Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

Short rows for socks, part I: Why and when.

I like my rows, like my toes, short.

I mentioned a few days ago my love for short row toes when making socks. I rarely resort to using another toe, and most deviations from my normal short row version have proven disappointing to me. As far as I am concerned, shape, smoothness of fabric and comfort are the most important factors for a good sock toe. Some people may compromise on one or more of these for speed or simplicity of knitting, but if I am going to spend hours knitting a sock then I always believe it is worth putting in the extra 10 minutes to make the most comfortable toe I can.

Short row heels are another matter entirely. I’m quite happy to try whatever heel a sock pattern suggests when I am following somebody else’s design. If I am knitting a plain stockinette sock, or a sock of my own devising, then I choose a heel that best fits the design and the yarn.  An afterthought short row heel is fantastic for instances where the yarn you are using has a strong pattern of regimented, predictable stripes.  If a standard ‘flap and gusset’ heel is worked in this yarn it will break up the steady pattern of stripes on the top of the foot.

Self-striping yarn can benefit from a short-row 'afterthought' heel

Other forms of ‘afterthought’ heel may work, but again the smoothness of a heel without decreases makes the short row heel my preferred choice, and the result is both attractive and professional from all angles.

Evenly-spaced stripes with neat heels that fit the simple design.

Short row toes and heels are also multi-functional – one simple set of instructions will work in all instances where a short row heel or toe might be used.  The toe and heel are worked in exactly the same manner, and when you have knit one it is likely that you will never need to consult the directions again.

• Top-down toes: when you reach the point in your sock where you want to knit your toe, put the bottom half of your total number of stitches on some scrap yarn (you could leave them on the needles, but it makes manoeuvring your needles easier if they are on scrap yarn), knit the short row toe, then kitchener stitch the end stitches to the stitches on the scrap yarn.
• Toe-up toes: Using scrap yarn, provisionally cast on half the total required stitches for your intended sock circumference, knit the short row toe.  When complete remove the provisional cast-on and place these stitches onto your needles – you are now ready to begin knitting your sock in the round.
• Top down/toe up heel in situ: When you reach the point in your sock knitting where you wish to place your heel, put half of your stitches (the half intended for the top of your foot) onto scrap yarn.  Knit the short row heel on the remaining half of your stitches.  Once complete, remove the scrap yarn to free your live stitches and continue working in the round.
• Top down/toe up heel (afterthought): When you reach the point in your sock where you later wish to knit your short row heel, drop your working yarn and knit across half (the half intended for the back/heel of the foot) with scrap yarn.  Drop this scrap yarn and re-knit over these same stitches with the working yarn, and continue to work in the round.  When you come to later knit the heel, remove the row of scrap yarn stitches, one by one, leaving two rows of live stitches.  Place the lower half of these stitches onto scrap yarn and the top half onto your needles. Knit a short row heel and kitchener closed with the awaiting stitches on the scrap yarn.

Coming soon: Short rows for socks, part II: How to make them.

… Or ‘how to make a pair of socks your other half won’t want’.

When I was 7 years old I had a teacher called Mr Vic Gibson.  He was young, cool, had a motorbike, a screw-in tooth and a metal bolt in his leg (both courtesy of the motorbike).  He also used to love noranges.  It became a class running joke for someone to point at his lunch on the edge of the desk and ask ‘what’s that, sir?’, to which he’d reply ‘a norange’.  Sometime he’d have a napple, but usually it was a norange.

So, I when I saw the most norangey yarn my eyes had ever beheld, I had to have it.

A norangey yarn -Schoppe-Wolle Admiral Ombré in Orange Henna

I had been anticipating casting off the Warden Bay socks just so that I could start knitting with this lovely ball of yarn, and so about 20 seconds after I kitchenered shut the last few stitches on the stripy blue socks I found myself casting on for a new pair.  My needles didn’t even get a chance to cool down.

But wait.  What always happens with socks I make for myself?  About 30% of the way through the knitting, the Eskimister will start cooing ‘oooh, they’re nice…’ At about 50% of the way to completion they’ll be ‘really, really nice’, and at about 80% they’ll be ‘the best socks ever!’ and are bound to belong to him.

So, I have set about making the pair of socks I have deemed least likely to fall foul of sock theft.  They are worked toe-up, so are a departure from my usual top-down sock knitting.  I have deviated from the pattern as given to do away with using Judy’s magic cast-on (of which I know there are many fans, I just don’t enjoy the knitting of Judy’s magic cast on, especially on DPNs) and instead have started with my usual neat, smooth short row toe:

Short row toe

The pattern notes inform me that these socks feature an ‘interesting’ gusset construction, so I’ll be the judge of that when I get to it!  The short row toe and ‘interesting’ gusset are not enough on their own to spurn the sock hoarding advances of the eskimister, though.  No, for that we need oodles of swirls and lace:

Lace socks. For ME. ME, ME, ME. Mimi.

So, I was a fool to think that  a simple picot cuff would scare off my live-in sock monster, but I’m betting that these socks are just one bright, lacy step too far…

Warden Bay socks

My latest completed project is a simple but pleasing pair of stockinette stitch socks.  72st socks knit at a tight gauge on 2mm needles, just the way I like them.

Simple socks are pleasing.

A picot edge with few rows of twisted ribbing tops the socks, then it is a matter of a steady tube of stockinette stitch.  I knit a half a round of stitches with some scrape yarn to knit a short row heel in after the rest of the sock was completed.  I prefer this way of forming a heel when I am working with striping sock yarn that has an obvious and predictable pattern, as it keeps the progression of the stripes running from the leg and over the top of the foot from doing a funny little ‘jump’ in the order and width of the stripes.

Steady stripes down the top of the foot and up the leg

I prefer short row heels and toes when making ‘afterthought’ type heels (not that it was an afterthought…) as I like both the look and feel of the smoothness of the fabric, for added comfort.  I know that many people do not like the fit of afterthought or short row heels, but neither myself nor Craig have ever had any trouble with socks I have made this way, so I guess it all depends on a person’s individual foot shape.  Talking of Craig, I very much made these socks for myself, but he has been cooing over them since I began them – he adores this yarn, the combination of colours, so  am giving them to him.  He insisted I have them, then suggested some kind of time share deal over who wears them, but I’ll find more joy in the fact that I know he loves them so much than I will by wearing them myself, so I am giving them to him.  I just thought I’d put them on for the photo… just to test them.

Look, there!  It’s an F/O!  Is it a bath puff? Is it a brain?  No, it’s the Simple City shawlette:

Simple City simplicity

I designed this triangular scarf as a project to best use my prize Zauberball, won on Stephcuddles’ blog. I wanted to make something simple, but with just a little bit of flair. It is an uncomplicated but attractive scarf – classic with an added touch of structured femininity in the form of a precise, neat foxglove ruffled edge.

foxglove ruffle

The ruffle sits ‘just so’ as it is worked differently from a standard ruffle, which just sees the number of stitches increased to form a additional gather of fabric at the edge, but I worked this ruffle in a way so that each undulation is prescribed into a neat wave, giving a modern, tailored feel – almost like a pleat.

I love triangular scarves and thought this would be a great addition to my Autumn accessories wardrobe.  The bright, primary colours of the yarn will chime with just about every cardigan and jumper I own, so I think this will become an absolute staple when a chill starts to set in during September afternoons.

Simple City triangular scarf or shawl can be easily adjusted in size.

This is a versatile shawl and I made notes on the best method to scale the shawl up or down for a larger or smaller pattern.

The shawl will give quite markedly different results depending on whether you knit it with a solid yarn for a very classic, versatile scarf, or knit with two yarns to form stripes, or knit stripes with a single 100g ball of colour progressing yarn.

The pattern is now published and available from Ravelry, or you can click the button below to purchase if you don’t have a Ravelry account:

A few days ago a ceramics artist that goes by the name of c-urchin had an impromptu giveaway on Twitter, offering something ‘very small’ to the person who could first guess what was used to make a particular texture on one of her pieces, and I was the first correct guesser!

so, a couple of days ago a small but beautifully wrapped box arrived in the post:

mmm, surprise!

Inside was the most lovely selection of buttons for my collection.  Included were little plastic spotted buttons of all the colours of the rainbow, a very pretty cutaway button, small but beautiful, and a metal button that will look perfect as an embellishment on a hat or cowl.

for the expanding button collection

Now, I do love buttons, though as I recently mentioned I rarely spend over 20p for a button, my recent ceramic sheep acquisitions being a rare treat, so to have such a lovely selection to add to my mostly novelty buttons is quite a treat.  All of the buttons are either cute or beautiful,  though my favourites were a couple of ceramic buttons that c-urchin had made herself:

buttons by c-urchin: www.seaurchin.etsy.com

A couple of real artisan buttons that I am now going to have to find special projects for!  C-urchin has an Etsy store, so if you happen to be on the lookout for a treat to make a special project even more unique, it might be worth checking out her wares, even if you are only window-shopping.

I’m also pleased to have a new FO fresh off of the needles:

Friend or FO?

Now, it’s not a knitted cabbage, brain or chrysanthemum, but I thought I’d wait until it was blocked to take some proper FO pictures, and liked the coral-like structure of this picture.  Now all I have to do is to find the self-control not to cast on a new project but instead to finish the world’s slowest socks and get the second half of my citron knitted [starts surfing ravelry].

A few weeks ago I posted about a new addition to the monkey clan; the very dapper Sockmonk.  The post detailed the venerable history of the Sockmonk family lineage, their great tradition in America and where the new generation of Sockmonks have now settled.  I have never myself witnessed the birth of a Sockmonk, though I believe it to be a beautiful and magical thing, and probably narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

So, I was extremely excited when a package from Fox River Mills arrived this morning.  Fox River Mills are the makers of the original Rockford red Heel socks used for making traditional sock monkeys, and just take a look at what was inside:

Rockford Red Heel socks from the Fox River Mills

The guys at the company that makes the traditional Rockford red Heel socks read the post on the history of sock monkeys when Sockmonk arrived to live with us, and our new friends there sent some socks so that I can have a go at making my very own sock monkeys!  What’s even more exciting is that Fox River Mills have recently added two new lines to their red heel sock range as you can see above – blue and pink Rockford Red heels, for a modern twist on the original favourite socks and toys.  Now, I must gather the few other things I need before I begin to form new sock-like friends – namely some polyfill and some safety eyes to give the monkeys a bit of character, so hopefully they will arrive by next week, by which time I will have hopefully familiarised myself with the pattern directions which are wonderfully printed on the underside of the cardboard sleeve on the socks:

Sock monkey instructions are included with every pair of socks

I can’t wait to get started on making some old-style traditional sock monkeys – I think that the new pink and blue socks will make wonderful monkey toy gifts for my niece and nephew for Christmas this year.  I decided not to stress myself out by worrying about knitting people gifts this Christmas, but I am so very much looking forward to making my very own socks monkeys that I think the project will be a perfect one for a new companion for the younger members of the family.

Sockmonk is giving me instructions and pointers to prepare me for making my first ever sock monkey, and he is pondering his own beginnings back in the U.S, when he was just a pair of socks.

Daddy?

Yesterday myself and the Eskimister decided to have a trip to…

Morecambe!

Morecambe is only about 10 minutes away by train or car, but we go there very rarely.  I’m not sure why, as the promenade is really quite charming now that the seafront has been done up and the Tern Project has transformed the once run-down area into a showcase of artists’ and craftspeople’s work, all on the theme of seabirds, but a rare day out it was.

Thankfully we decided to go on the one day of summer that Lancaster has been granted this year (we’re back to cold drizzle today) and got bathed in warm sunshine, buffered by sea winds and fairly covered in melting ice creams.

We had a walk all the way along the prom and out onto the jetty where we watched the waves and braced ourselves against the rising winds.

Man the lifeboats

Whilst we were there we saw the launch of the lifeboat hovercraft, which had gone out to assist another lifeboat.

Artist's impression of 'the other lifeboat'

They returned pretty quickly and with no casualities, so we were hopeful that it wasn’t an emergency situation.  The morecambe lifeguards looked to be in good humour as they hosed down the hovercraft after their quick sea manouvres, so we wondered if it was a training run or perhaps for more sedate reasons than anything of a matter of life and death

Giving the hovercraft a rinse-down

And then something caught my eye.  I stepped forward and it was the strangest thing:

Prize draw time

Obviously it was a matter of some importance – deciding to take a day off meant that I plumb forgot that I was supposed to be doing the draw for the book One Hundred Years of Solitude yesterday, and there it was – the lifeboat crew came to the aid of a non-emergency case.  All in a day’s work.  Comment 23, ‘Knitting Island’, an email is winging it’s way to you now.

I thought it would be nice to treat myself to a little frippery after  a long, difficult week of long days and long nights, so I spent a little bit of time Googling for one of my favourite search phrases of the past few weeks: ’sheep buttons’.  I’ve been looking for an attractive set of sheep-shaped buttons to add to my collection for a while now, but the ones I have found have never been very attractive, made from the cheapest plastic and in the most dated designs (and I don’t mean in a ‘charmingly retro’ way), but then I found these:

baaaaaattons

I’ll be the first to admit that I am a total cheapskate when it comes to buying buttons, and £3.55 for five (with postage) did make me balk a little as I rarely spend over 20p on a button and most are somewhere between 5-15p, but these are hand-made ceramic buttons and the single black sheep among the fluffy white sheep amused me, and I thought I deserved a treat.

I have managed very little knitting at all these past few days, which makes for a sad Mimi indeed, but now that the weekend is here I got a little more done on the project that doesn’t yet know what it is going to be:

Knitting in progress

I haven’t been able to knit any more of my Citron shawlette and my socks are still in Limbo, so I have absolutely failed to impress on any front there, but hopefully I will be able to knit at least a few rows of each of these projects before the weekend is out and maybe notch those progress bars up by another 5% or so.

Next on the agenda I wanted to thank all of those that gave their opinions and thoughts on the skein vs. ball issue.  I read every single comment with interest and attention, and I think I have come to a decision on how to present the yarn in the shop.   I think I shall continue with what I was already doing, selling the yarn mostly in skeins but with the offer of a free ball-winding service.  It only takes a couple of minutes to run the yarn through the Jumbo Ball Winder so though I absolutely agree with folks that say it is silly to cause extra work for myself I don’t find it at all draining on my time, and for some reason I quite enjoy it.

The number of people that took up the ball-winding service were not in any way correlating with the number of people that said they either preferred or would only by yarn pre-balled, though.  I am not sure if this is because people find that on Etsy most yarn is sold in hanks and so don’t shop there or because they weren’t seeing the announcement above the items, so I made the following graphic to accompany new listings as a sidebar picture:

Sometimes you just have to make things more obvious

Reading all of the reasons for people’s preferences was very interesting, though.  I had wondered if people had concerns over yarn tension, but I think this is only a problem with tightly wound highly tension balls of yarn, but I seem to wind as I knit, quite relaxed.  Also, the central cone of the JBW is so big that when the ball is removed and patted slightly the tension relaxes as that central space is taken up by yarn and the ball is allowed to rest.

I was a bit confused with comments saying that they would dislike it as they can’t stand centre-pull balls of yarn because of the fear of yarn collapse because, as far as I was aware, you can knit from the outside of all balls of wool?  Maybe I am wrong in this assumption, but I don’t think I have personally yet met a ball of wool that was exclusively centre-pull, but if they do exist then that is not the type that the JBW winds – these are multi-functioning balls of yarn, baby – they aren’t fussed if you knit from the outside or the centre – in fact the Zauberball I wound above is currently being knit from the centre and the outside simultaneously – how is that for yarn that is wanting to please?

So, thankyou so very, very much to all those that took part in my ad-hoc bit of market research, I have taken all of your opinions and wisdom on board and hopefully provided a bit of flexibility for people.

The closing date for The Giveaway is tomorrow, so if you haven’t entered yet and fancy popping your name in the hat please make sure that your entries are in by the end of Sunday 15th August, when I will make the draw.

Have a nice weekend, folks!