I don’t have too much to blog about this week
because the majority of it was spent working on my Hat Heel socks
(which, at the time of this, still have about an inch of ribbing left to
go on the cuffs, but I’m calling that good enough).
I found out in October last year that my parents absolutely love hand
knit socks and needed more after the ones my grandmother knit them years
ago have finally started to wear down. They told me this, after I had
already finished most of my Christmas knitting
for them, but I had enough time to squeeze in a pair of socks for each
of them. This year, I’m going in with the plan to knit as many pairs of
socks as I can. I also set the goal (mostly so I don’t go crazy) that I
would use a new pattern each time and try
to learn a new skill with each pair. This pattern had a few new
techniques that I learned, so it was a good start to this project.
The Hat Heel sock is a pattern I found on knitty.com and was written by Kathleen Sperling. It is a
free pattern and I found it very clearly written. The pattern may
seem a bit long (6 pages) for a sock pattern, but most of it is
introduction and explaining the construction technique. Since the
pattern is free, I’m not giving anything away by just inserting
the general construction illustrations included in the pattern:
It is a very interesting construction, and one that
I wouldn’t have thought of, but makes sense when you think about it.
This pattern also helped me think about hats in a new way since it never
really occurred to me that I could knit them
from the top down.
The pattern includes sizes baby, toddler, small
child, older child, woman, man. I knit the man size, since these are a
Christmas present for my dad. The pattern is written row by row, with
only a few sections where it says “repeat the
above 6 rows until 6 stitches remain”. So, for most of it, I would
just make a little check mark next to the row number when I had
completed it. Sperling also links to other sites for more detailed
instructions for the techniques used in the socks such as
the Figure Eight cast on and Kitchener stitch. Speaking of the Figure
Eight cast on, that was another new technique for me. The instructions
that Sperling gives are clear, but I wanted something with some
pictures, so I found this tutorial,
which walked you through step by step with pictures, which I found
extremely useful.
While the instructions were very clear, I did find
the first time knitting the heel portion to be a bit frustrating. I
found the small number of stitches on my DPNs to be very difficult to
work with, especially since you start increasing
immediately and trying to see the stitches needed to work the M1
increase as described in the pattern was difficult. I probably made
this problem worse by using Lang Yarns Ja Woll, which comes with
reinforcement thread that you knit with the sock yarn. So
instead of 1 strand of yarn, I technically had 2. But more than
anything else, I think it was just like learning any new technique and
knowing that the first time isn’t going to go perfectly. When I knit
the second heel, it went smoothly and didn’t feel
fiddly at all. So I’m chalking that experience up to the knitter’s
errors and not the pattern’s.
Another part of the pattern that I didn’t love was
picking up all the stitches. I knew that I would be picking up stitches
going into this pattern, and I saw a few modifications on Ravelry where
people figured out how to do short rows
so you didn’t need to pick up stitches. However, I wanted to follow
the pattern, at least for the first pair. I see picking up stitches as
one of the necessary evils when it comes to knitting, I don’t find it
particularly difficult, but I still don’t like
doing it. In fact, once I finished the feet, these sat off the needles
for a few days while I talked myself into picking up all the stitches
for the leg. I also picked up more stitches than the pattern called for
because I know with size 1.5 needles and
with this yarn, I need 72 stitches for my dad’s socks. So I picked up a
few extra and when it came to the toe decreases, I just had a few extra
stitches at the toes, but I don’t think that is really going to be
noticeable.
I’m also not a fan of the Kitchener stitch, so to
avoid it, I turned the sock inside out and did a three needle bind off.
Yes, this did leave a bit of a ridge on the inside of the sock, but I
don’t think it is that noticeable or bothersome.
I do wish I had known about the Russian grafting technique
that Very Pink Knits did a video on after I had
already done the three needle bind off on my first sock. I think that
one would have been cool to try.
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