This is only the second short row heel I’ve ever knit, and the first short row toe. Previously I knit short row garter heels from Lucy Neatby’s Cool Socks, Warm Feet, but this heel and toe is from Priscilla Gibson Roberts’ Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy, with a little help from my friend Warren’s tutorial.
They’re knit with Fiesta Boomerang from The Loopy Ewe in the Sandstone colorway. This yarn is much heavier than I thought it would be, so these socks are really bulky. As soon as I finished the first one, I weighed the sock and the yarn I had left to make sure I had enough for the second sock.
The verdict? The finished sock weighs 2.5 oz, and the ball of yarn weighs 2.6 oz. Whew! That’s pretty close.
The pooling is weird, and I caught just a glimpse of how the colorway would look if it didn’t pool—there at the short rows on the heel and toe. It’s really much more pleasing, I think, but oh well!
For these socks I cast on 60 sts on US 2-1/2 (3 mm needles), and knit six rows before starting the picot edge, and seven rows before folding the picot edge and picking up the edge stitches.
The first time I knit a picot edge I did a provisional cast-on and that seemed like a whole lot more hassle than just picking up the stitches of a long-tail cast on, so that’s what I do now.
To fit my size nine foot I knit 62 rows after the picot fold was finished before I started the heel, and 42 rows after the heel before I started the toe, at a gauge of 7 sts/inch.
After kitchenering 30 stitches off two needles at the toe I feel like a kitchener pro. Well, almost. Upon closer inspection, perhaps it could use a little tweaking. (Like that’s gonna happen–I’m glad I got the ends woven in. Yes, I’ve worn socks with their loose ends dangling. Hasn’t everyone? Maybe not. Heh.)
Comments 8
gawgeous again!
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 3:47 pm ¶Those are lovely!
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 6:16 pm ¶And yes, i’ve worn stuff with the tails dangling. I’m wearing a hat right now with the end tucked up inside.
It looks wonderful! I like the colors, even if they did pool funny.
I need to try a picot top to a sock sometime…
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 6:54 pm ¶They’re awesome!
If you do the provisional cast on, do you then knit the live st from the provisional cast on when you’re ready to do the hem, where you would otherwise pick up the cast on, or is there some other thing you do? I’ve never done it that way before.
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 7:19 pm ¶Beautiful socks! I’d like a copy of Warren’s tutorial, it looked fabulous, and my heels need help.
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 7:49 pm ¶Heather ~ Yes, when you do the provisional cast on, you unravel the crochet chain stitch by stitch and pick up the live stitches one by one. You’re already dealing with five needles, and then to add the wonkiness of trying to unravel the provisional cast on and pick up each stitch—–I thought it was maddening. This seems much easier. I don’t think it’s really bulkier, either, so I don’t know what the benefit would be to do it the other way. And since I use the longtail cast on, the cast on edge has big loops that are easy to see and pick up with the needle.
Posted 16 Feb 2008 at 8:36 pm ¶You’ll have very warm feet…pretty, too;-)
Posted 17 Feb 2008 at 6:51 am ¶I was browsing Loopy Ewe yesterday and looking at the Fiesta yarns. I think the weights listed for socks nowadays seem a bit off. I kept thinking this and the Baby Boomerang were both a little heavy for my tastes. That’s what kept me from buying it. I almost feel like I need to feel it in person. I don’t knit many socks in heavier sock yarn b/c I prefer to wear my handknit socks with regular shoes.
It is a pretty colorway and just enough to make you a pair of socks with very little leftover. I guess that’s good, you won’t have a lot of yarn leftover to deal with?
P.S. If you have a copy of Warren’s tutorial you can share, I’d love to see it. I’ve tried short-row heels a couple of times, but they never work out for me.
Posted 17 Feb 2008 at 10:13 am ¶Post a Comment