Sunday, July 8, 2018

Knitting -- toe up socks

So I was very frustrated with patterns posted online for this sock variety and started to create my own.

One of the frustrations was I tried doing the toe increases with an m1 as some patterns showed. It created a lacy effect. If you are making lacy summer socks, go for it.

But mostly I go barefoot in summer and I want warm socks in winter. The other way to do increases is to knit into both the front and back of the same loop. So I tried it with some leftover yarn. The effect is much less lacy than with the m1, and so it is going to be much easier for the yarn to hackle when you wash it the first time so that your foot keeps warm.

This is for a size 7 1/2 foot.

So cast on 16 stitches to your size 5 dps and divide them up 4 on N1, 8 on N2, and 4 on N3. Join and knit one round.
Knit 2 stitches of N1, KF/B on the next stitch, knit the last stitch.
K1 on N2, KF/B, knit across, KF/B, K1.
K1 on N3, KF/B, knit 2, k1.
Knit the next round.

Now you have 5 stitches on N1 and N3, and 10 on N2.
Next increase round on N1 you will K3, KF/B, K1; and on N3, K1, KF/B, K3, K1.
Then you knit a round.

Keep alternating increase and non-increase rounds until you have 10 stitches on N1, 20 on N2, and 10 on N3, and knit one more round.
Your increases will make a nice neat line, and there will be 2 knit stitches between them.

Now knit around for 32 rounds.
Now chart how many increases you need to fit around your leg, using your spreadsheet. I'm pretty heavy and so I need a lot of increases.

But before that, you have to do the heel. So watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVVveGqrUCI

The real action starts early, about minute 2. Once you finish your heel, start a marker thread in the middle of the heel to carry up the back of the leg.
When you increase on the legs, you will do K1, KF/B after this marker and KF/B, K1 before it.

Once you finish the heel, make sure you have 40 stitches for the ankle, and do 13 rounds of ankle.
Then increase 4 evenly around and do 8 rounds.
Now increase on both sides of the back seam, and follow your chart, doing all your increases at this back seam.
Switch to size 3 dps and do 10 rounds of k2/p2 rib, and bind off in rib.

Closing the toe means turning the sock inside out and grafting it closed. Wrap in the tail end of the yarn that you started with. 

I am not going to use this pattern. I don't like German short rows. The woman who did the video has a right to be proud of learning them because they're complicated; if you had trouble following her video that's why. It's complicated. But it's the best video out there so if you don't like it and you really really really want to do German short rows, see if you can find a good book or even a person who can teach you to do it live.

Personally I think knitting should be as easy as possible and still have a good result. I won't be knitting kneesocks because they aren't easy compared to crew socks and they take twice the time. I have other fish to fry and other designs to try.

No comments:

Post a Comment