Wednesday, January 30, 2013

{WIP} My Heel is Turned


A little while ago I was chatting with a knitter friend from college on facebook and mentioned that I want to start making socks but the whole heel thing confused me.  Earlier last week she asked me if I was free this past weekend and we made a plan to get together at my place.  

That was a Wednesday, and I had a whole lot of pre-sock knitting to do! I had to do some deep stash diving but finally found two skeins of sock yarn I would be willing to use for my practice socks that I had purchased at the Web's tent sale a couple of years ago (point 1 for Amy using stash!). This is my first time knitting with Classic Elite yarns, and my impressions on Summer sox are not great - it is about equal parts marino and cotton with a small amount of nylon mixed in but there is no give to the yarn, and I don't find it to be very elastic.  



Cuff and SSS bag
I then found an easy enough pattern on Ravelry - The Step-by-Step Cheat Sheet for Socks by the amazing Yarn Harlot herself Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It matched up with the basic instructions Siobhan gave me - CO 64 stitches for a gauge of 7.5 inches to the inch.  I didn't have any US 1.5 needles, so I went to a size 2 and was getting the correct gauge but the ankle was looking pretty loose (my mom has bigger ankles and feet than me, so congrats mom! You will be getting a pair of socks!) so I think I might need to buy a 1.5 needle for future socks.  Both the pattern and Sio said to knit the ankle for about 7 inches...well, by the time Saturday rolled around I only had a bout 4.5 inches knit.  Short sock it is! 


A heel! A real heel!
After chatting about life post college and knitting and oohing over socks of hers she brought the knitting lesson begun.  Sio had brought a sock pattern book with her and asked what type of heel I wanted to learn.  Now, I had a basic knowledge of socks as I have been looking through patterns for two years now.  I knew there was something called a gusset heel, an after thought heel, and a heel flap.  But as to how those actually translate? No clue.  So Sio narrowed it down to a flap heel and a short row heel for me and asked which one I wanted to learn. She showed me the flap heel on her socks and mentioned that they were not her personal favorite as she didn't like how the heel turned out. She also mentioned they involved picking up stitches and I pretty much was like, "Picking up stitches? Tell me more about this short row heel..." because we all know my love for picking up stitches is non-existent. So a short row heel is what I learned for my first ever heel and you know what? It was EASY.  AS. PIE.  And so cool to see my heel actually form as I was knitting.  Not only was this my first time turning a heel, but it was my first time doing short rows on a purl side and doing double wraps. Siobhan was a great, patient teacher.

Now I am working my way to the toesies and realizing I am going to have to repeat the whole process for the second one but I am definitely impressed with the fact that I am making an article of clothing that fits and looks like a real sock and yeah....I might have started queuing sock patterns and looking at self striping yarn and other fun things.  So many of my ravelry friends seem to have a knitting pattern in their mind for basic socks and I want to get there.  I also want to learn to knit them toe up. And two at a time. But first let me finish my first beginner sock.
Are you impressed? Cause I sure am
 Today is also my birthday. I have entered the last year of my 20s.  So Happy Birthday to me! As a present to myself I purchased the Doctor Who Bag of the Month club over at Slipped Stitch Studios.  Membership ends today, so Whovians go support a small business AND get an amazing, amazing project bag :)


13 comments:

  1. Woo-hoo for socks! Something I learned quickly is to trust the pattern (especially if you do a heel flap/gusset). I'm working on two more pairs of socks right now. I think I have an addiction within an addiction. Oops.

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    1. I think the patterns are what kept me from socks the longest...when I would look at them they just wouldn't make sense.

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  2. Lovely socks. I'm not really a sock newbie but I do want to learn different heels. Also, toe-up socks are super fun too! Try that next time.

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    1. Thanks! I defnitely want to try toe-up two-at-a-time for my second pair :)

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  3. Happy birthday!!! Your socks are looking great and now that you've learned the techniques (thanks you your wonderful friend, I might add), I'm sure you'll be filling your sock drawer with hand-knit socks!

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    1. Thank you so much :D I definitely will be making more pairs that's for sure!

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  4. Happy birthday! :)
    These socks look awesome, and you are a wonderful student :)
    I think you solved your gauge mystery - I hadn't realized that we were using a size 2 needle, so it makes sense that its a teeny bit big. Negative ease is a strange thing! I can't wait for the FO post for these guys! :)

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  5. Happy Happy Birthday! :) Your socks are coming together wonderfully! I started out the same way, staring at patterns and fun self-striping yarn for years, then one day in fall 2011 I decided to take what looked to be the most simple pattern and just take it step by step. 5 pairs of socks later I'm totally hooked :) My #NSSKal socks are my first attempt at toe-up, and now I'm eager to try two at a time. Happy Knitting!

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  6. Happy Birthday! Your sock is fantastic!! Socks really are quite easy but no one believes that until they try to knit them. I hope you love knitting them.

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  7. I am also part of the NSSKAL..just joined,and I have said everything you said in this post..gusset? WTF..heel short row? really! Anyway..congrats..see you at the KAL..

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  8. WOW! I'm impressed with your bravery to try socks!! I don't think I could handle the tiny needles!

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  9. Your first sock is looking awesome! Congratulations on learning how to turn a heel. It is a pretty magical feeling, isn't it? Happy Birthday!

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  10. That looks really good for a first sock. Congrats!

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Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment! ~Amy