Best Sock Knitting Pattern-Toes Up (of course)

Regia is the best sock wool.  I didn't love wool, but it makes the best-wearing socks.  This is the best and fastest way to knit a pair.  I knit it almost all in plain knit because I can knit much faster than I can purl and patterns really slow me down (although they look awesome).  I love a snug-fitting sock and I have size 9 (wide) feet.  Adjust as you see fit, so to speak.


M (make) as often as possible on the back loop to leave the smallest hole possible


100g yarn
5 size-1 Double-Pointed Needles (DPN)
9" size-1 circular needle (I like the Chiagoo)
stitch markers
ruler
CAST ON


Cast on 30 stitches on two of the DPN using the figure eight cast-on method.  I leave a decent amount of tail so that I can knit it into the second half of the first round and then I don't have to worry about it unraveling and can simply cut it off after that first, but make sure not to pick up the two threads as two stitches.  Make a slip knot on the right needle, then wind under around and down over the left needle (one stitch) down through the middle and under around and over the right needle (second stitch).  Repeat to 30 stitches and be sure not to include the knot.  Pull them snug.  Knit the stiches on the left needle but don't count them as a round (or part of one).  Drop the slip knot, pick up the tail and knit one round, all stitches on both needles.


TOE
Knit the toe in pairs of rounds, increasing twice at each edge for the first round and a plain knit the second, notated thus:
1--K1    M1     knit to the penultimate stich     M1      K1 (first needle)
Repeat for second needle to finish the first round
2--Knit a round
Repeat to 25 stitches on each needle or 50 stitches total.  Add a pair of needles as needed (pretty early, in my experience)
FOOT
Switch to the circular needle, marking the edges and continue knitting all rounds until the sock measures six inches.
GUSSETS
Increase at each edge to create the gussets until there are 70 stitches total, notated as pairs of rounds thus:
1--Sole(first needle)-K1     M1     knit to the penultimate stitch     M1     K1 --- Arch(second needle)-Knit
2--Knit one round (both needles)
For the final round (once you've reached 70) taking off the markers: put 25 arch stitches on the Chiagoo,  sole---14 on one DPN, 17 on the second DPN, and 14 on the third DPN.
HEEL
Working only on the second needle (for now) on a knit row:
K1     M1     knit to penultimate stitch      wrap and turn
P1      M1     P to the 3rd-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 3rd-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
P1     M1      P to the 5th-to-last-stitch      wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 5th-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
P1     M1     P to the 7th-to-last-stitch      wrap and turn
K1     M1     K to the 7th-to-last-stitch     wrap and turn
TURN HEEL
P1     M1     P to the last stitch, slip & purl tog with stitch from the first needle, turn.  Repeat the following pattern until all stitches on needle one and three are used, splitting the work on the second needle as needed (Partridge stitch);
Slip1    (K1 S1) to penultimate stitch, knit together with stitch from other needle     turn
Slip 1     P to penultimate stitch, purl together with stitch from other needle      turn
Slip1    K1 (K1 S1) to penultimate stitch, knit together with stitch from other needle     turn
Slip 1     P to penultimate stitch, purl together with stitch from other needle      turn
LEG
Knit around all 50 stitches until the sock is as high as you desire, then K1 P1 for the final 1-1/2 inch.  Secure your end and Boom, SOCK!  Repeat for a pair :-)

I'm going to stop now.

Buying sock yarn, that is.  I have enough for... five? pairs and I won't buy any more until I'm about done with that.  And one set coming from the UK.  It cost less than the same brand in a shop here, even with mailing, and ended up costing me nothing because I had Discover Rewards I didn't know about until I was checking out on Amazon.  Pretty cool.  Although I'm such a ninny that I still wonder if I should have saved the Rewards for...something...else?  Better?  More decadent?
This is Cascade Yarn's Heritage Paint in color 9805 and it cost 18.00 at Never Enough Knitting in downtown Wheaton.  That place is always an experience!! (Sniff sniff sniff). I promised myself to make that the next place I go for yarn because I love their prices and I like to support brick-and-mortar yarn shops (when they deserve it!  Don't get me started on the goofy place in Glen Ellyn!)

Sock yarn

I've gotten hooked back onto knitting socks because of Claudia.  I realized that the key, for me anyway, is to KNIT socks.  No fancy laces or stitches or yarns, just plain old stockinette with fun yarn colors.  Knit, no purl (well almost none) and no yarn overs (well almost none) and I'm getting much faster.  My first sock fits so well!  I'm about 1/3 done with the mate and it should go a little quicker.
I got out of work early because my new bosses are actually NICE and so I drove to LaGrange to a nifty yarn store and bought just ONE SKEIN.       That part isn't true, I bought two skeins but ONLY two and I resisted the cool wood knitting needles she was handing me.  I'm sure I'll be back.  They had a lovely array of yarn---their website does not do the place justice.  And I stopped at one of my very favorite restaurants in Berwyn while I was out thatta way.  A good way two spend a gift hour!  A three hour outing that cost about 45 for the yarn and 16 for the dinner (including a very generous tip) with tons of good-to-reheat leftovers!  Yay!!!

1-1-15

I'm trying out a knitted edge for the grey grannies.  I don't think I love this one. Not enough to knit...like...five yards of the stuff.  It curls in on itself too much.  I know blocking would help, but this afghan is made to be thrown in the washer and dryer, and it would curl up again in no time.

1-1-12

Finished the blue cotton scarf.  It should not be machine dried, but I'm going to run it through the washer once anyway to get some stiffness out.

1-1-11

Forgot to post this last night.  I worked more on the blue cotton scarf. I should be able to finish it tonight, even.  As long as I don't make more silly mistakes.  You can see in the picture that I made one flower using a smaller crochet hook.  What a dork!

1-1-10

Today I made great headway on my own knit+crochet scarf in blue cotton.

Year 1 Month 1 Day 9

I finished another scarf yesterday and again forgot to take a photo.  What a dork!  But I started another scarf late last night after the eleven o'clock service, but fell asleep without posting it.  Here it is...

Year 1 Month 1 Day 7

Well, I didn't get anything NEW created today, but I did run at the Rec Center and took a shower and voted for a new Worship pastor and...  I did more work on the blue scarf.  OH!--And made three Christmas gift bags.

Year 1 Month 1 Day 6

I also finished my friend's scarf, but it is already wrapped, so here's the other scarf I'm working on.

Year 1 Month 1 Day 5

Made good headway on the cotton scarf after work today.  And made it before midnight too!

Year 1 Month 1 Day 4

Vacation day again, so I've been very busy!  In addition to the following photographed items, I made Chocolate Mayonnaise cake and Eggnog Fudge.  Well, on to the crafts.  I made a one-skein scarf for a friend-all crocheted, in dark jewel tones.  I started knitting a brown/blue scarf in a cool leaf lace pattern.  I also started a cotton scarf for a very special friend.  Shades of light brown with desert rose hues, in a mixed knit and crochet pattern.  If it turns out good, I bought similar yarn for me in blues.

What does this look like to you?

At first glance, it appears to be a nifty old knitting machine and a red bag full of accessories and such.  When I look a little closer, however, the truth is revealed.  It is a handy-dandy excuse to put off working on my living room project.  I REFUSE THE HEAR THE SIREN'S CALL, however.  Like that ancient sailor I will lash myself to the mainsail and forge ahead on my chosen path. Once the carpet is down and the furniture puchased and the walls painted and the drapes hung, then--and ONLY then-- will I allow myself the pleasure of opening the latches and learning how to knit with a machine from 1961---see, it already lured me to look in the instruction manual!!!  (It was manufactured in Japan? How cool is that? I wonder if it's written with better English than the e-mails I get...)

Bias-knit cotton dishcloth

This is a very easy pattern.  I won't explain every little detail but if you know the most basic things, you should be able to tackle this.  I use cotton yarb and size 5 needles that are 14" long.  I like a finished dishcloth that is about 7-1/2" square.  Here it is:
Make a slip knot and slip onto the left needle.  Knit through the front and through the back of the loop-called a make one or M1, you should now have two stitches on you right needle.  Turn you work.  M1, K1-you should now have three stitches.  Turn you work (and here I pick up the tail yarn and knit it in to save threading it in later.)  M1, K2 and you should have four stitches. 
From here until you have 40 stitches, the pattern is the same- K2, YO, knit to the end of the row.  Y0 stands for yarn over and means in addition to the other stitches, you throw the yarn over your right needle between stitches.  This will increase your stitch count by one for each YO and also leave a little space in the row.
Once you have 40 stitches, it is time to start decreasing (unless you want a bigger-or smaller-dishcloth). This is the pattern until you get down to 5 stitches: K1, K2Tog, YO, K2Tog, knit to the end of the row.  K2Tog is short for "knit two together" and is pretty much what it sounds like.
Once there are just five stiches; K1, K2Tog, K2.  Turn, K1, K2Tog, K1.  Turn, SSK-which translates to this; slip the first stich directly to the right needle, knit two stitches together and then pass that slipped stich over the stich you just knit and let it drop.  This makes three stitches into one, so for this pattern you will have one last stitch.  Cut the yarn about eight inches beyond and pass the end through and pull it tight.  Weave the end through a bunch of stitches and whew, you're done!

A felting experience

Cascade 220 - a purse???
Before and after
Went from 15" by 13" tall to
11-1/2" by 9" tall

Knit gift for a friend

I had something in mind to knit for a dear sister and found some yarn in my stash that was almost exactly what I'd had in mind, so it was win-win (provided she likes it, of course).  I also set up a Ravelry account, so you can check out the details and get the free pattern here http://ravel.me/Luke1133/3hc

Self striping sock

I'm a big fan of knitting lace but I broke down and bought some self striping yarn for socks.  I don't LOVE the colorway, but I think I like the whole idea.  I chose a chevron pattern so that the stripes wouldn't be TOO boring and (mostly) so that I wouldn't be bored to tears with so much just knit stitching.  I'll post the pattern once I get past the heel.

Yarn

I'm allergic to wool.  I don't have much money to spend on clothes/materials so I tend to knit with acrylic.  I know that makes "real" knitters sigh, but it works for me.  I don't really like Red Heart, but Simply Soft seemed good.  Now I don't think so.  I'm using it for a lacy knit so it's going to be okay, but one skein is loaded with slubs.  I found the same thing when I was knitting the sweater I have on now.  Five skeins good, one loaded with slubs.  I thought it was an anomaly but now it seems like a pattern.  Boo.

Hey, look at me all 21st Century

Blogging from my phone!!!  Where I am able to correct the color setting for incandescent light, so the quick shot I took this a.m. of my newest bag will be closer to the real color!  (Woo hoo-now I can blog during boring meetings:-)

Some older work

These are some things I made a little while back.

This hedgehog was from a library book about english-garden-inspired knits.  One day I'll post a photo of the sweater-coat I knit from it too.  This had a fun stitch to lock the loops in place.  His nose is too big and needs to be tucked in place where it's just pushed in right now.

This was probably another Lions pattern - it knitted up fast with double-strand Homespun.  It has a fun ladybug botton on the top.  Unfortunately it also weighs about 6 pounds and ended up a litle too wide for me.  And since it's acrylic, it is really warm unless the wind is blowing AT ALL and I live too near the Windy City for that to work out!

I love these little bags-they are fast to make, don't take much fabric and are easy-easy to carry, especially if you wear them backpack style.  The most expensive part is the colored cord.  A cheap way to update your "wardrobe".

This was a two-fold project.  I needed a bag for school that could hold file folders.  I was also making a quilt for my grandmother and wanted to test out my color choices.  Both turned out well, although the bag is too floppy for my taste.