When everyone was going on about toe-up socks and two-at-a-time socks, I wanted nothing to do with them. Maybe because I was supposed to fall in love with them like everyone else. I was the same way about the movie "Titanic", all of my friends seeing it multiple times and breathlessly proclaiming that "you just have to see it!" or "you'll absolutely love it!". It made me all the more determined not to see it and I never have.
Well, I'm growing my skills as a knitter and designer, so I finally took up the gauntlet of toe up socks. When I saw the free challenge coming up, I said why not! Katalin Beth is a designer and yarn dyer from Australia, who in her infinite wisdom decided to share an easy toe-up sock tutorial with a few hundred of us. The tutorial and other designs are now available in her Ravelry store and also on her new online store at http://www.katalinbethdesigns.com.
I picked Cascade 220 Superwash Paints from my stash in a nice green. Day 1 involved a nice video where we learned Judy's Magic Cast On and Magic Loop knitting. I had been doing my own version of Magic Loop for a while, so it was nice to learn the official style. We only had to knit the toe, so how hard could it be. Wrong.....that cast on drove me crazy for the first couple of tries. Finally nailed it though and boy was I glad, because that's the crux of the whole thing since it is toe-up. We also had a live streaming video, where she taught two other cast on techniques that are suitable for toe-up socks. To the right you can see my lovely sock toe.
Day 2 involved foot measurement for perfect fit, knitting the foot section
and preparing the set up for the Afterthought Heel. Heavy knitting day, but I felt up to the task.
The following picture was taken before I did the set up.
Once the set up is done you continue knitting the leg of the sock, including the cuff and bind it off! I thought that part was crazy, because it looks like a tube sock. If you look closely at the next picture showing the "tube sock", you'll also see a different color in the middle of the sock. That's a row of provisional stitches, where the Afterthought Heel gets added. This was on Day 3. More videos and live streaming helped ever so much. We learned the Stretchy Bind Off and Jogless Finish, as well.
Days 4 and 5 involved the Afterthought Heel, which once you get past the place where you take out the provisional stitches, really isn't as scary as it sounds! The Kitchener Stitch grafting method (everyone's favorite) is well explained again in regular video and in the live stream as well.
The time conversion for Australia, was the one of the more difficult bits believe it or not. They are a day ahead of us there, so some of us couldn't make the live streams, but they were available for replay. We had time over the weekend to catch up or move ahead, if we wanted. I moved ahead and knit my 2nd sock, so that I wouldn't fall victim to the dreaded 2nd sock syndrome. So here are my socks..... they are soft and fit like a dream!
Katalin just released a new toe-up sock pattern called Mariner. She will be having a KAL starting March 8th, 2017 and many of us from the challenge will be joining her there. It should be a blast! If you would like to see her beautiful yarns and/or patterns look for her at the above links.
Next week, I'll be Conquering Cables with Amanda Leah. Her Facebook Group is Knitventure Society, where she'll be teaching us about cables, how to fix errors and other tidbits of knowledge. Oh, and there are prizes! I like the opportunity to learn and have a chance at prizes just for knitting!
Thanks as always for reading. Leave a comment to let me know how you like the series on challenges.
