Mitered Triangles

After a too-long hiatus, I’m back to knitting the designs in New Directions in Sock Knitting, my most recent sock book. I’ve been wanting to try out Kathryn Alexander’s Mitered Triangles (shown on the cover; instructions begin on page 68) ever since she sent the socks to me when the book was in early stages of production.

For my version, I’ve chosen to use a gradient set of Frolicking Feet fingering weight yarn from Done Roving Yarns. In doing so, I may be setting myself up for trouble. The socks in the book call for Kathryn Alexander Designs Light 2-Ply Hand-Dyed Sport (which is available in kit form by contacting Kathryn herself at kathrynalexander.net). The yarn I’ve chosen is fingering weight, which means that I need to use smaller needles and a tighter gauge, which in turn means that the socks will be much too small if I knit them exactly according to the pattern.

I decided to forge ahead anyway. I’m using size U.S. 2 (2.25 mm) needles, which are appropriate for a firm fabric with the fingering weight yarn. To compensate for the gauge difference, I’ve added two stitches to each of the triangles. In other words, I’m using 12 stitches for each triangle instead of the 10 stitches specified in the instructions. The pattern calls for 18 colors, but my gradient kit contains only 6 six colors so I’m going to alternate the six colors randomly as I go.

So far, things are looking good. I’ve worked the 14 triangles of the First Front Panel and have picked up stitches for the garter ridge. Instead of picking up 10 stitches per triangle as directed in the book, I’ve picked up 12 per triangle for a total of 83 stitches.