The separate post for these socks is so that I can comment on the pattern and, hopefully, help others who wish to make it. I was concerned as many of the projects on Ravelry said the socks were too big. I didn't want to start knitting a sock that wasn't going to fit, on the other hand, these comments didn't make sense as Stephanie has designed many many sock patterns and I hadn't had any problems with the two designs of hers that I had knitted. Also, looking at the pictures in the book, the socks didn't appear to be baggy. Then reading a Raveler's comments about the socks being too big despite having a smaller stitch gauge, I realised why so many were having problems. This pattern is worked from side to side so the important gauge is the row gauge. I matched the row gauge, followed the pattern and my socks fit perfectly. The stitch gauge will make a difference to the length of the sock.
Row Gauge Is Important There I've put it in bold so no more complaining if your socks don't fit.
I changed the way I worked a couple of the techniques. I did not fancy a provisional cast on of 111 stitches including putting the stitches on a spare needle at the end for grafting. I worked a Turkish cast on over two circular needles and carried on knitting off one of them. The spare needles holding the "provisional" stitches was a size smaller to avoid any stretching of the stitches. This meant the stitches were ready when the sock was completed and the two sides had to be grafted.
The edge stitches are held to be used for toe and the cuff. Stephanie suggests using a length of waste yarn with one end bound with tape to hold the stitches. On the first sock I tried two different methods for holding the stitches. At one end I used Super Dental Floss and the other end I used locking stitch markers. The dental floss was a good way to hold the stitches but I had to be very careful not to tighten the held stitch when knitting the next row. I didn't have that problem with the stitch markers but with a number of stitches on each marker the edge gathered in. For the second sock I combined these two methods. An edge stitch was put onto the stitch marker and then floss threaded through. Every 5 stitches or so I took the marker out and left the stitches on the floss. This way stitches were not tightened up and the work was not gathered in.
The yarn is Sockenklecks Edition Tausendschön by Schoppel-Wolle, purchased during the South Calgary yarn crawl. This is a fun yarn knitted up into a long rib scarf and then dyed. You can tell that it was dyed after being knit as where there are colour changes, the stitches are made up of both colours. This looks fine in its original state but I have ended up with different colour stitches in odd places. The yarn was very easy to knit with. It unknitted easily and I didn't notice the curl when knitting but I certainly noticed it when I had ends to sew in especially as each sock had a side seam of 111 stitches that had to be grafted.
How the yarn looked in its original purchase and after being unwound.
The completed sock before being kitchenered.
And the completed pair of socks.
I love these socks. (Although I am disgusted with my ribbing, which won't show in wear, thank goodness.)
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