Mis primeros calcetines...
Well, for me that is. I've knit probably 7 or 8 (complete) pairs of socks--I've also got several half-done, and a few singleton socks sadly waiting for their mates--but none of them have ever been for me.
WARNING TO NON-KNITTERS: There is a lot of boring knitty verbiage coming up...read on at your own risk.
When I found this beautiful yarn in a colorway called "Amethyst Stripe" (amethyst being my February birthstone) I decided I had to have it, and I had to make socks for myself out of it.
It took probably 6 or 8 months to get to the point where I actually started to knit it, and even that started with a disaster--I'd just moved into my new house and put all my yarn away into pretty drawers and bins, and decided for my inaugural project I'd make my socks--but Danna came over and pestered me until I would let her roll a center-pull ball from the hank of yarn. And she didn't want a "tester" yarn either, she wanted the real thing...
I thought she was old enough, I knew she'd done it before...she still went WAY too fast and the yarn flew off the ball winder and made a huge tangled mess that I had to cut in three places in order to untangle. Now instead of a nice, single ball, I had 3 small balls of differing sizes. I was pissed off too, and didn't want to knit! I sent Danna home and re-wound the balls, then pulled out the other skein and wound it MYSELF. And it turned out fine, and that made me feel better, and so I started knitting.
The color here isn't quite right, it's much lighter in real life.
I chose the uber-famous Jaywalker pattern, started it toe-up instead of cuff-down, and got all the way past the heel before I realized it was WAY too big. I'd not only started the heel too far up the foot, but I'd done my usual toe-up flap heel, starting the gusset at the sides of the sock, and I think that makes it wider too.
So I ripped it back to about an inch before my original heel increases, substituted Wendy Johnson's Toe-Up Socks With a Difference (warning, PDF file!) which has the gusset increases done on the bottom of the foot. This made a huge difference, as the sock was not only the correct length but also fit snugger around the heel.
Then I knit until I liked the length, did a K1P1 rib around the top, and bound off. Loosely. Waaaaayyy too loosely, as it would turn out.
I started the second sock, which took a lot less time because I pretty much knew what I was doing now, and had memorized the pattern. When it got to the ribbing though, I realized I wanted it to not fall off my calf and slouch around my ankle, so I decreased several stitches before the ribbing and bound off a little less loosely. Then I had to go back and redo the first sock to match.
But now--the FINAL SOCKS!
On my very happy, warm feet.
WARNING TO NON-KNITTERS: There is a lot of boring knitty verbiage coming up...read on at your own risk.
When I found this beautiful yarn in a colorway called "Amethyst Stripe" (amethyst being my February birthstone) I decided I had to have it, and I had to make socks for myself out of it.
It took probably 6 or 8 months to get to the point where I actually started to knit it, and even that started with a disaster--I'd just moved into my new house and put all my yarn away into pretty drawers and bins, and decided for my inaugural project I'd make my socks--but Danna came over and pestered me until I would let her roll a center-pull ball from the hank of yarn. And she didn't want a "tester" yarn either, she wanted the real thing...
I thought she was old enough, I knew she'd done it before...she still went WAY too fast and the yarn flew off the ball winder and made a huge tangled mess that I had to cut in three places in order to untangle. Now instead of a nice, single ball, I had 3 small balls of differing sizes. I was pissed off too, and didn't want to knit! I sent Danna home and re-wound the balls, then pulled out the other skein and wound it MYSELF. And it turned out fine, and that made me feel better, and so I started knitting.
The color here isn't quite right, it's much lighter in real life.
I chose the uber-famous Jaywalker pattern, started it toe-up instead of cuff-down, and got all the way past the heel before I realized it was WAY too big. I'd not only started the heel too far up the foot, but I'd done my usual toe-up flap heel, starting the gusset at the sides of the sock, and I think that makes it wider too.
So I ripped it back to about an inch before my original heel increases, substituted Wendy Johnson's Toe-Up Socks With a Difference (warning, PDF file!) which has the gusset increases done on the bottom of the foot. This made a huge difference, as the sock was not only the correct length but also fit snugger around the heel.
Then I knit until I liked the length, did a K1P1 rib around the top, and bound off. Loosely. Waaaaayyy too loosely, as it would turn out.
I started the second sock, which took a lot less time because I pretty much knew what I was doing now, and had memorized the pattern. When it got to the ribbing though, I realized I wanted it to not fall off my calf and slouch around my ankle, so I decreased several stitches before the ribbing and bound off a little less loosely. Then I had to go back and redo the first sock to match.
But now--the FINAL SOCKS!
On my very happy, warm feet.