Bottoms Up

Related post:
28Mar2009 post (1 photo, shoe shot)
18Mar2009 post (17 photos).
.
I made Practice Pair of Socks #1 (blue pair) top-down. For Practice Pair of Socks #2 (these pink ones), I decided to try bottom-up. It seemed like the next logical step in my sock knitting adventures. Since the 1st sock fit neither loose nor snug, I decided to make this pair of socks using smaller needles. I used 2.75 mm for the 1st pair of socks (blue pair). I chose 2.25 mm for this pair.




Working from the toe is definitely very fiddly at the beginning. I would say it is much easier to work top-down.



The toe starts to take shape after working several rounds. Hey, this isn't too bad. I think I can do this!!!

So after finishing the toe increases, I decided on a whim to slap on a cable pattern to the front side. It's the same cable pattern used in the St. Albans Valentine Cable Mitts; I'm using this pattern because it is fresh in my mind as I am currently knitting the St. Albans Valentine Cable Scarf for my SIL. At the time I hadn't even considered the fact that cables tend to pull inwards. The thing is that I know this from knitting these 15 scarves! Putting a cable pattern on the front turned out to be a bad idea as you will see later. I should have cast on extra stitches to compensate. I had a few different ideas for what to do around the back side after working the heel area. Unfortunately, I did not get as far as trying out any of them.

Sidenote: There is something nice about working with a pattern repeat. It's so easy to know how many repeats you've done on the 1st sock (the foot section or the leg section) and this makes it a piece of cake when trying to duplicate it in the 2nd sock. With the my 1st pair of socks where the pattern was plain stockinette it was not as easy to count the rows, so measuring by length would be easier... but then I might be off by a row or two and that would really irk me if I happen to know about it. I actually did count the rows in the 1st pair of socks. That info didn't help when I changed the row gauge by knitting more tightly on the 2nd sock. However if I had knit them both with the same tension, then counting rows on the 2nd sock would have worked out.

Anyhow, I started to knit onwards with a cable pattern on the front. I had an awfully skinny foot section after a few repeats. I decided to try it on to see how it was going to fit. I slipped the stitches onto some waste yarn and tried it on. (BTW, it was a pain to put those stitches back onto needles, so next time I will just use circular needles instead) It was a snug fit around the toe end of my foot. Well, let's knit on and see how it goes...

Despite knowing that I should probably have cast on more stitches, I forged onwards through the remainder of the foot and tried that short row heel. Well what can I say about the short row heel. Words like hate, despise, and loathe come to mind, although they might be too strong to describe such a nice looking heel. And the short row heel is pretty in its simple seamless way. But oh how I hate working all those turns! I was in wrap, turn, knit hell.

Love and hate, what a beautiful combination.
Sending shivers up and down my spine.

Problem #1: I should have knit the foot longer before starting the short row heel.
You can see that the foot-to-toe section is much too short and I can barely pull the sock on around the heel. Need to remember for next time (if I decide to try a short row heel again) that besides doing short rows, the heel is also shorter than a heel flap type heel.

Problem #2: It is definitely too small around my foot.
You can see how the knitting is overstretched. I did wonder how the short row heel would work out since the number of stitches remains constant throughout. Now I see how this type of heel doesn't fit the "big" part of my foot as nicely as a heel flap and gusset. Lesson learned.

My first attempt at Practice Pair of Socks #2 went ribbit ribbit and was reduced to this.

I realized that my smallest crochet hook was a 3.25 mm, and that I should have a smaller one that is the same or smaller than the needle size I am working with for socks. So that could be a size 2.25 mm or 2.5 mm. This would come in handy for picking up stitches along the side of a heel flap. So I picked up a 2.5 mm when I stopped by this LYS, Nine Rubies, (plus some sock yarn seen here).

BTW, I do know that you're supposed to say cuff-down and toe-up. I just can't help myself. I used to say top-down and bottom-up in a previous lifetime (referring to something that was non-knitting related).

Booking Through Thursday

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.

What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

Had to think about this one as there are sooooo many books on my "to read" list. Here are some that pop up in my mind:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (I've actually started it, but put it down and never finished it)
Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I've seen the episodes with Jeremy Brett, would love to read the stories)


Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.
.