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KNITS AND BOBBLES
January 29, 2021
The pattern I decided was Simple Sock 2 from Melody Hoffman’s Simple Sock Collective. They’re worked top down and feature the requisite bobbles. I liked their distribution and size relative to the rest of the sock and the chevron cuff detail was also interesting.
I bought a gold sock yarn back in September with the intent of making socks for myself, but I hadn’t settled on a design and projects for other people took priority. The yarn is one of the Work Horse Sock yarns from Black Cat Custom Yarn in the color way Midas. It’s a blend of Blue Faced Leicester wool and nylon. Although the pattern calls for a sport weight and a needle size I don’t own, I figured knitting the larger size with slightly smaller needles (2.25mm vs 2.5mm) and a thinner yarn (fingering vs. sport) would yield something roughly close to gauge that would fit well enough.
I made some minor deviations from the pattern: I decided to do a tubular cast on as I had used recently it on a hat and liked the way it looked and thought it would be nice to have on some socks; and I only did one repeat of the leg pattern as I prefer slightly shorter socks (my legs are slightly shorter).
I also made some unintentional deviations: My bobbles have two more stitches than the pattern calls for, but I like the scale of these bobbles, only slightly larger and I think it works out well since my yarn in a little lighter than what the pattern calls for. I also lost count in my gusset decreases somewhere in the middle, but I had the correct amount of stitches at the end and they look fine; and purled when I needed to knit in the garter portion of the heel once on each foot (in different places, but the same side). I’m not too bothered by my errors. If they were a gift, I probably would have fixed them, but for myself they’re fine. I don’t see or noticed the mistakes and knowing they’re there add a little more character to them
This sock had some minor variations to things I’ve done in other socks:
The heel turn makes a much pointier heel in this sock than I’m used to. But after blocking and when wearing it isn’t very noticeable.
This pattern uses a garter border to the heel and you pick up the stitches between the purl bumps rather than slipping the first stitch on each row and knitting through that. I didn’t notice any significant difference other than aesthetic. Not super
The gusset decreases don’t have an adjacent plain stitch between the decrease and the foot. There’s no significant difference but I think I do prefer having that extra stitch on the outside of the decreases; it looks a little cleaner to me when it is there.
The rate of decrease for the toe is consistent all the way to the end (decreases every other row) rather than switching to a sharper decrease (decreasing every row) as you get closer to the tip of the toe. I’m not sure if this is the best shaping for my toes. I think I’ll try out what I’m more familiar with and see how that fits and see what other variations I could try out.
Overall, I’m very pleased with the pattern and how the socks turned out. And the bobbles are quite delightful.