I’ve discovered socks!
After promising myself that I’d learn to knit on double-pointed needles for years, I finally plucked up the courage to have a go. A trawl through ebay landed me a fairly comprehensive collection of needles in various sizes and lengths at less than £1 per set – which was pretty good going – so all I needed now was a decent project.
I decided to have a go at knitting socks on the grounds that they were small (and therefore should be relatively quick to knit – or undo, as the case may be) and the fact that they’d always intrigued me. knitty.com always has a few sock patterns every month, so obviously there was some fascination going on here.
Armed with a pattern for a pair of socks in DK (I’m not stupid enough to try 4 ply first time out!), four double-pointed 3mm needles and my trusty copy of Stitch ‘n’ Bitch, I sat down to master the technique. Four frogged attempts later, I managed to wrangle the needles into some semblence of order and I was off.
After a few hours worth of knitting, further research and some experimentation, I learnt that I personally find it a lot easier to knit on 5 needles rather than 4! Less strain on the hands, the needles are easier to control and no ‘ladders’ where the needles “join”. Four days later, I was actually wearing my first hand-knitted pair of socks and they were so comfortable that I wanted more. I also realised a few other “truths” along the way:
- The stitches don’t slip off the needles at all – which was always my biggest worry. In fact the only time I did drop a few was when I got carried away and pulled the wrong needle into my right hand to knit the next lot of stitches. Even then, it was very easy to simply pick them up again.
- Socks take up very little space and, since my closet is bulging with the results of past, larger, knitting, projects, they will allow me to indulge my passion for knitting without creating serious storage problems – well, not for a while, anyway
- A pair of socks takes less than 100gms of yarn, so I can buy more expensive yarns for each pair without needing a bank loan. I now have a very good reason to actually buy some of those hand-painted yarns I’ve drooled over in the past.
- Despite the fact that I’m using 5 needles, the needles themselves are fairly short (about 8 inches) which means that I don’t need lots of arm room to knit. Knitting on train journeys will be so much easier if I don’t have to worry about continually poking people with 14inch long knitting needles.
No wonder people get hooked on knitting socks!
I’ve now moved on to 4ply and I’m just about to finish the first sock of a new pair. In the meantime, I’ve also done a lot more research and developed the first draft of a generic sock pattern which should allow to me to take a few measurements, knit a swatch and then knit socks for anyone using pretty much any type of wool. What suprised me was the amount of maths involved – primarily ratios of one type or another. The maths is really quite elegant and that started me thinking…
I’m sure I could, at some point, create an online sock pattern generator. Now there’s a thought. However, that may have to wait a while. I’m expecting a delivery of self-patterning sock yarn any day now.
