smitten with toe-up socks.

As a knitter, I like to stick with what I know because that’s A) easier and B) more comfortable. However, lately I’ve been making a lot of socks, so I figured I’d try some different techniques to prevent myself from getting bored with sock knitting. In the past I’ve shied away from toe-up patterns because they always seemed fussy. My first pair of toe-up socks was a pair of knee socks [Ravelry link]. I didn’t enjoy the experience–I’m pretty sure I used a provisional cast on, which to this day is a technique I still don’t like. Also, I had trouble with the heels because I didn’t knit the wraps properly. Having several more years of knitting experience, I figured I’d give toe-up another go.

Wendy’s Fingering Weight, Toe-Up Socks with Gusset Heel in String Theory Caper Sock, colorway Atlantis
@ Ravelry

I had much better success with these! The toe was simple and the gusset wasn’t too complicated. However, although the gusset was interesting to knit, these socks don’t have heel flaps and I definitely prefer heel flaps because they fit better on my feet.

Caper Sock is really nice to work with–super duper soft and cushy. I doubt I’ll wear these all the time, though, because I don’t want them to pill too much. I think they might, due to the nature of the yarn. I have more Caper Sock in my stash–including a shawl in progress–and I think it’s much more suitable for shawls.

Next up is another pair of toe-ups:

Lacy Ribs Socks in Fleece Artist Merino 2/6, colorway Glacier
@ Ravelry

This is another Wendy Knits pattern, but the socks are different for me because I knit them using Magic Loop! Like toe-up, I’ve avoided ML in the past–I liked my dpns just fine and didn’t see the need to switch. However, I now see the utility in ML. I was less worried about my stitches falling off the needles since I used a circ with a pretty long cable (40″). Also, there was less chance of laddering since the stitches were only divided between two needles instead of three or four. I’m not ready to turn in my dpns just yet–in fact, I’ve started another pair of socks that I’m knitting on dpns and cuff-down at the moment. But for my next toe-ups, I’m going to use ML again.

As for the pattern itself, I found it very easy and memorized the lace repeat quickly. I’m also very fond of the heel flap, for reasons mentioned above. I’m definitely a bigger fan of Wendy’s patterns now, having knit a couple and enjoyed them. They’re well-written and easy to understand.

Fleece Artist is one of my favorite manufacturers–their base yarns are nice and their colors are really great. However, with these socks, I found myself thinking that the colors looked nicer in the skein. I don’t dislike the end result, but I thought the colors would interact differently once knitted up. Also, curiously, one of my socks is noticeably darker than the other–even though both socks came from the same skein. That was kind of weird, but it’s only really visible on the foot/sole portion, so I’m not overly bothered by it.

As for current WIPs…I just started a shawl, but I’m sure I’m not bored with socks yet since I’ve got another one on the needles.