Gemma 
It’s been… months since my last Project Knitwear post (no really, my last post in this series was in December!). Honestly, my mind has been completely taken up by crochet, thanks to my Bridgerton House Baby Blanket, so my knitting has fallen a bit by the wayside. However, I did find time over the past month to make another pair of socks, so here we are, finally, with the fourth instalment of the series (and the second pair of socks)!
Table of Contents
The Pattern
Okay, full disclosure. I didn’t use an official pattern for these socks. My mum is constantly making socks, so she has them (including ones that specifically fit me!) down to a fine art. I just follow her instructions and feel at peace, knowing I won’t spend ages making a pair of socks that don’t fit me. Speaking of- I have this weird problem with knitted socks where they just… never stay up? My mum (my HERO) has worked out a couple of methods for helping with this over the years and, for short socks like these in particular, the folded hem technique has been life-changing. It takes a little extra work, but it looks so neat and works so well! I’m obsessed with it.
Essentially then, I used the following (very vague) pattern for these socks:
- Cast-on 64 sts (using a provisional cast on).
- Knit 28 rows for the hem.
- Pick up the cast-on stitches on a separate needle, then fold the hem and knit the live stitches together all the way around to create the folded hem.
- Knit 12 rows before the heel.
- Knit the heel (I followed EarthtonesGirl’s Shadow Wrap Short Row Heel method this time and LOVED it- I’ll definitely be using this method again!).
- Knit 71 rows for the foot (to give a 7 1/2″ foot before the toe).
- Knit the toe (I followed my mum’s instructions for a rounded toe- essentially you knit 4 plain rows, work 1 decrease row, knit 3 rows, work 1 decrease row, knit 2 rows, work 1 decrease row, knit 1 row, then work decrease rows every row until you have 12 stitches remaining on each needle. For the decrease rows: K1, SSK, knit to the last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1 on the first needle, then repeat for the second needle).
- Kitchener the remaining toe stitches together & darn in all the ends.
And that’s it! Obviously, this pattern is very specific to my foot size and shape, and is pretty vague- I’m writing it here more for my own reference than for anyone else to follow exactly!
The Yarn
For Christmas last year, my mum surprised me with this amazing yarn from TinyHumanKnits. The yarn is inspired by the jumper worn by Taylor Swift in some of the cover art photos for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) so, obviously, it’s right up my alley!
The yarn came with a mini skein in a complimentary sandy shade, which I used for the heel and the toe. I also used it for the inside of the folded hem, just for a bit of extra fanciness. To do that, I worked the first 14 rows of the hem with the mini skein, then switched to the main yarn and worked the remaining 14 rows, before finishing off the folded hem and continuing on in the main yarn.
Full disclosure: I totally meant to knit these socks on 2.25mm needles (as in, up until I had finished the first sock and just happened to check my needle size, I really thought I had been working on 2.25mm needles…), because I find that knitting them on smaller needles helps them to stay up a little more. Alas, I had accidentally picked up a 2.5mm needle, so these socks are slightly bigger on me than I intended, but still perfectly wearable!
The Knitting Process
I actually found these socks really enjoyable to knit! I’ve never made socks using self-striping yarn before, so it was a fun experience (and it definitely made them more interesting to knit). There was no crazy colourwork with this pattern, like there was with my last pair of socks, so they were really straightforward to work up- perfect for making while watching something on TV (a choice selection of some of the things I watched while making these: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (I very much enjoyed all the classical references, but wasn’t so into the extended car chase scenes), Groundhog Day (I’ve never seen this before, and there are definitely parts that are a bit… morally dated now, but Andie MacDowell is amazing) and Date Night (I think Steve Carrell is a global treasure)).
The folded hem definitely took a little bit longer than a regular ribbed hem, but I love the effect it gives. It just looks so neat! Honestly, the only slightly annoying bit is picking up the stitches from the provisional cast on, and even that isn’t too bad.
As I mentioned, I LOVE this new heel method- you might remember from my last post that I had some issues with the heels of my last socks, but this method completely eradicated those problems. It looks a bit weird here, but when the sock is on it looks so neat and seamless, with NO holes which is a definite improvement from my last attempt. I’m pretty sure I’m a shadow wrap heel convert.
The rounded toe was also a win for me- it was super simple to make, but I think it looks really nice as well. I still haven’t quite mastered the art of kitchener-ing, and still have to look up the instructions for it every time I need to do it, but I’m hoping that, with a little bit more practice, it will get easier!
One thing I did struggle with slightly was matching the stripes of the socks- mainly because I did not think ahead and just started knitting (a foolish approach, evidently). Apparently (and honestly, it makes a lot of sense!), it’s easiest if you wind through to the start of a new colour, so you can do the same with the second sock and automatically end up with an identical pair. I did not do this, which was a rookie error and led me to delay making the second sock, because the idea of trying to match the pattern by eye was filling me with dread. Also, there are very fine stripes of black in the yarn and I, of course, ended up with a single stripe of black at the base of each heel (and on my second sock, pictured above, it doesn’t even GO ALL THE WAY AROUND 🙁 …). Overall, that little black stripe on the heel isn’t really the vibe and, if I had thought about it more, I probably would have wound through that bit before starting knitting again after the heel. On the bright side, that little bit sits under my foot anyway, so I never really have to see it.
New Techniques
I tried a few new sock-related techniques with this project and I feel like they really paid off! Here are the techniques I tried out/practised with this project (as always, previously encountered techniques are marked with an *):
- Provisional cast-on*
- Folded hem
- Shadow Wrap Short Row Heel
- Rounded toe
- Kitchener stitch*
Final Thoughts
I really love these socks! Sure, there’s a few things I would do slightly differently (using the right-sized needle, for one), but I feel like I’ve already improved from my last pair of socks, so I’m really happy with my progress. I think this pattern will definitely become a go-to for me- making ankle socks feels much less daunting than making regular ones and they’re so useful for wearing with trainers in the summertime.
I also really like this yarn- it’s such a perfect match for the jumper, which I have loved ever since the art for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was released. 1989 isn’t my favourite Taylor album, but this yarn really encapsulates the beachy vibes of the cover, which I do like, so it’s perfect for me. The yarn itself is really soft and smooth- I really enjoyed knitting with it!
Overall, I’m super happy with this project! It may only be my fourth post in this Project Knitwear series, but I think I’m really getting into the swing of knitting my own clothes/accessories. Hopefully, with more practice, I’ll get more confident (and less dependent on my mum to tell me how to fix my mistakes and knit toes and successfully work kitchener stitch…)!
If you're interested...
You can find the project page on Ravelry for my 1989 (Taylor's Version) Socks here.
Gemma
xxx
