Dalarna
I’ve been wanting to knit a sock from one of the patterns in my two Nancy Bush books (Knitting on the Road, and Knitting Vintage Socks), so on a whim last night I brought out a recent WEBs acquisition to start it. I’m using Shibui’s sock yarn which means my gauge is quite a bit different. The gauge called for is 7 sts/in and I’m getting 9.75 sts/in. Since the pattern is made for an 8″ circumfirence foot and I’ve got 7.5, I thought that would be fine to knit with the new gauge to get a slightly smaller sock. The one problem is that I didn’t account for the calf shaping.
So what I’ve got is a short sock which is really my preference anyways. I find knitting tall cuffs tedious, and prefer to wear ankle or short cuffed socks.
This is an incredibly simple pattern with the most complicated bit at the top. That .5″ bit is a 1×1 rib, with a chain stitch on the top and bottom of it. The chain stitch was the hardest part, requiring me to purl with the normal end of the yarn and knit with the other. At first it was a pain to try to hold both yarns at once (and would have been tedious to have to pick each up every other stitch) but with some practice and some particular maneuvering I had the trick to it down. From then on it’s a stockinette sock with two panels of a knit/purl stitch pattern. The pattern uses a basic heel flap with heel stitch that I use all the time. This is exactly the type of sock “pattern” I want to follow. Simple to knit with a clever arrangement of various stitch patterns. Nancy Bush rocks.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:56 am
I’m so envious of your socks! Very pretty!
January 14th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Thanks! You’ll definitely have to venture out into socks some day, because they’re so comfortable.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I can’t wait till I’m ready to try one. I have a bunch of hand knit socks from my Grandmother and I love them. Plus, you can never have too many socks!
January 15th, 2008 at 10:39 am
When you find a good pattern and decide to try it out, I recommend knitting a little baby bootie or something to get your practice in. It’s a quick way to get the construction down.