And here are my socks! No, it's not the first pair I knit, but it is the first pair I knit for me!! I'm very happy with them. I'm not in love with the yarn, but I never was, so actually I think they turned out better than I had anticipated. The yarn is Regia Design Line Random Stripe by Kaffe Fassett (colour number 02902) and I used 2.5mm needles and cast on 60 stitches. I have small feet and rather slender legs/ankles, so that fit me perfectly. The pattern is Basic self-striping socks (free download on Ravelry) by Amy Klimt (the link is to her Etsy shop). The pattern is super easy but Amy does a good job of explaining the heel (and the rest) very well. Also, during the knitting of the first sock I had a question about the heel and sent her a PM on Ravelry. She wrote back right away and gave a really detailed answer so now I understand what I'm doing instead of just reading a pattern. So now that I have gone through her pattern once I've actually learned the technique in a way that's super easy to remember so I can knit up a pair of socks without the help of a pattern now, which is really fun.
The reason why I'm so happy with them is that I used two circulars for the first time (Chiaogoos red lace) instead of DPNs, I used an afterthought heel for the first time and I used a kitchener stitch to bind off, also for the first time. The first heel is a bit bumpy because I couldn't figure out where to put the yarn when I was done dealing with a stitch, but then I realized the less you fiddle with it, the better it will turn out, and the three other bind-offs are smoother and smoother.
So overall I'm very happy with them. In fact I was so happy that as soon as I had cast off and put them in their bath to soak before blocking I cast on another sock so I can use all these new techniques again. I'll be entering these socks in the Knit1,HeartToo podcast sock KAL (Ravelry forum) which goes on until the end of February. If you've never seen the podcast I really recommend it, Sheila and Wendy are so much fun.
They look amazing!! Well done.
ReplyDeleteThose are awesome socks and there is nothing like having happy stripey socks for oneself. Well done with all the new techniques too.
ReplyDelete(Found your blog through the Knitabull's group when you posted the cowl.)
Thank you!! I agree about stripey socks, they are so much fun. I've bought a bunch of variegated sock yarns lately but I'll move on to self-striping after that. I find it's not that easy to find good, fun self-striping yarn. Those that are popular get sold in no time and there aren't many others out there. Maybe they are TOO much fun :-)
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