Not so great socks

Behold....not very nice socks!

Pattern: Hellchick's Toe Up sock pattern

Yarn: Regia 4 ply Jaquard (colourway 5175), bought in Bad Gastein, Austria, far too hastily - I liked the colours but didn't look at the little picture on the back that showed what pattern it would knit up into. In fact, it is interesting how much harder buying yarn in German is.

Needles: 2.75mm aluminium dpns.

I really don't like these much - I think the colours are lovely (this pic has them about right, they are quite muted and wintery), but I don't like the pattern. Fun to knit up, but not for me. Interestingly, I decided to rib the legs and I like this much better - breaking the pattern up into more random looking stripes suits me better!

These are my first toe-up socks, and there are bits I love about this way of knitting socks, and bits that are just no good.

First the good bits -

I love this toe! I did a crochet cast on, and knit two rows either side to start with, and I love how there are no seams or knots or anything around my toes! It is so so comfy, and I don't feel like my toes are going to poke out through the sides. The decreases are nice & neat, and the whole thing works. Also, it is super handy to be able to knit without a pattern - just knitting to fit my foot worked heaps better, and these socks fit (unlike my other socks!). They are great.

No good bits -

a first short-row heel, and it is not pretty. I don't think I fully understood the double-wrap thing, and ended up with reasonable holes, leading up to a giant hole (which I have fixed in some sort of fashion). You can still see the smaller holes here. They are ok - nothing to worry about too much, but I much prefer the heel-flap method - looks so much tidier. I have done a bit more research and found a number of ways to try & tidy up short-row heels, and it seems that this problem is not limited to me, so I will probably try again one day. The only other thing I don't like is casting off around the calf - the cast on is much more comfy than having a slightly tighter cast off - although I cast off pretty loose. Anyway, I think I can live with them, and I would really only wear them around the house or under boots anyway.

But I think that from now on it will be solid or striped sock yarn for me. Interestingly, Simon is even slightly interesting in having a pair now...he will just have to wait for the next projects to finish! Am going to swatch for Anemoi mitten gauge today - wish me luck!