I finished up the first sock this past Monday. After all of my previous attempts, this time went well and very quickly. An interesting fact that I discovered when I got to the foot is that, according to the pattern, the foot has 66 stitches, whereas the cuff has 60. I suppose that because the foot, per the pattern, is ribbed everywhere outside of the pattern panel on the top of the foot, the extra stitches don’t matter from a fit perspective. My sock foot has 68 stitches, 33 stitches on the top and 35 stitches on the bottom, which is the same stitch count as what I have in the cuff. You can see the extra stitches that I added into the pattern in the top photo - the column of twisted stitches that goes from the cuff down to the column of twisted stitches that delineate the decrease line on the top of the foot. Those extra stitches are mirrored on the back of the leg.
My heel flap has 35 stitches, and when I turned the heel I worked 23 stitches in row 1, and then followed the pattern directions for the wrap and turn rows. I picked up 19 stitches on the gussets and decreased 1 stitch on each gusset on the first round to make sure I did not have a little hole where the gusset joins the top of the foot. I kept the heel turn stitches in stockinette, so the sole of the foot is in stockinette as I didn’t think I wanted to walk on ribbing (this was a tip I picked up from one of the finished projects on Ravelry). As I worked the gusset decreases on the top of the foot, per the pattern, I shifted stitches from the bottom foot needle to the top needle to keep the 33 stitch count on the top of the foot. After all of the decreases I had 33 stitches on the top of the foot and 35 stitches on the bottom of the foot. I continued with this stitch count until I reached the decreases for the toe, at which point I did a set of decreases on the sole, where the stockinette meets the ribbing, to get to 33 stitches on both needles. I kept all stitches in the established pattern as I decreased to the toe.
I have already started the second sock and am almost done with the cuff.
My go to method for knitting socks is to use two 16 inch circular needles. These are Knit Picks needles, which have a nice flexible cord and sharp tips. I have a bunch of these in the small sizes used for socks. After I finish this pair of socks I will continue working through the Art & Sole patterns, which were for the knitterati sock club 2012. Three of the five skeins of the club yarn that was sitting out for a decade are a total loss, but I have plenty of sock yarn in my stash, plus the extra skeins of this sock yarn that I bought to get the free shipping, so I have plenty to pick from. The next pattern I am going to work is the Dragonfly socks, and I think that club yarn is going to be okay. Curiously, I only have a paper pattern for that one, I do not have an electronic copy in my Ravelry library, although I have the others. For the cuffs of those socks I am going to try out my ChiaoGoo mini needles with the short cables so that I can work the cuff on a single needle in the round, given the patterning, which is quite extraordinary.
Pattern: Danube by Janel Laidman
Needle: US 1.5 (2.5 mm)
Yarn: Dirty Water DyeWorks Lillian in Sea
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