Patterns

Last night, I sewed together the for sections of the sock for Piecework’s upcoming Knitting Traditions special publication.
The seams involve working a whipstitch to join the bind-off edge of one piece to the cast-on edge of the next. Fortunately, each piece has the same number of stitches so the pieces are sewed together stitch for stitch and no easing is involved. I tried to sew fairly loosely to maintain the elasticity of the knitting, but the seams do make tight areas that are a little more difficult to pull over a heel.

I can convince myself that the seams make decorative design elements, but I can’t say that the practicality of being able to replace the heel and toe are worth the fuss. I’d rather knit another pair of socks!

Jeane Hutchins, editor of Piecework Magazine, asked me to knit a historic sock for the upcoming Knitting Traditions special issue. She showed me a pattern for a sock in an old issue of Weldon’s Practical Needlework, a Victorian ladies’ magazine from the late 1880s to the early 1900s, and asked if I could replicate it.
The interesting thing about this particular pattern is that the sock is knitted in four pieces that are sewn together so that the heel and toe sections can be removed and replaced when they become too worn for darning. When the socks are knitted, an extra heel and toe are knitted so that they will be on hand when the time arises. I suppose Victorian knitters had ways to prevent themselves from losing these unattached parts.
Here are the four segments, knitted out of Brown Sheep NatureSpun Sport on size 4 needles at a gauge of 7 sts/inch. I used contrasting yarn for the heel and toe for emphasis.

I still have to sew the pieces together and knit another heel and toe. And that’s just for the first sock.
Hmm. I think that by the time I do that, I could have knitted another complete sock. But the purpose here isn’t efficiency of time, but conservation of yarn. Yes, the yarn will go farther if the heels and toes are replaced.
But I wonder about the comfort factor? If yarn becomes so scarce that I have to use and reuse the legs and feet of my socks, I think I’ll use an afterthought or short-row heel and toe that can also be replaced without seams!

The first edition of Sockupied devoted entirely to new socks knitters, Simply Sockupied, features my “go-to” sock pattern for knitting socks from the top down at 8 stitches/inch. Five sizes are provided to fit from children’s shoe sizes 1-4 to women’s 12-14/men’s 11-13 shoe sizes.

Click here to download the pc version; click here to download the mac version.

These socks feature the stretchy but sturdy Old Norwegian (also called German) cast-on; k3, p1 ribs around the leg and instep for a comfortable fit, a round heel with heel flap and gussets, and a wedge toe finished with Kitchener stitch. You can see the socks in my designs on Ravelry.
Whenever I want a mindless project for traveling, this is what I invariably pack in my bag. Wouldn’t it be fun if everyone made a pair?

I recently made a pair of socks for myself using what looked like a full skein of Madeline Tosh Sock yarn in the Copper Penny colorway that I bought about a year ago. After I finished the first sock, I was pretty sure I didn’t have enough to complete the mate so I ordered another skein. Look at the difference in dyelot! I don’t mind mis-matched socks, but the difference in dyelots  was sure to look like a glaring mistake. So, I started the second sock with the new, darker dyelot, then changed back to the original when I thought I had enough to finish the sock. The color change shouldn’t show when I’m wearing long pants.
For those of you interested in the pattern, a very similar pair will be in the July 2011 issue of Sockupied, available from Interweave Press.