Sock Footage

I like to think of myself as a sweater knitter. I knit shawls as well, but sweaters are really “my thing.” Lately though, I’ve been kind of obsessed with knitting socks. I have a good collection of sock yarn, mostly because I planned to use it for shawls or sweaters, but recently I’ve been using my sock yarn to knit socks.

Thanks to Kate Atherley’s book Custom Socks I finally figured out how to make a pair of socks that fit me. I would always make them a little too big, so they fit my mother’s feet perfectly, and I would give them to her. Now she has a drawer full of hand-knit socks, but this pair is only the first in my own hand-knit sock drawer.

When I told my friend Teri that I was knitting socks we decided to do a knit-along using Susan B. Anderson’s Smooth Operator sock pattern, and I cast on this pair.

I was having way too much fun watching the stripes change from blue to white sprinkled with gold speckles, and I got ahead of Teri, so I had to put them down for a while to let her catch up. Which meant, of course, that I had to cast on another pair.

I wanted to try Mina Phillip’s garter stitch short-row heel, so I am using her pattern for that, but I added my own texture pattern on the top of the foot and the leg. It’s not difficult, but I do have to pay a little more attention with this pair, which meant, of course, that I had to start another pair of socks for simple, mindless knitting.

And now I have three pairs of socks on my needles, and plans for more. Webs was having a sale on Opal sock yarn, and their 50 g skeins of Valley Yarns Huntington are perfect for heels and toes.

I am still knitting sweaters and shawls, but those are work knitting. Design samples that have to be carefully thought out and planned. Socks can be picked up whenever I have a spare minute, and put down just as easily. They are easy, portable projects that let my mind rest while my hands stay busy. I am really starting to understand the appeal of hand-knit socks. Do you knit socks?

Thank you for knitting, and May the fourth be with you!

Sock knitting resources

Smooth Operator Socks

Mina’s Vanilla Sock Recipe

KirbyWirby Afterthought Heel

Custom Socks by Kate Atherley