Monday, February 05, 2007

Blue Monday Socks

Well I finally got these socks finished. I started them back in the beginning of January and they were going to be socks for the January snowflake theme for the Socktopia knit along. But the pattern just didn't work out for me. I had to frog almost a whole sock and start again. I didn't get these finished in January like I was supposed to do. I did get them finished on February first.

One of the other themes for January was Blue Monday - so these have been re categorized as that. They are blue and coincidentally I frogged the snowflake sock on a Monday. The reinforcing yarn made this a challenge to frog! it is the first time that I've knit socks and used any - I'll be waiting to see if it makes any difference.

This detail shot shows the garter ridge pattern and the point where the gusset meets the heel.

I knit the socks toe up starting with the magic cast on for toe up socks from Knitty. It made a very nice smooth toe. It was a little tricky to get right - I had to look at the instructions/pictures as I did it for each sock. It was my first time to try this and I will definitely use this technique again.

I also used a heel flap. Once I get the foot the length I want I begin making gusset increases on every other round until I'm ready to turn the heal. The heel gets turned at this point like you would on any standard cuff down sock. When that is done just start knitting in the round again until the leg is the desired length. This makes the socks so easy to do that I have no motivation to try some other type of heel option.

Project Info
Stitch Pattern: Garter Ridge Stitch over 64 stitches
as written in Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: 2 skeins of Froehlich Special Blauband; color 7436; 50gm/225 yards
comes with card of darning/reinforcing yarn; discontinued
Needles: addi TURBO -US# 1/ 2.5 mm
Date Started: January 22, 2007
Date Finished: February 1, 2007

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The socks are beautiful! I've been wanting to try toe up, but haven't wanted to do a short row heel; I like heel flaps. I'll definitely have to give this a try!

Angela said...

These are beautiful, Shannon. Must try the toe-up method!

Ang

Anonymous said...

amazing color! i love garter rib type ribbings.

Dave said...

Very nice! That's a wonderful combination of colour and pattern stitch. I've done the Magic Toe, but not that heel -- I think I'll have to give it a try, since you make it sound so easy.

Bezzie said...

Very cool! And as always, I love your eye for pottery pieces!

Jen said...

nicely done! I didn't quite understand what you meant by turning the heel as you would a normal cuff down sock... is the heel flap under your foot? But it certainly looks nice!

turtlegirl76 said...

Oh WOW! Those pics are awesome! I saw them in bloglines before I clicked through and they come out huge there - they look fabulous! Wow! Love the color and fab job on the join there - no holes!

cpurl17 said...

Those colors are SO pretty--and who knows? maybe it was still Jan 31 in Hawaii when you finished them! :)

Lazuli said...

Your socks look beautiful! Congratulations on finishing them!

Anonymous said...

These socks looks really great. Not to mention that you posted the Blue Monday Socks on Blue Monday here in Indianapolis. The day after the Colts (blue and white) won the Super Bowl. Yea!!

Zonda said...

Awesome job there!! I love that pattern, may have to try it one day! I love the Magic cast on too!

Nice blockers there too!! Much easier than using gymnastics to take our own feet! :)

Jen said...

Hey, you used that heel! Isn't it the best? I love it so much and it fits so well. Pretty socks, too!