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.

I thought I’d treat myself by casting on for a couple of new projects. The first of these is a new pair of socks for me. I know they are for me because I added a picot edge to the cuff and I wouldn’t have done that for Craig, so these are obviously my socks, no matter how many times Craig wanders over, looks at them being knit and says ‘well, now those I do like!’

Warden bay socks

I already love everything about these socks.  They remind me of summer by the beach for some reason.  It’s the colour – I don’t know if it because they are evocative of waves crashing in a blue sea beneath a turquoise sky, or if it is something to do with the little huts selling ice cream to hot and tired young children who have been busy constructing castles of sand, shingle and shells, but these colours remind me of my old home in Warden Bay.

I grew up on a small island just of the coast of Kent, in a place called Warden Bay.  Warden is known for a couple of things – the coastline which erodes so fast you can almost see it happening, and fossils.  I have always loved fossils – it comes from that childhood fascination of dinosaurs that so many 7 year olds seem to chance upon, and in warden you have to practically clamber over them to get anywhere.  Every rock contains a fossil and you can come home with your pockets fairly bulging with them if you have a keen eye and an inquisitive mind.  If I could go back there and ramble along the beach I would love to do so in these socks.  These socks with their little picot edge.

Re-routed socks

My latest socks are finally off the needles.  They have been lingering at about 70% completed for an absolute age, and when I finally did find a little bit of knitting time they were knitted, kitchenered and blocking in only a couple of hours.  I am rather pleased with them.

They are perhaps the simplest of socks with just a few tweaks to my own preferences.  Knitted over 72sts on size 2.25mm needles, they are in smooth, simple stockinette.  The cuff is a super-stretchy turned cuff (a favourite of mine)

Stretchy comfortable cuffs

I also used the all-in-one heelflap and gusset construction from the Sleepy Hollow socks, with the only tweaks being that I kept the gussets in stockinette (rather than reverse stockinette) and knitted the heel flap in an eye-of-partridge stitch for the simple reason that I had never tried eye-of-partridge stitch before.

I used the rounded toe instruction from Cookie A’s book Sock Innovation, but I think the numbers were a bit too general to work as I would have liked over such a densely knit sock with this high stitch number.  I have used a rounded toe before, but the numbers were different – I should have got up and sought out the numbers I used last time, but was obviously being lazy and grabbed the nearest resource.  I shall have to figure out my preferred decrease numbers and stick to them in the future.  All in all, though, I am declaring these socks a success.

Oh, and they match.

Well, the last couple of days have been busy! I have been printing, painting, packaging and posting, dipping, dyeing and ‘don’t knock that over!’-ing. I was up until 3am on Wednesday night, cleaning, skeining and broccoli green-ing, and after day two and all packages being in the post (and the first few having arrived!) I am ready to drop.

It has been a busy few days

The first few days of my shop have been a blast, all of my first customers have been so amazingly lovely and my friends so supportive, and I have my first feedback, which makes it so real.

When the postman rang the bell today I expected him to be carrying some blank base yarns for me to dye up, but they didn’t arrive. Deep down, I am a little relieved, as I am running on empty and really need a few hours to myself, but I have chores to complete, other work to do and lots of cleaning to work my arms away at, but I am super happy.

What I am absolutely determined to do today though is squeeze in a little knitting time. Just a smidgen. It’s been over a week since the almost imperceptible sound of gently clattering needles graced my ears, and my socks in progress are not progressing:

Now I am going to sit and knit a few rows. It will make me happy.

Eskimimi Knits is website of the month in the July 2010 issue of Let's Knit

A thread was started on The Blog Hub group on Ravelry yesterday, congratulating me on Eskimimi Knits being the Website of the Month in the July 2010 issue of Let’s Knit.  It was news to me (good news, of course) as I had absolutely no idea.  I did wonder if the poster was perhaps mistaken, but no, there it is along with an accompanying picture.

What a lovely thing to find out about so unexpectedly.  If you happen to have popped by this site after reading about it in the magazine, please may I welcome you to my little website.  If you have any questions just leave a comment or use the little contact Eskimimi web form and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

In other news the recently frogged socks have started to re-form into something far simpler and far more satisfying.

Knitting up at the speed of light these socks contain many of my favourite elements.  A good, hard-wearing yarn (the old faithful Kaffe Fassett Design line for Regia in this case), a super-stretchy turned cuff and and all-in-one heelflap/gusset construction.  Oh, and stripes. Big, bold blocks of manly hue, just perfect for a pair of socks for Craig.

densely knit stockinette socks - a simple, pleasurable knit.

The last time I posted pictures of my sock knitting a couple of readers asked why I knit two socks at a time on DPNs, rather than magic looping two socks on one needle, or on two long circulars.  Firstly I would say that I love knitting socks on DPNs.  I know that they send some knitters up the wall, but I love the small portability and the lack of any extra needle cord getting in my way.  I think magic-looping has revolutionised small-diameter knitting for many knitters, but I just find that the repositioning of the extra length of cord interrupts my flow of knitting too much.  The same is true of working on two circulars, which whilst my go-to method for closing the top of a hat when I don’t have the appropriate DPNs, still sees me juggling with four clattering needle tips and lengths of plastic cord.  When I knit on DPNs my knitting flows from one needle to the next in an almost seamless transition so that I can forget about the position of the needles and just enjoy the rhythm and progression of my knitting.

I don’t usually knit both socks at once, though, and certainly wouldn’t have bought two sets of DPNs purely for this reason, but I happened to have an unfortunate incident a while back when my sock needle set and I became separated by 300 miles.  I didn’t realise that the separation was to be temporary at the time, though, and feared my needles lost.  After a brief mourning period I bought myself a new, identical set, proving you can sometimes replace your best friend.

So, after a grand reunion, I have two identical sets of needles.  I can, if I wish, knit both socks at once.  I wouldn’t normally do so, but I have reached the point in my sock knitting where I feel confident enough to play with the numbers a little, to customise the fit of the heel and the numbers used in various other parts of the sock construction.  I could of course knit one sock, note down my adjustments and then use my notes to knit the second sock, but knitting them both at the same time negates the need to do this and stops me from the temptation to be lazy and rely on my (faulty) powers of recollection.  Any changes I make on one sock can be instantly replicated on the second so (hopefully) will result in a pair of socks identically knit.

I wanted to update my blog with a post that was a bit more pleasant than that which I had to post earlier, so I thought I’d update you on the progress of my Diversion socks, from the Knitty website.

Whilst knitting Nan’s neverending jumper I sought out a side project, a diversion, and these socks were as good as their name:

Diversion socks knitted in Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fasset

I think this pattern is a great use of self-striping yarns, is full of interest and produces a great finished item… but I didn’t enjoy knitting them.  I knit the endless short rows backwards and forwards so I didn’t have to turn the socks whilst working on them, I knit them together so they’d be complete at the same time, but I just didn’t enjoy the process of knitting them.

I put them down and picked them up.  Knit a few short row sections then abandoned them for other pursuits.  And then I gave in to the compulsion.

... and I frogged them

Yes, yes, I know. I promised you a cheerier post. This is one.

I no longer feel obliged to carry on knitting these socks, feeling like I must pick them up and knit on.  Every stitch I unravelled was liberating.  To so quickly undo something that was going to take me so long to complete, with the knowledge that I could turn that yarn into something that I enjoyed knitting was quite wonderful.

Now, after a few days of being in a knitting flump I am excited about and looking forward to whatever it might be that I choose to knit next.