And more socks...

Toe-up!!!


Okay, so you remember I was discussing the "sock" dilemma of having to judge if you have enough yarn to last you all the way down to the toe when you start your socks with the leg. I had mentioned that one way to avoid this, is to start with the toe, and then just knit the leg as long as you like it or until you run out of yarn. This toe-up sock was totally new to me. I had never even heard of such a thing, but decided to give it a try. And here they are, my first ever toe-up socks. Tada!

And boy, did I like it!!! It's so much easier and nicer. And my husband, who had been complaining a little bit about the heel not fitting quite right on the socks I knit for him (he has very narrow feet), totally loves the toe-up version! Here is a close-up of the heel.

And the pattern I used for the instep and the leg part is called seed stitch rib:

row 1: k all
row 2: k3 p1
repeat those two rows

And here is it, the moment you have all been waiting for, my all-time (at least until now) favorite toe-up sock pattern:

It's called "Fingering Weight Toe-Up Socks With Gusset Heel" and is published by Wendy Johnson (THANK YOU, WENDY!!!!!).

As you can see when you compare her picture with mine, I make some slight alterations, but for the most part, I am following her pattern, because it's easy and I love it!

My husband likes his legs long, so I oblige and make them long for him. I just continue the seed stitch rib.

By the way, I forgot to mention that the socks are once again made with Knit Picks "Felici" yarn. I think they call it "self-striping." Works for me. This colorway is called "Coastal." We all love the different colors in this house. And here is another one I made with the same yarn, just yet another colorway. And the same seed stitch rib pattern. I think they call this color "Firefighter" or something along those lines. My husband loves them!!! Red and gray are probably his two favorite colors, so this is perfect!

I also really like the feel of those socks. The yarn is really soft, and they wash well. I wash them in the machine, but don't stick them in the dryer. We all like them a lot.

And here a quick word about needles. All the socks I have knit so far are with double-pointed needles (dpn) size US0. I have several sets of cheap metal ones, and I also have one set of bamboo. I usually alternate between them. The bamboo ones are a little more fragile (since they don't bend, but rather break). So when I knit something, where I put a lot of tension on the needles, I use the metal ones, but when I just knit straight up, I prefer the bamboo ones, since they feel so much better.

I have some "Harmony Wood" in my shopping bag at Knit Picks that I can't wait to try out. I have some circular "Harmony" needles I really like, but I don't have any dpn's yet. Can't wait!

And now more about yarn. I am still learning about sock yarn. It seems like a lot of them are wool or have a lot of wool in them, so you have to wash them by hand, which is not really my thing. Also, we all have sensitive feet and don't really like scratchy socks all that much. So, I am trying out new yarns (or else I will be stuck with Knit Picks Felici forever, not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, they just came out with a bunch of nice new colors.).

Anyway, so I thought I would venture out a little... We have this really nice new yarn store in town, called Gauge. They have free knitting classes every Sunday afternoon, and I went there with my daughter just to check it out. There were a lot of nice people there who were all very helpful. I bought some really nice sock yarn there, but a bit pricey. Well, for my personal taste anyway. It was about $14.00/skein, which is a lot for me. But then again, it is really, really nice, and I actually got 4 socks, well, more like sockies, out of them. Yes, that's two pairs! One for my daughter and one for me. One toe-up and one regular leg down. Or what little leg I have. Here they are:

Isn't that the coolest yarn?! I looked online for it, but apparently, it's no longer available. But it makes me want to go back to the local store to see if they have some more. It's Mondial Ciao. Even if I can't get the same color again, I imagine they might have other cool colors. But I am afraid I will spend way too much money there again :).


These socks go great with my purple croqs, my lime-green croqs and my daughter's burnt orange (UT Austin colors) croqs. So that's perfect for us!

Another skein of yarn I bought at Gauge I used for chunky socks. I found this pattern online at Tara's Knits for "Chunky Ankle Socks" and thought this yarn would be perfect for them. They were really fast and easy and I wear them a lot with my croqs.


Okay, and this brings us up to date to the socks I am working on right now and to date my last pair of socks. I am going toe-up again, same pattern, but this time I was trying my luck at Robbyn Kenyon's "Endless Knot Socks." I tried to provide a link, but it seems to be broken at this time.

I didn't use the sock pattern (I stayed with my true and tried Wendy's pattern), but I used the "Endless Knot" pattern. Well, I tried anyway, but I was having a really, really hard time with (and eventually gave up on) the whole "mosaic knitting" and just kind of "borrowed" the pattern, but did it with two yarns running along. I will try my luck again some other times with mosaic knitting. If somebody has any really good sites where it's explained where even I can get it, please forward me the link!

Anyway, this is where I am so far.

Oh, and by the way, these socks are going to be color-reversed. One sock will be lilac with purple pattern and the other one will be purple with lilac pattern. I used Knit Picks yarn (I bet you are really surprised!), but this time it's "Palette," which I already am not all that crazy about, because I am going to have to hand-wash them, which I absolutely hate!!!! Maybe they would make a good gift for someone who doesn't mind washing them by hand. Hm....

In any case, I will post a picture when both socks are done. I am kind of dragging my feet (haha) a little, because I think I am tired of socks for now, I am not happy with the yarn for these socks, and I never figured out the mosaic knitting, and the pattern makes the leg part kinda tight. So, who knows when I will finish them. Until then, tata.

Oh, and there is one thing I forgot to mention about toe-up socks. You start with the toes and end with the top of the leg. Then you have to bind off. And since most bind-offs are not very stretchy, that creates a problem. I have been looking around and have not found the perfect bind-off for toe-up socks yet. They are either too tight or, if they are loose, they look a little, hmmm, shall we say, sloppy... Anybody got any good bind-offs?????

Also, there is another way to knit socks I have heard of, and that's gonna be my next pair. The two socks are knit simultaneously on two circular needles. I am waiting for my size 0 circular needles to arrive, and then I will try that for the first time. Should be interesting.