearing them? If truth be told, they really were not all that the magazine article had them cracked up to be. The toes were just to pointy, the heel didn't really fit quite right, and I made the foot section entirely too long.

There just had to be a better way, and decided my next quest in life was to find the perfect sock pattern. Next month another magazine came in the mail with a different way to turn the heel. It was a slight variation on a theme but it created a shaped cradle for my precious heel. (I think that I should mention that I was meticulious about making gauge and it helped the outcome considerably.)


Sweet Success! The slightly different heel made all the difference in the world and I didn't knit the foot length until kingdom come! Nope, I measured my foot and knit until about 2 inches short of the final length just like the instructions said! This seemed to work out great and it produced a sock that was comfortable to wear.

So why wasn't I knitting more of these? Simple. The yarn keeps getting all tangled up, I lose half my stitches cuz the needles keep falling out and I'm tired of dealing with all those stupid pointy sticks.

So I said "Self, there simply must be a better way." And of course that lead to doing more research and I found about the 2-circ method by Cat Bordhi. Now being the cheap thrifty person that I am, I found places on the internet which explained this method in complete detail (later I eventually broke down and got the book). Around this time, another magazine article showed me the Pricilla Gibson-Roberts short-row heel method. Off I went and produced these.


These socks were much easier to make using the 2-circs than dealing with all of those stupid pointy sticks. And did I mention that they are the most comfortable socks to date?

The problem? I keep getting these annoying little holes in the heel. Holy socks. We will not be having any sort thing. Back to the drawing board.

I do like the short row method. I actually like it alot and its quite comfortable especially if you short row the toe as well. But the holes have got to go. SO after quite a bit of thought I remembered that I short-row stuff all the time and don't have the hole problem. Well this means that its the way that the short row is being executed. You see, Pricilla has you wrap the yarn around the needle which adds bulk to the that stitch, and when you have to re-wrap the yarn a second time when you are coming back on the return.

Now all this wraping and re-wraping is just way too much work. And its confusing as well. Just way too much to keep track of. So I'm short-rowing like every one in the sweater knitting community short-rows. I'm doing exactly what Elizabeth tells me to do. Just simply slide the stich you are gonna skip to the right hand needle, wrap the yarn, slip the stitch back to the left hand needle, turn the sock, and purl back. Then just keep slipping stitches, wrapping yarn, and either knitting or purling across the row until you have about 1 inch worth of stitches. Now on the increase part, you still have to wrap and turn but there is a trick or the stitches are mis-directed. On the knit side of the fabric, you have to slip, slip, slip, knit. On the purl side you have to purl the 2 wrapped stitches plus the actual stitch through the back loop.

This is my result!


Am I pleased? Extremely!