I actually started this post about 9:30 this morning and here it is almost 5:30 p.m., and after at least four attempts to to get it finished, the fifth time may be the charm!
The striped socks with the hat heel are finished.
The pattern was well written and easy to follow, albeit kinda confusing only because it was so different from anything I had ever done and I had to blindly follow the pattern. For the first sock, I could not figure out where I was or where I was going in the pattern but, simply following the instructions, I got it done.
I had several issues with these socks and all of them were my own fault.
First, I used sport weight yarn instead of the recommended fingering weight yarn. I used sport because it would go faster than fingering weight and since I wasn’t sure how this pattern would turn out, I figured less time spent was better than more time spent. I had to do a small swatch and then decide which size to use. That wasn’t a problem.
Second, the pattern called for using a needle several sizes larger for the bind off. I usually do Jenny’s Stretchy Bind Off but decided to follow the instructions. It ended up that the first sock wasn’t easy to get over my heel. I thought . . I’ll just live with it. When I made the second sock, I went ahead and bound off with Jenny’s method and it was so much better so I went back and re-did the first bind off.
Third, since I had to go back and undo the bind off after I had cut the yarn and woven the tail in, I ended up having to “borrow” a bit of green from the second ball. (I split a 100 gram skein into 2 balls when making socks.) That left me a little bit short on the green for the cuff and bind off. After getting all the way to the end on the bind off of the second sock, I ran into black yarn and tried to convince myself to leave it but couldn’t so I had to rip out the bind off, go back and make the cuff about half a row shorter in order to have enough green to finish the bind off.
I doubt I make this pattern again. You really can feel those side seams in the heel. I wore them for a while today to see if I’d get used to it but I feel like it’s kinda pinching my heel . . it doesn’t hurt, but it is annoying. I had thought about making another pair using fingering weight yarn, just to see if it feels better but I doubt I do it.
They were fun to make. I love trying new patterns.
Nelle Coursey says
They really look pretty!
justquiltin says
Those are so fun looking especially in that striped yarn. Don’t think my fat ankles would like that type of gusset tho – but I always wonder how designers come up with these types of ideas – so different than the norm.