Paksworld

There’s a post on my LiveJournal about the completion of the seventh “short” sock.  With pictures.  But to spare you having to click on that link, I’m putting a picture here.   Also because it’s time to brighten the place up again.

The order of making runs from the red pair in the front left counter-clockwise around to the newest, the gold/mustard ones next to the first red pair.  And they all have names.  The red pair is “Play Ball,” followed by Rainy Day Roses and Sunny Day Roses, then Desert Canyon Sunset, Tropical Lagoon, Summer Meadow, and Fiesta.

All the yarns used are worsted weight, cast on with #7US needles and then worked on #5US needles.  The socks are sized to my feet, so I cast on 56 stitches, moved them to the size 5 DPN, and knit four rows for the rolled edge.   Then I add the top stripe color, and work 3/4 inch (6 rows for me) of 2×2 ribbing, return to the first color and work 5/8 inch of plain knitting.   Take the back 28 stitches (needles 1 and 4) and work the heel flap in a reinforced stitch–usually Eye of Partridge–and continue that stitch under the heel for extra padding through the heel turn (and sometimes a row or two beyond.)   Sometimes I do the “picking up stitches” row with the first color, and sometimes start a new color right next to the heel flap.  But a contrasting color marks off the heel flap at least by the row after picking up stitches.  The gusset decreases are shaped for my feet (could be slower, but not much faster) and come down to 54 stitches for most of the foot, then to 52 (those decreases off needles 2 and 3, to make a count of 13 on each) before reading the “knob” at the base of the big toe.   All my socks are R & L, because of the shape of my toes but the basic design would work with a symmetrical toe.   Striping is purely “at will” on the foot–the same colors, but different widths, and no attempt to match the striping on the foot section.  The toe reverts to the first color, with a single row of a contrast on the fourth row of the toe.

As a way of using up leftover yarn, this has been both practical and fun to play around with.  But I’m going back to plain socks now, because I need to replace regular socks that have worn out.   Also, I”m short of leftovers, except for green.   Making more regular socks will give me more colors of leftovers to use.  These seven pairs will be enough to finish out the rest of the hot-weather bike-riding.