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September 29, 2021
Looking at some of the yarn I’ve accumulated this year, I decided to try to use up some leftovers, both yarns from socks I made as gifts. One of the socks had Estonian button stitches (I made Buds & Flowers by Agata "Amanita" Mackiewicz) and I decided incorporate them as a reference to those socks. The other pair I made had some smocking which I feel looks somewhat similar so it also kind of worked as a reference to those. And since I’ve been using this year long project to learn different construction methods, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to try out an afterthought heel. Knowing I had limited yarn stock, I felt more comfortable knitting them toe-up and the afterthought heel fits in nicely with the constraints I had.
I used Teal Torch Knits’ TTK Lena Sock yarn in Peel It (a tonal orangey yellow) for the main color and Black Cat Custom Yarn’s Workhorse Sock yarn in Sunstrider (a variegation of red, orange, yellow, and pink) as the contrasting color. All together was about 36g of yarn, split somewhat evenly, which I figured would be enough to make me a pair of ankle socks (spoiler: it was). I kept it fairly simple since my main concern was to make sure I didn’t run out of yarn before I finished. I didn’t really follow a pattern for these socks, just piecing different sources for different parts (the toe, the heel, the Estonian button stitches).
The socks came together pretty uneventfully (minus the slight anxiety I had about not having enough yarn to finish). I started with the toes, using the Turkish cast on method (following Andrea Mowry’s video tutorial) and then proceeded to the rest of the sock. I decided to make my sock 64 stitches.
To figure out the spacing for the Estonian button stitches, I just quickly sketched something out and tried to find a distribution that would work with my stitch count. I settled on repeating every 8 stitches, and included the first and last stitches of the bottom of the foot to spread them evenly. Before I started, I knew I wanted the button stitches to have 8 rows between them. I wanted the button stitches to be a bit denser than in the Buds & Flowers pattern which was every 10 rows.
For the heel, I referenced the blog and pattern from Loop Knit Shop primarily to get a reference for the distance where I’d need to pick-up the heel later and roughly how it’s constructed (very similarly to toes in cuff-down socks). This afterthought heel was not completely an afterthought since I did use scrap yarn to knit the stitches I’d need to pick up later, but in this instance I needed the visual assurance that I’d have enough length to actually make a sock. I also knit the heel before the cuff because I wanted to be sure that I’d have enough yarn for the heel. I’d rather skimp on the cuff than run out for the heel. Which would have been okay in hindsight as I could have used other leftover yarn, but in the moment I really wanted to just use these two yarns. I decided to put the live stitches on DPNs which I appreciated when I was started knitting the cuff, but got in the way while I was knitting the heel. But I did it and seemed to have enough yarn for the cuff so I put both socks on my cable needle to knit them two-at-a-time.
The cuffs are a 1x1 twisted rib. I got nervous as I noticed one of my very small balls of yarn dwindling so I switched to just knitting one at a time. I decided to do a 10 row cuff which is a bit shorter than I prefer, but since it was shaping up to be a short sock and I was worried about running out of yarn I thought it’d be fine (spoiler: it is fine). In my worry I decided to also cast off with Peel It since I had some of it left and was (again) worried I wouldn’t have enough of the Sunstrider to finish the other with. But I did so I didn’t have worry so much. And again, could have easily just used another bit of yarn if I did run out.
I don’t know how I feel about the afterthought heel. I feel like mine is a bit too deep for my foot and so doesn’t fit as snugly as I’d like. I am also not a big fan of the shape. While I don’t mind a bit of an ear on the toe from grafting, I don’t like it on the heel—it looks a bit more pronounced on the heel. I know there are ways to decrease their prominence though so I may try that next time. I may also shorten the heel a bit, perhaps stopping my decreases to maybe 28 or even 32 stitches total instead of 24 at Loop Knit Shop suggested. If I tried them one as I was making them I’d have probably gotten a better idea of the fit, but since they were on DPNs and I didn’t want to transfer them to scrap yarn I didn’t. Although not my favorite heel method, I still want to give them another try.
There are things I would probably do differently if I were to remake these socks, but I enjoyed the experience and am pleased with the outcome. I’ve been wanting to have makes some more ankle socks and these are a solid pair. They’re also a bit lighter than the last two I’ve made which is nice; I appreciate having a bit of variety in my sock options. It was also a good exercise in using up left over yarn from other projects. I realized that I am a bit attached to having my stash (and keeping it) and it was a little difficult to accept not having either of these yarns anymore. But it was also nice to use up all the yarn and see it being used for something. Technically I still have a tiny bit left (about 1.5 g together), but they aren’t really going to much use outside of darning or something very very small. As for next month, I have some ideas but just need to settle on when makes most sense to do them.