Yummy Socks!

I really love these socks, they’re so pretty!

The yarn is The Knitting Goddesses Take Five sock yarn (75% superwash merino, 25% nylon). They are the first pair of socks I’ve knit using magic loop and I think my dpns might get a little neglected now because I really enjoyed it!

Although it is pretty much just a vanilla sock I did make some modifications. I wanted the look of a short row heel in the contrasting colour but unfortunately I’ve always found that style of heel doesn’t fit my foot that well. I could have done a gusset and heel flap but I would have lost the look and probably ended up with pooling. I really didn’t want to break up the colours like that, so I experimented with using a combination of a mini-gusset and a short row heel turn and it fits perfectly. Really, really perfectly. Makes having to rip out the heels twice totally worth it!

I’ve also avoided major pooling, you can see the purple around the ankle has striped a bit but it’s the only section and it’s not very noticable.

There are few more pictures on my Ravelry project page.

I wrote the pattern up mainly for my own use on future socks but as it might be useful to others too I’m sharing it here. The pattern is designed for feet measuring 9″ in circumference. However, as it is simply stocking stitch you can easily add or subtract stitches to achieve your perfect fit. Keep in mind that the stitches need to be a multiple of 4 if you want to use the same cuff that I did.

This is proof read but not test knitted so if you see any mistakes or something that doesn’t make sense to you, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’d also love to know if you use the pattern (or are intending to), partly because I love to see what other people knit and partly because if there is enough interest I may write it up formally with extra sizes and add it to Ravelry. :)

Take Five Sock Recipe

Gauge: 8st and 13 rows = 1″
Needles: 2.25mm or size required to achieve gauge
Yarn: 100g 4ply yarn in 5 colours (20g per colour)

Using Magic Cast On, CO 24st (12st on each needle)
Work 1 round, placing markers at the beginning and half way point of the round.
Round 1: (kfb, knit to 2st before marker, kfb, k1) rep. twice per round
Round 2: Knit
Repeat last two rounds until you have 68st.
Work 2 rounds in stocking stitch.

Change colour and continue to work in stocking stitch until work measures 2.5″ less than length of foot. Change colour after every 13 rounds.

Gusset
Next round: K34, k1, M1R, knit to last 2 stitches, M1L, k1.
Next round: Knit

Repeat these two rounds until you have 82st (7 repeats total).

Heel
Next row: k36, sl1, change to heel colour and k40, wrap next stitch and turn.
Next row: p39, wrap next stitch and turn.

Repeat last 2 rounds a total of 11 times.

Row 1: knit to first wrapped stitch, pick up wrap and knit with stitch, wrap next stitch and turn.
Row 2: sl1, purl to first wrapped stitch, pick up wrap and purl with stitch, wrap next stitch and turn.
Row 3: Knit to next wrapped stitch, pick up both wraps and knit with the stitch, wrap next stitch and turn.
Row 4: Purl to next wrapped stitch, pick up both wraps and purl with the stitch, wrap next stitch and turn.

Repeat rounds 3 and 4 until all wrapped stitches have been worked, ending with a purl row. Break heel yarn.

Return to previous yarn colour, ssk (the first stitch of the ssk will be the stitch you slipped in the first row of the heel), knit 40, k2tog, knit to end of round.

Post Heel Shaping
Next round: k54, ssk, place marker, k1, k2tog, knit to end.
Next round: Knit
Next round: Knit to 2 stitches before marker, ssk, slip marker, k2tog, knit to end.

Repeat last 2 rounds until you are back to your original number of stitches (68st.)

Your heel should look similar to this, you can see the decreases centred above the brown heel:

Work in stocking stitch continuing to change colours every 13 rounds until leg measures 1″ less than desired length.

Cuff
Next round: (k3, p1) rep. to end.
Work last round until cuff measures 1″ (or desired length).
Cast off (recommended method: Sewn cast off.)

Pull onto feet and enjoy! :)

Pattern and images copyright 2010 Nativestar Knits. For personal use only.

Hot hot hot

I have to admit, I’m really quite chuffed with how my hot water bottle cover turned out. I love to use it! Pretty and soft and toasty warm on a cold night. It’s the perfect companion to take to bed. ;)

I found it quick to knit but that’s probably because I couldn’t wait to see the design in my head become a finished project. It was always ‘one more round’ or ‘one more pattern repeat’! Even if you’re not as eager as me, I don’t think it would take long to complete and the finishing is very minimal. I avoid sewing things up whenever possible so this is worked almost entirely in the round.

The pattern is almost written up, which I know I’ve said before but it turns out my notes on the neck opening aren’t as clear as I thought they would be when I wrote them a few weeks ago. I’m also going to include some tips and some guidelines on sizing as I doubt everyone will have the same sized hot water bottle as me. Then I shall turn it over into the capable hands of the testers. :)

Testing… testing… 1,2,3

My new sock design:

Is now in the hands of the test knitters. :)

Also, I’m working on writing up the pattern for this:

Sizing this for anyone with less than wide feet is a challenge due to the width of the design, but I think I’ve worked it out. I’ll be looking for test knitters for this one soon, probably sometime next week but I don’t want to promise anything. I still need to figure out how to do cabled charts…

And I’m nearly finished with the pattern for my hot water bottle cover (which needs a better and shorter name than that one). I’m on a writing streak! Which also means a testing streak… any volunteers? :)