Yes, yes, I finally bit the bullet and committed to making my first pair of socks
And I will be the first to admit, right at the start of this post, that they genuinely really weren’t anywhere near as difficult as I thought that they’d be! I actually had a whole lot of fun making them and I desperately want to make more – never saw that coming lmao
The pattern I used was one that I got for free from a neighbour up here in Harris – she’s actually given me a whole load of patterns as well as wool and I swear that everyone up here is just absurdly nice to the point that it is, somewhat, rather disconcerting
It was created by Viridian Yarn, the pattern is the same one as found in the “Sock it to em” kit (I don’t know the actual designer, I can’t find the name if that’s on there) and it was described to me as a “simple tried and tested pattern that would teach me to make socks”. I will admit, however, that I didn’t always follow the instructions exactly as written – just because I had already bought sock wool and needles and so I decided to use them rather than invest in different wool (which I think is fair)
So the pattern called for 2.5mm double pointed needles, however I went ahead and used my 3.25mm DPN instead because they’re wooden and I love them and that’s also the recommended size for the wool I used
My needles were also given to me for free as a thank you from Wool Woman for when I started to make some display items for her – they are completely wonderful and I love them so, so much. They are Takumi Bamboo knitting needles, 3.25mm in size as I said and a pack of five of them as standard. However the pattern only needed all five needles at one brief point when I was making the heel flap and even then I probably could have gotten away with just four
I bought the wool for these socks about four months ago right when I had picked up knitting again. It had been an impulse buy alongside some hat wool because I liked the colours so, so much and have such bad self control when it comes to knitting supplies (it’s a real issue, send me some support I beg of you). It’s a 100g ball of 4ply West Yorkshire Spinners Signature wool made of 75% wool and 25% nylon. And, as my mum wouldn’t stop marvelling over, it’s self striping!
(for real, she was more impressed by the wool striping itself than me managing to knit my first pair of socks – hurts, man)
I have actually used DPNs before – I followed a Fairisle Fish pattern at on point which used them (it was messy because I had to teach myself how to use them and also I didn’t have a set of needles all the same size at that point, it’s actually laughably bad) however I made that months ago so at first the challenge was trying to remember how to hold needles, how to cast on and how to arrange the stitches
Once I had reminded myself how to do it, though, and got into the habit of knitting in the round it was pretty easy going
Also follow me on instagram – I post random progress photos on my story sometimes, but more often than that I just post photos of my dog because she’s lovely
That was off topic – back to socks
It was very, very quick for me to understand why this had been underlined to me as a starting place for sock knitting – the instructions were wonderfully clearly written and there was nothing at all fancy in the pattern. Standard 2×2 rib going into straight stocking stitch the rest of the way. The only really difficult part for me was (as I expected) when it came to turning the heel
Simple stocking stitch was what I needed to get going, though, as anything more complicated probably would have literally left my brain melting out of my ear as I tried to figure out how to knit in the round like that. Though I am now desperate to try more complicated patterns
(lmao catch me constantly scrolling through The Crazy Sock Lady’s Instagram page like 24/7 dreaming about being able to make literally any of her designs)
Also I’ve been having a rough few days with Norbert lately – massive university stress along with some stuff happening with the family and just general medication and anxiety and depression being a bitch has made the past few days, weeks, forever just be absolutely grim for me. Picking up a sock pattern that was just difficult enough to keep me concentrating but simple enough that I could binge comfort Techno videos was absolutely ideal for me
Naturally, the moment I’ve been given a brief respite from Norbert being an arsehole I picked up another Dotpebbles Knits patterns, but that’s a tale (project) for another time
Back to the socks again!
Once again, I forgot to take all the photos that I had wanted to during the knitting of these socks
But, in my defence, I think I took this at, like 1 or 2 in the morning because I hadn’t been able to sleep just because I was panicking so much over nothing – you know, as you do. So taking photos was somewhat slipping my mind as I desperately turned the heel of these socks
But yeah! This photo is just after I had turned the heel and just before I started to shape the gusset – I know I said that it was pain in this photo and it kind of was, but it genuinely wasn’t that bad. As long as I concentrated I had it down and it was even easier the second time around
But again, I was doing this past midnight while panicked and sleep deprived and also it was my first attempt – excuses out of the way, I will confess that I accidentally misread a couple of the intstructions
I shaped the gusset wrong on the first sock and also messed up some of the heel shaping, which meant that I had to basically invert the rest of the pattern as I was knitting it because I had to pick up stitches the wrong way around
Bearing that in mind, though, I think we can all agree that the first sock I made ever looks pretty good!
Fun fact! The moment that I finished grafting, my dad joked about using this sock to play tug of war with my dog!
And he wonders why I keep telling him that I won’t make him any socks…
Side note: anyone want a pair of socks so that I can torment my dad?
The second sock was, again as expected, a million times quicker. I had my head in the game, as Troy Bolton would say. On top of that, I actually had it in mind to remember how to correctly turn the heel, so that looks a thousand times better and also I had remembered that stitch markers were a thing earlier on in the process, which, again, made it easier the second time around
Overall, I am actually pretty pleased with how these turned out considering that they were my first attempt at sock knitting
I have a load more sock patterns that I want to try out – my dad wants some Harris socks, I’m going to try some colour-work socks which I’m excited for. But also I want to give some other techniques a go. As much as I enjoy using DPN (never thought I’d say that) I want to have a go at circular knitting so if anyone has any suggestions for sock patterns that use circular needles, send them my way!
In the meantime, though, I have taken a break from sock knitting to once again have a go at an animal pattern as well as some blanket squares, some pattern designing and all that fun stuff. But as I said, life has been just a little bit too much for me lately, hence the complete inactivity as of late. I’m gonna try and get a ‘life update’ post out as it were made tomorrow or the day after, to let you guys know and also to just get it all off of my chest to be honest!
I also need to give my blog yet another face lift so I should also get on that and get it all sorted and looking nice, which, knowing me, will probably take about a week
I wanted to suggest something to you guys, too: as some of you might already know, I am currently planning on going to university in just under a month now. While I do plan to continue this blog and continue my projects during that time, I will be a student and… students need money. I can understand the reluctance for just using Buy Me a Coffee (though that is also there if you just want to donate or help me out on a more long-term basis) and so I was considering setting up a shop!
Because I’ve been making my own patterns and branching out into socks and gloves and hats more, I though that perhaps I could either sell the products themselves or just the patterns or both
It was just an idea, so let me know what you think, it’s something that I’ll also keep in mind and perhaps make a longer post about later on!
In the meantime, though, I hope that you’re all well! Let me know what you think of the socks and also just any recommendations you have for either patterns, wool, needles etc, they’re all really appreciated!
I’ll try and be more active again!
Freddie 🐸
Knitting With Norbert 