Remember my grandiose Christmas present idea – the handknitted socks for my husband. I finished them. Really. All adverse conditions notwithstanding, e.g. me never having knitted a sock before, only having a week left to finish the socks, me knitting in combination style so nobody near me could help etc. I felt like a hero …
for about 5 minutes. After this I remembered that I must sew in the ends and I had a closer look at my socks. Oh dear (or better oh reindeer!) I made so many mistakes. Thankfully, I used a yarn in varying grey shades, so the mistakes are not too visible (in the dark or with closed eyes). But nevertheless, the socks were a hit. I finished one and a half for Christmas with a promise to get them done very soon. The fit is perfect (or the socks simply very stretchy :-D) and so I am happy with this adventure. So happy that I casted on a new pair.
For my husband’s socks I knitted the whole leg in a ribbing pattern of k3, p2. The heel I knitted in a slip stitch pattern to make it more resilient and the feet is in stockinette. The whole sock is knitted from the cuff down on dpns with a heel made with short rows. For my second pair I have chosen the same method (cuff downwards and on dpns) but as I wanted to make longer socks I knitted a shorter cuff in k2, p2 and then proceeded with stockinette. But I made another more noteworthy change: I used hand dyed yarn. In pink and brown – YEEEES!
Some time ago I dyed this one pink skein and loved it so much, that I never used it (do you know this effect? Liking something and wanting to spare it for something special?). And on the other hand, I had overdyed some ugly yellow coloured skeins with brown shades which were not so much nicer after the dyeing then before. This brown yarn was sleeping unloved in a box. As you perhaps have noticed the photo above you already know what I did: I combined them and I am currently knitting brown pink striped long socks. And I love the combination of colors. The brown no longer appears boring and the pink has its perfect special occasion I waited for: the first socks I knit for myself.
As an afterthought – needles for sock knitting
I remember that here are some very experienced knitters and some who are wanting to learn to knit socks. One intimidating aspect of sock knitting is the choice of tool. I have made mine very conservative with dpns. And although I am normally a loose knitter this worked fine. I used Addi colibri needles which are made out of metal with a slightly rough surface so that the stitches glide well but also stay on the needles. The needles have two different tips; one is more pointy than the other. The needles are 15 cm long which also worked fine for me. I could not imagine using longer needles, this I think would have ben awkward.
But there are so many more possibilities. Very common is the magic loop method. I use this method very often to knit sleeves in the round. The big difference for me is, that sleeves have much more stitches and I do not need to constantly pull out the magic loop. For socks with their tiny stitch count I find this method less pleasant than dpns.
As I like Addi needles I also tested out their craSy Trio. This are three needles with a very short flexible cable part in the middle. They function like normal dpns but because they are not stiff they should work much easier than dpns. I tried them out for sleeves and I think I found them ok. But for me it was no revolution in comparison to dpns. Perhaps it is different when knitting socks with them.
The last new thing here on the market are small circumference circular needles. The have one longer and one short needle. I only tried them in a shop and could not get the hang of it. I could not position my hands accurately to insert the needles into my stitches with this short cable… but I think I will give it another try someday.
If you have a marvellous technique or tool for sock knitting - please share, so that we all can conquer the world of sock knitting together <3
Thank you 
