walk on the wide side

it is official. my first matched pair of socks in complete. i have two other socks completed waiting for their mates to be cast on, and a third pair that i am working on the first sock of currently.

here's hoping i can continue to overcome Second Sock Syndrome. the project details...

Wild Thing Socks (named after the charming striped monsters from the book Where the Wild Things are)
pattern: a basic 48 stitch top-down sock pattern.... with variations between each sock. heehee.

knit in one ball of Lion Brand Magic Stripes ("Lumberjack" colorway, discontinued. 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) on a set of 5 vintage US 2 aluminum double point needles.

i know i used a kinda awful yarn. in my defense i will say two things. this was my first pair of socks, and there was no telling if i would ever finish them if i hated knitting them. yes, i am that gal who can put down a book because she is bored with it. same goes with my needlework.
second, i have seen this same colorway in a Regia sock yarn, and the quality feels the same, AND it costs nearly three times as much. i am convinced that Lion Brand buys runs of other companies' sock yarn from the mills and slaps their label on it.

these were sort of experimental socks. i tried different cuffs and heel flaps on each of them, and i am glad i let myself experiment.

sock #1: 2x2 ribbed cuff and the heel pattern....
row 1: slip 1, knit 1 across
row 2: slip 1, purl 1 across

this cuffs is too stretchy. it doesn't look as neat and lacks the snugness i prefer in a sock top. as for the heel... it knits a double layer of fabric and makes a pretty heel. i liked it just fine, but it was trickier to knit than my second heel because you slip stitches on every row, and those slipped stitches can be very tricky to purl into.

sock #2: 1x1 ribbed cuff and the heel....
row 1: slip 1, knit 1 across
row 2: slip 1st stitch, purl across

this makes a nicely dense single layer fabric. it is also faster to knit up because you are not slipping the purl row. finally, what sold me on this heel is the selvage it creates... it is so much easier to pick up stitches for the gusset along these edges. i have not fully analyzed why, but they look much much prettier.

and as an after note.... as my small readership may recall, i recently knit a striped cardigan for a lucky young man. well, after working with self-striping yarn and comparing the experiences, i say.... god bless the person who invented this stuff because weaving in ends sucks!

Today Kittything salutes Self-Striping Yarn Inventor! You are a hero among knitters!