They are f i n a l l y off the needles! I’m so glad they’re finished, they were becoming a complete albatross. They weren’t started during socktoberfest, they weren’t finished during socktoerfest, but they did consume an awful lot of socktoberfest knitting time, ergo I classify them as socktoberfest socks.
Sliding Leaves by Jeannie Cartmel
Yarn: Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn, hand dyed
Ravelled here
My first finished toe up socks. And just to complicate matters I also decided to make them 2 at a time. It was a little faff-tastic, especially to start with, but to be honest I don’t know how long it would have taken me finish these if I hadn’t done them 2 at a time. I have a feeling that a fatal case of Second Sock Syndrome would have struck them down.
I mirrored the pattern because otherwise it would have just annoyed me. It’s not a particularly difficult pattern, it just takes a lot of concentration. More than I generally like to give! I managed to knit 2 full repeats of the chart up the leg before I finished the cuff off with 2x2 rib and a picot edge (one row of YO, k2tog followed by several rows of knit using a smaller needle, folded over and tacked the live stitches to the inside of the cuff). I wish I’d used a picot cast off instead because this is far too bulky, but I was so desperate to have these socks done with that I just ploughed on. I might try and find the end one day to rip back and redo, but not in the forseeable future. Overall, these are just OK. They look quite nice, but I never want to make them again!
Verdicts on toe up: I’m glad I’ve finished a pair this way. I love how the toe is constructed, and I love the way you can use up as much yarn as you have on hand, but I would hands down prefer to knit top down. That may be because I’m not as familiar with the toe up construction, so I’m willing to give it a few more chances before I categorically decide that it’s top down for me all the way, but at the very least I’m glad to be mastering another technique. In fact, I’ve already cast on for another pair of toe up socks which I mentioned here, but that’s for another day and another post!
Verdicts on 2 at a time: Again, glad I’ve tried it, but goodness it’s fiddly. Great for the fact that you know your 2 socks/sleeves/whatever will be an identical length etc and when you’re done, you’re done, but I feel like to much knitting time is wasted untangling balls of yarn and moving stitches around the needles. My preferred method of knitting simultaneous socks is having each on its own needle and working each one in chunks. Having said that, I am knitting my current mystery socks 2 at a time because I didn’t have 2 sets of 2mm needles. If this tells me anything, it’s that I need more circulars! It’s handy to know, but not my preferred method.
More FOs over at Tami's Amis blog :)
