It’s the season for sock making, and here is my entry. Just your basic sock, nothing fancy.
The only thing worth commenting is this: I have been knitting for twelve years, and this pair is the first I have knit with a self-striping yarn. This particular yarn is KnitPicks Stroll. The colorway – Test Pattern – was on sale earlier in the year. I’m pleased that I was able to get the wide stripes to line up the same way on each sock.
I am remiss in not sharing photographs of the completed cashmere socks that I knit for hubby. They have been off the needles for about a week. I was hoping to take a photo of them on his feet, but alas, he hasn’t worn them yet.
They are slightly loose on my feet, but look okay in the photograph.
The cuff is a 3 by 1 rib which is carried on over the foot. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s method for heel flap and gusset.
The yarn is from Knit Picks. I enjoyed knitting it so much that I plan to buy more in other colors. Just think how nice a cashmere-blend cowl or scarf will feel around your neck on a cold, blustery day.
This story may sound like whining, but it’s not my intent. It’s more like a true confession. You see a beautiful sock in this picture. The dirty truth is that it took me three tries to get this one sock knitted.
The yarn is a cashmere blend by KnitPicks which I acquired to make my husband a pair of luxury socks. Incredibly soft and delightful to work. I started knitting with great enthusiasm and high hopes.
Instead of using the tried and true Woodman’s sock pattern by EZ, I wanted to get “a little fancy”. So I chose an interesting – and free – pattern off the internet. It featured a sort of herringbone stitch on the cuff and instep which rolled beautifully around the foot.
Almost immediately I ran into trouble. The pattern was described as suitable for both women and men and was offered in four sizes. I started knitting the medium size but quickly discovered it was going to be too small. So I frogged it back. After measuring around the widest part of hubby’s foot, I cast on the largest size and tried again. It took me forever to knit to the end of the gusset.
The resulting sock was enormous. When tried on hubby’s foot, it draped itself loosely around his instep. Clearly I needed to start over – again. It was painful to frog it, especially as I had already spent a few weeks on the project. But I did. Afterward I trashed the fancy pattern.
Okay. Let’s start right. I went up a needle size and got gauge for a generic medium size men’s sock. Then I modified the Woodman’s sock pattern to suit a fingering weight yarn. Within a few days I was ready to try this on hubby again.
Perfect fit.
Elizabeth Zimmerman Woodman’s sock is written for worsted weight yarn. It was originally published in 1963 as a newsletter. Now you can find it in The Opinionated Knitter, published by Schoolhouse Press.
https://www.schoolhousepress.com/books.html
Completing the front of the vest didn’t take very long. I chose to use a 1 by 2 rib which matched the edge rib of the vest back. The front hem carries on the same stitch and colors of the back hem – brown with a purple stripe – to provide more unity to the garment. The neckline is a wide V and the button placket is garter stitch. The only hiccup I encountered was that the garter rows proved to be tighter than the rib rows, (naturally) and I had to throw in a few short rows to compensate. Here are the front pieces on the blocking mats.
And here is the finished vest.
I’m pleased with how it turned out. And here I am turned around.
The side seams were sewn with mattress stitch. I like that the vest shows both the serious side and the fun side of the wearer’s personality.
All yarn is from KnitPicks. Thank you to Kieran Foley and knit/lab for creating the Weaver’s Square design.
I bound off the back of the vest last night. Today it is drying on my blocking mat. Despite the fact that it looked Very Small and Narrow the whole time I was knitting, it turned out to match the gauge of my blocked swatch. Hooray! As all knitters will surmise by looking at the photo, there are a gazillion ends to weave in. That will occupy me for a few hours.
Here is the schematic I drew for the making the vest front.
I will be using a superwash Peruvian wool yarn from Knit Picks called Merlot Heather. To make the vest fit close to the body, the stitch pattern will be a broken rib stitch and there will be waist shaping decrease-increase stitches near the natural waist. Buttons?
Still undecided.
Daily Fiber 