Minnesota Knitters' Guild

Last night, Fragile, my socks, Dee, Leslie and I hit the road so that I could speak to the Minnesota Knitters' Guild about The History of Socks. But, really, I could have called it: 

- My History of Finding Photos of Socks from Museums and Graves

or

- How I Learned To Love Aftherthought Heels, And So Can You

or

- Holy Cow LOOK At That Colorwork

or

- If You Think You Don't Like Charts, Check Out This Argyle Sock Pattern from 1886

Can you spot my non-knitting fan club, on the right? 

I had a great time! I actually had a little too much material, so I had to skip some stuff, but it was wonderful getting to talk to so many people about socks. :)

Count, Think, or Use Stitch Markers

I like to think. I like to knit. I like to think about knitting. I just don't always like to think about my knitting (or count too much) AS I'm knitting.

The Round (or French) heel has always kind of bothered me. Just like with any heel turn, if you get off by one tiny stitch when you start the turn...well, you're going to have to pull it all out and start over. WAAAAY too much pressure for me, on some days.

I just found a cheat to make my heel turns (almost) foolproof.

Before you start the first heel turn row, place a marker dead-center in the middle of your heel stitches (that's the gold marker). Then, place another marker 2 stitches away from it, one on either side.

Knit over to the last marker, ssk, k1...

Turn. Purl over to the (was the first, but now is the) last marker, p2tog, p1...

Turn. Then just take out the markers and continue as you normally do for this sort of heel, secure in the knowledge that your first two rows, at least, are correct!

Voila. Heel turn courtesy of me. Amazing stitch definition courtesy of Simply Socks Yarn Company and some amazing Minnesota sunlight.

Little Gidding Farm Suri Yarn

I will do a more thorough review of this yarn later, but I just wanted to take a moment to share this little gem with you. It's a 3ply fingering, 55% suri, 30% wool, 15% nylon yarn from Little Gidding Farm, right here in Minnesota.

It's gorgeous and the color is truly jewel-like, which I love in a sock yarn! I'll let you all know how it knits up.

Paris Wallpaper Socks

I almost hate to say that I fell in love with Paris. It seems like such a cliche. Does every American who goes there have to follow in the footsteps of Thomas Jefferson, Gertrude Stein, Julia Child and Ernest Hemingway? Anthony Bourdain basically says you have to be a complete dunce not to fall in love with it, though, so I have even that curmudgeon on my side.

Well, I did fall in love. We did. In May of 2013. The first draft of Sock Architecture was done, and most of the patterns were drafted out, too. I took a break from obsessing about my book to obsess about Paris. Anyone who was following me on Twitter at that time got to see a pair of little socks roam around the streets. I couldn't tell you why I had those particular socks, then.

Some obligatory Paris photos:

Anyway, when you're looking at everything in the way that travel forces you to, as if the whole world was made all over again for you last night, you sometimes look a little more closely at little details than usual. 

This was the wallpaper in our little hotel. Very simple. Very elegant. 

Months later, I saw a design call from Dream in Color for designs using two colors and bases of yarns, I knew I wanted to take design cues from the wallpaper. 

Voila. Paris Wallpaper Socks.

How I Wash Socks By Hand (and remember which ones need it)

I recently shocked a new-to-knitting friend when I told her that not every yarn is designed to be washed by machine. If you don't know how to wash handwash socks, it's pretty simple: 

1) Fill a sink or large bowl with cold water, add your favorite washing stuff (mine is soak), add socks.

2) Go away for 20 minutes or however long it says on the bottle of your favorite washing stuff. 

3) Rinse (if your washing stuff needs to be rinsed).

4) Gently squeeze (don't wring) water from socks, wrap in a clean towel. 

5) Stomp on towel, pretending you're stomping grapes in the French countryside (is that just me?)

6) Hang socks to dry the rest of the way. 

About half of my socks are handwash and the other half are machine-washable. Tip: Even if a sock yarn SAYS it's machine-washable, you'll get the longest life out of your socks if you hand wash them all, every time. 

Most of my handwash-only socks are distinctive colors or styles, but when I have a rather plain black sock that needs to be handwashed, I build in a little clue to myself. Do you see that tiny line of red on the otherwise black sock in the lower-right of the photo? That's my reminder - handwash these socks. I simply inserted a single round of red near the toe of otherwise all-black socks. It stands out when I'm sorting laundry, but is invisible when the sock is inside a shoe. 

Socks vs. Boots

These are my wonderfully-thick socks that DO stay up in my boots.

Sometimes, when I wear big boots, my socks fall down. I used to think this was because I had made an error in sizing, but after some experimentation, I've found that even well-fitting socks can fall down in boots. There appear to be a few reasons for this:

1) If the socks aren't very thick and the boots are just a little big, the boots will simply pull your socks down. 

2) Socks that are the same height on the leg (or a little higher) than the top of the boot stay up better, but they're still no match for the boots if problem #1 is present. 

So, when in doubt, wear thick socks with your heavy boots!

Yarn: Socks that Rock Heavyweight

Pattern: Kind of a plain-jane pattern of my own, using the heel shape from my Checked and Square Socks.

Twisted Loop Yarn Shop

I had a great time last night at Twisted Loop Yarn Shop!

I placed my pile of socks next to a cute tray of sock cookies that Jenni brought. YUM!

There were many nice knitters and LOTS of great yarn.

One skein (for socks for me!) jumped into one of my boxes. Don't worry, I paid for it. It's Regia 6-ply. I knit some socks from a skein of this last winter and I just love them. 

Free Pattern: Fork in the Road Socks

Yarn: Simply Socks Yarn Company Poste Yarn Striping (75% superwash Corriedale wool, 25% nylon; 393 yd/359 m per 100g skein)

color: Giant’s Causeway

I want to show off the design possibilities for self-striping yarn and my favorite afterthought heel. However, to keep the length of the foot easily customizable, the sock needs to be made out of order and from the top down. The “afterthought” heel is made after the leg and before the foot. So, an unusually-shaped sock, worked in the most common top-down order of things.

Along the front of the sock, the stripes should be all the same depth, with just a little extra  work from you when joining new yarn for the foot. An extra-deep stripe forms under the heel. It looks like a fork in the road, to me. 

If you think you don’t like the fit of afterthought heels, I hope you’ll try this wonderful version. It is automatically customized to fit the wearer, and I have never known anyone who tried it who didn’t fall in love. In my book, Sock Architecture, I call it the thumb-joint hat top heel. To make it fit perfectly, you will have to measure the feet and part of the thumb of the wearer, which should confuse them greatly. It’s always fun to scare the muggles, isn’t it?

All that, and it's a free pattern!  Big thanks go out to my test knitters (ScrappyGal, FiaKnit,ColumbusCrafter65, cinnymom, Bonni and YayForYarnByMGG) for testing and Allison of Simply Socks Yarn Company for the yarn support.

Leftover Socks for Yours Truly

Leftovers of Dream in Color Smooshy in Autumn Rainbow made a lovely pair of socks (with just the tops in another color...)

Stats:

Top down, stockinette-stitch socks.

Eye of Partridge Heel Flap + Square Heel (just like my Checked and Square Socks)

Medium-length wedge toe.

It all equals one very happy knitter. :)

Sock Weather!

I love the fall! (These are rather simple socks in ModeKnit Yarn.)

Interview and Giveaway at Simply Socks Yarn Co. Blog

Allison was one of the very first people who looked at my little list of sock heels and toes and said, "Hey, shouldn't this really be a book?"

...and she backed up our coffee-fueled musings by being the sole source of yarn support for Sock Architecture. I will always be grateful for that, and her friendship.

Over on her blog, you can read a whole lot of my jibber-jabber about Sock Architecture and enter to win a signed copy of the book AND two skeins of her fabulous Simply Sock Yarn Solids, to make a pair of your very own socks. You have until 9/26/14 to enter, so hop to it!

Stash Management

I've introduced Dee to the joys of thrift store/estate sale/garage sale shopping and there's no going back! A recent find: Awesome vintage suitcases for $5 each. The very smart woman running the sale put cute little tags on the cases that made them pretty much irresistible. See "What do you need to store?"

Well, yarn, of course. I love my new office space, but there isn't as much storage as there was in our last house. 

I filled the case with little honeycomb dividers, then went through my sock yarn stash. It includes this thrift store find, probably from about 15 years ago. I haven't had the heart to use it, yet. 

Wound balls go into the organizers, a few small skeins fit in there, too. Big skeins and 100-gram balls go into that big space at the top of the case. A flap clips down over it to keep them from spilling all over the place. 

It all tucks away neatly under the guest bed. I felt pretty good about this until I remembered that I would need about 10 more to REALLY organize it all. This is just my sock yarn! Oh well...

I feel like I'm popping open a big case of crayons every time I take the case out. Some are odds and ends, some are brand-new. They're all lovely, though.

It Helps If You Read The Pattern

This goes in the "duh" file. It's my pattern. I wrote it. I should be able to do it from memory, right?

Nothing to see here, folks, just more black socks!

Nope. I managed to screw up my own pattern. It's just a column of stitches and I will steadfastly ignore it as long as the socks do live, but still. I probably should have, oh, I don't know, read over the pattern before blithely knitting on my way.

Live and learn! To sum up, here's a great way to give yourself a mini panic attack:

1) Try to knit one of your patterns from memory.
2) Screw it up.
3) Think that the pattern that was test-knit by two knitters (including you) and checked by two tech editors has a HORRIBLE error in it and knitters the world over will hate you for it.
4) Search for graph paper.
5) No, it's not where it should be.
6) No, not over there either.
7) Fine, I'll do it on regular paper.
8) Wait...IS X divisible by 4?
9) It's not? It's not.
10) You should have worked this using the other set of directions, the ones for when X isn't divisible by 4. Because it's not for these socks.
11) Everything's fine, but you should probably find the graph paper.

Anyway, the socks are Checked and Square Socks, Top Down. They're not hard at all, if you follow the pattern! So...should I make the second sock match or make it correctly? It's a tough one.

Sock Architecture - Ready to Buy!

Sock Architecture is now available for purchase! $16.95 for the PDF version, $26.95 for the PDF and printed book, together. Printed books should start to ship in a few short weeks.

https://www.cooperativepress.com/products-page/books/sock-architecture/

I'm told that the link above might not work forever (there is some behind-the-scene streamlining happening on the site). So, if it doesn't work, try just http://cooperativepress.com/.

I hope you love it!

Bootstrap Socks, Procrastinatrix Socks and Sidle Socks

Ok, guys, here are the last 5 Sock Architecture patterns!

Bootstrap Socks 

The Bootstrap socks have a line of garter-stitch running down both sides of the leg that continues onto the heel. In my mind at least, they slightly mimic the most fun detail on a western-style boot — that little seam running down the outside of the leg. The sock ends with a wide toe that can be made short, medium or long.

Besides just looking cool, that little line of garter stitch seems to make the knitting go faster than plain stockinette. As a bonus, it makes counting rounds absurdly easy, so you don’t have to worry about losing your place when you make the second sock (or the heel flap).

It uses a Balbriggan heel, which takes just a small amount of grafting to finish. It’s well worth it, I promise. It looks and wears like a dream.

Why It's My Favorite: I wanted a sock that would coax knitters into trying the heel that has fallen out of favor, for some reason. It's completely unjust that every knitter who loves socks hasn't at least tried this heel. (I found it in Weldon’s Practical Stocking Knitter from 1885.) Maybe I just like the underdog, but it's my go-to heel for top-down socks. I hope everyone else loves it, too!

P.S. - Maybe I don't have a favorite favorite pair of socks from Sock Architecture, but the test knitters sure seemed to. They all clamored to try the Bootstrap Socks!

Sidle Socks, Top Down

"To sidle” means to walk up to someone, usually in a furtive or sneaky manner. These socks aren’t made in a sideways fashion, but the heel and toe are both 90 degrees from what you might expect, and they are pretty enough to surprise. The afterthought heel is worked in exactly the same way as the toe. There is no gusset for this sock.

Why It's My Favorite: Afterthought heels are great for when you just don't have the energy to worry about a heel at the moment but want to knit a sock, anyway. I love them for when I don't know the exact length of the wearer's foot, but know their general size enough to get the circumference right. If you don't plan out the position of the heel as you work, you can adjust the foot length, as needed, when you add the heel.

If you know the exact length of sock you want, you can avoid having to pick out tiny stitches later by using my Extra Needle technique. I explain it, in detail, in the book, and I've also made a video about it.

Sidle Socks, Toe Up

As with the top-down version of this sock, there is no gusset here, but the large heel will help it fit a variety of feet very well. It is possible to nearly completely avoid math in this toe-up version.

The fit of the toe is very similar to a medium wedge toe, and even begins in the same way.

Why It's My Favorite: Again, Extra Needle technique or sizing flexibility, plus the fun of working toe-up and having the sock look a little like a sock even when you've just started it. If you measure the toe after it is finished, you'll know how long your heel will be, which saves just a little math if you are working out your own sizing.

Procrastinatrix Socks, Top Down 

In this sock, the heel is knit last, so it hints at a slight proclivity to procrastination. Hence, Procrastinatrix. Spellcheck may not like the name, but I sure do.

Everything about this sock is entirely run-of-the-mill and familiar, except for the order in which it is made. Amaze your friends and companions by turning what looks like a very strange sock indeed into one with a French heel.

If you love top-down French heels, but hate picking up stitches along the side of the heel flap, this is the heel for you. Decreases, not picked-up stitches, connect the heel flap to the gusset.

I used a slipped-stitch heel flap, for strength.

Why It's My Favorite: This heel concept is a second look at the heel I created for my Tootsie Socks. It allows you to create a relatively common heel, which may already be your favorite, but work it as the last step to your sock, instead of halfway through.

It's either my masterwork or a method that about 5 other people on the planet will like. Time will tell.

Procrastinatrix Socks, Toe Up 

As you might guess, this is very similar to the Procrastinatrix Socks that are knit from the top down. I added a little color change into these: heels, toes and ribbing are in a contrasting color.

I’ve never managed to get grafted stitches at the top of a heel flap to look quite as nice as I would like, so even though this sock is knit from the toe up, the heel is knit from the top down. It’s a bit of a twist and is only really possible with this style of construction.

If you need any more convincing to try a toe-up sock, with this version you can avoid casting on gusset stitches. In many ways, it is the best of both worlds.

Why It's My Favorite: It's a toe-up sock with a top-down heel. The only grafting you have to work is hidden under the heel, so it doesn't matter if it isn't absolutely perfect.

Checked and Square Socks

So, this time I didn't try to get fancy with the name. These socks are in a checked pattern and have square heels. Easy!

Checked and Square Socks, Top Down 

These simply checked socks have square heels and are knit from the top down with an Eye of the Partridge heel flap.

Why It's My Favorite: The stitch pattern makes the sock a little more exciting to knit and makes counting rounds super-easy. I think the square heel makes a great introduction to flap-and-gusset heels, since it's a little easier to keep track of where you are as you are turning the heel. Wouldn't that color be a little pop of summer all year 'round, too?

Checked and Square Socks, Toe Up 

These simply checked socks have square heels and are knit from the toe up with an Eye of the Partridge heel flap and a toe that can be easily customized for a perfect fit.

Why It's My Favorite: I don't always get to work with a lot of different colors in my socks, so I add texture when I can. This stitch pattern is easy to knit, but not to frilly to be unisex. There is no grafting, but there are some picked-up stitches. Plus, and I know this has nothing to do with the actual pattern, I love how sophisticated it looks in gray!

Mouchoir Socks

Mouchoir means “handkerchief” in French. This sock has a half-handkerchief heel and a simple stitch pattern to match. I love the stitch pattern, but it does limit sizing options a bit. I hope you can forgive me. Both toe-up and top-down versions require no grafting at all and are written out in three sizes, plus an adjustable size.

Mouchoir Socks, Top Down

Why It's My Favorite: Another simple-but-exciting stitch pattern, an easy-to-adjust heel shaping and a round toe that doesn't require grafting. What's not to love?

Mouchoir Socks, Toe Up

Why It's My Favorite: This heel, when worked from the toe up, doesn't need any picked-up stitches at all, just increases and decreases. Also, it's a good heel to know for anyone who wants to design their own socks because it fits in a way that's pretty similar to the Round or French heel, but is much easier to work out, math-wise. I love the toe shaping, too, which can be a little more pointy than most but doesn't have strong lines, which could be a bonus for hand painted or self-striping yarns.

Dyad Socks

With the Dyad set, I finally opened up a little color into the equation. I don't have anything against socks in multiple colors. In fact, I really love them! But, with this book, I really wanted to have fun just exploring the different shapes possible when knitting. Deep playing around with color will have to wait for another day. 

I chose “dyad” as the name for these socks as a kind of reference to my thought process.
I wanted to explore the easiest way I know to make a two-color sock: one color for the heel and toe, and another for the rest of the sock. I was also eager to use a band heel and a toe to match.

In Sock Architecture, they are worked both from the top down and the toe up in five sizes, plus a plug-in-your numbers size.

Dyad Socks, Top Down

Why It's My Favorite: Working in color blocks is an easy way to add color and even stretch a leftover skein of yarn, if you don't have enough for an entire pair of socks! The sideways toe and the band heel look great together. They are both a bit unusual, but easier than they look.

Dyad Socks, Toe Up

Why It's My Favorite: The band heel is fun and can be worked with or without a gusset. I also love the sideways toe that matches it so well. The single line of contrasting color around the front of the foot is a little different, too.