Green Knee Socks

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My first knee socks.

I made these out of Paton's Stretch - nice yarn. I doubt that it'll be very durable, but I made these for art's sake, not for actually, you know, wearing. I think that I used size 00 double points. Maybe they were 0's? Anyway, they were tiny - my favorite for sock knitting.

A while back, I decided that I'll never make another pair of exact copies again. From now on, my socks will be different from each other.
This project taught me a valuable lesson - if you want your "differerent" socks to LOOK different, then pick a yarn in a solid colorway.

You have to look really closely at these socks to see that they are different. Can you even see it?
The sock on the Right Leg is mostly a k2 p2 rib, and it has this exceedingly creative and excruciatingly mathematically correct method of adding ribs to as to make room for the calf......and you can't even see the stinkin' ribs! The sock on the left leg is mostly stockinette, with a band of ribs up the front and the back. I tell you, the play between the stockinette and the band of ribbing is fetching. Too bad that you can't see it.
You can see a bit of difference if you look, really closely, at the tops of the feet. (These are Grace's feet - thanks Grace!) The sock on the left foot (on the right of the photo) is mostly stockinette, with the rib band peeling out of a sort of a vee - too bad that you can't see it. The ribs on the right foot begin near the toe, too bad that you can't see it, and they don't just all start at once, oh no, the beginning of the ribs forms a vee shape, too. Awfully too bad that you can't see it... sigh.

On the other hand, I really do like this colorway. It reminds me of hiking in the fall.

I knitted these from the toe up, with a beginning which was a little bit of a challenge, and I'm not sure it was worth it. I doubt that I'll repeat it, but here's what I did. I cast on 5 or 6 stitches and knit back and forth, making a rectangle, for approx 15 rows, ending with the completion of a knit side. Then, I picked up across the 15 rows, picked up the provisional cast on, picked up across the sole (15 rows), and then proceeded to knit in the round, slowly adding in more stitches, to widen the toe. It made a nice shape - rather blunt, which is how I like them. There are absolutely no "ears" - something that I hate and despise - those little corner thingies - urgh - I hate those little ears. This cast on method cured the ear problem, but it was so tetchy. (I'll soon show you a different pair of socks with a different cast on and THAT one is perfect.)

Knitting from the toe up makes so much sense to me. One of the best parts is that I can try on the socks as I go along. This was my first project on double points. I used a set of 5 to knit the sock, but I'd knit off onto 8 or 9 needles so as to be able to try them on. It worked great.

I used a sort of a modified Fleegle Heel (2 links)- but here's the trick - if you add short rows, here and there, you'll add area and curves to your sock and then it will fit... perfectly.

When you knit short rows on a tubular item, you stop knitting in the round,knit for some number of stitches, turn, work in the other direction, turn, and return to knitting in the round. If you only add one short row, where you knit to a designated point, turn and knit back to the opposite point on the sock, turn, and then commence knitting in the round once again, you've added a little wedge to the tube.

If you make your short row go a little past the middle-side-line, on each side of the sock, then you've added a nice, long wedge.

I put, I think, 3 wedges in the area from the arch to the actual heel , and then 3 above the heel. These short row bits were very spaced apart - they were not one on top of the other. Also, the turn of each short row was at a different point, so that the whole thing sort of blended in.

The short row areas were spaced apart from each other - I threw in a short row, then knitted, say, 10 rows, then another short row, then knitted another 10 or so rows - get it?

I was able to figure out where to put them by constantly trying on the sock. I wanted the heel turn to occur where the front of the sock was at the actual bend of my ankle, and the short row heel to be on the actual point of my heel. If you just knit round and round, then when it's time for the heel turn, the front of the sock is past the bend of the ankle. So, by adding a few short rows, I was able to add length to the back/underside of the sock without adding length to the front of the sock. I have really large heels, so this is necessary for a proper fit.

These socks practically POP when they slide onto my feet. Oh My Gosh, there's nothing at all like tailor-made socks!!! The sock's heels are where my heels are! Oh, glorious day!

Then, later on, when I got to the part of the leg where the calf swells - same problem. The calf is getting bigger around, but the vertical gain is greater in the back than in the front, since there's a curve there, right? Add a few short rows here and there, and this problem will be solved! The socks get wider and longer in the back. The best part is - - no more falling down knee socks!!! Try it! I guarantee that you'll like it.

I knitted and knitted until I felt like I needed to cast off before I ran out of yarn. I used my Best Stretchy Cast Off, and not a moment too soon. I had a tail of approximately 12 inches long on each sock. Whew! That cast off is a pain to rip out, so I was sweating it there for a few minutes!
All in all, a wonderful project. I enjoyed every minute, and can't wait for cooler weather so that I can actually wear them!
knee socks

paton stretch sock yarn

toe up socks

knit from the toe up

socks that don't match
knee socks short rows fleegle heel paton's stretch