Macro Monday... Cosy Sock...

20 December 2010

It is Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos...

This week I decided to blog about the sock that I have just finished knitting...  It has been so very cold, frosty and snowy outside that I thought it would be nice to look at soft cuddly wool...

Unusually for me... rofl... a new book arrived on the same day as an order for sock yarn...  What was unusual about this was that as I browsed through the book I came upon a pattern that really appealed to me and guess what...

I actually had some of the Kaffe Fassett yarn used in the pattern contained in my new order... in a different colourway.  Mine is Landscape Canyon 4352 Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett but I think it was Jungle that was used in the book...  so of course... I dropped other projects on my needles and cast on...

 I have wanted to try knitting a "sideways" sock for a long time as I have often wondered about the fit...

It was the first time in many many months that I have used metal knitting needles (2.25mm) and I felt it in my hands.  My hands and wrists get very very sore when I do a lot of knitting on metal needles which is why I have almost entirely moved across to knitting using my wooden and bamboo dpn's.  

This is a very well written pattern... easy to follow... very clever way of creating the stitches for knitting the toe and cuff while knitting the rest of the sock...  giving a lovely smooth flat join (really important for the toe).

A necessity to love doing kitchener stitch as I grafted 111 stitches on one needle with 111 stitches on another needle  (a bit of a marathon run)... 

I personally couldn't get the crochet chain method to work for my provisional caston and after getting rather frustrated with my practice runs... I cast on with scrap yarn and worked a couple of rows in it before starting the actual sock and then carefully unpicked this... worked well for me...

 It is a very pretty zig zag pattern on the sock...

The shaping for the heel and the short row gusset is amazing... she has a fabulous way of working the turn and slip stitch for the short row gusset that prevents the little hole appearing...

My one niggle is that even with the cuff being 60 sts and worked on a 2.25mm dpn's, the leg part of the sock isn't as fitted as I would have liked and tends to slip down into more of a concertina slouch sock shape which I think may irritate me when I am wearing them... Also hoping that the first row of patterning above the heel isn't going to be an issue with the back of my shoes when I am walking in them... First sock worked now it will join the other 10 single socks who are waiting for me to have time to knit a partner...

All in all... a fun sock project to knit... and a great sock pattern book...

PS... the last two photos of me wearing the sock were kindly taken by Neil as I unfortunately am not a contortionist... would be a very useful skill for an avid sock knitter...