Tuesday 30th May - knitty gritty - socks.

I'm blogging this to give me half a chance of not lising my notes!

This is how I made my toe-up, forethought, weird pointy heel socks.

They fit surprisingly well!

I used 2.5mm Addi Crasy Trio dpns (I strongly recommend these!) and enough sock yarn  - 100g - and some spare contrasting sock yarn. Instructions wre derived from  thespruce.com, louisetilbrook.net and also 'Arne & Carlos easiest socks' and other youtube tutorials. 

The addi crasy dpns come in a set of three, all having a length of bendiness in the middle like circular needles. Otherwise you might be better off using 5 dpns so you can spread your stitches across 4 needles, at least for the increasing and decreasing sections.

Here goes... this is what I do for my English shoe size 5 feet, about 9.5 inches long from hel to toe

cast on 16 stitches and divide between the 2 addi crazy needles or 4 dpns. You will be left with an opening to sew closed, so second time around I did a provisional cast on, and grafted the seam later. Much neater, and actually much easier!

Divide them between 2 addi crasy dpns and join in the round. 

Increasing; 

Round 1; K needle 1 and needle 2

Round 2; for needle 1, K1, K through back and front, K2 to last to stitches, K through back and front, K1. Do the same for needle 2.

If you are using 4 needles, then for needle 1 and 3, K1, Kthrough back and front, K to end, and for needles 2 and 4, K to last 2 stitches, K to last 2 stitches, K through back and front, K last stitch.

I now have 20 stitches!

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until you have 60 stitches.

Then just knit round and round and round until it is 7.5 inches from cast on and it is time to mark the heel. I've read that generally this point is 2-2.5 less than the overall foot length.

Marking the heel

It is important that the line of the waste yarn is in the same plane as the line of the cast on! Otherwise you will end up with the heel sticking out from the side!

Using the waste yarn, knit across crasy needle 1, or needles 1 and 2 if you are using 4 dpns for your stitches. Leave decent tails. Pick up the real yarn LEAVING PLENTY OF SLACK FOR WEAVING IN LATER and carry on across remaining stitches as though nothing has happened. 

I've summarised the measurements and instructions for myself on a paper ruler that cane with one 9f my notebooks. This lives in the cloth bag along with the yarn and a 2.5mm crochet hook for grappling with dropped stitches!

Leg

Continue going round and round until leg is 1 inch short of required length, and do 2 x 2 or 1 x 1 rib for last bit. Use a stretchy bind off method. 

Heel

Pick up the stitches above and below the waste yarn, removing the yarn as you go, so you have 30 stitches above and 30 below.

Now reverse the process for the toe, doing K2tog instead of K through front and back, until you have 8 stitches left on each needle. Leave a long tail of yarn when you start.

 Graft together, or bind off and sew closed.

Finishing

Weave in the end at the cuff, and use the long tails of yarn at the heel to close the gaps at the join between heel and main part of the sock.