Adventures in Sock Knitting

Behold, the most exciting pair of socks I've knit.  I've been going by patterns and doing as I was told, but these were the first that I felt confident enough to go off book.

I really set out to make those bigger socks.  They're a Christmas gift for my grandmother, but because Christmas is such a crunch time for handmade presents I didn't have time to knit them.  Instead, I gave her the yarn, then asked for it back so I could immediately cast on some socks.  I made them with a really great pattern from On The Needles.  It's the best pattern for just learning how to do it.  And when you use the sock number method, the socks really do fit without any guesswork.

When I finished with Grammy's socks I had leftover yarn that I figured would be enough to make a second pair for Isaac.  And since I had a finite amount of yarn, I did a toe-up sock.  I've had a pair of socks in the works from the book Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes, but that meant my super-long circular needle was in use, and all I had was my double points.

So I just combined the toe-up method in the book, with the sock number method of the On The Needles pattern, and voila!

The other bit of excitement was with the rib knit.  I've never been able to get it to look nice.  See that gaping knitting on the right sock?  That's how it always looks, but I learned the secret to nice ribbing... twisting and untwisting your purl stitches!  The left sock turned out much nicer, and is so much stretchier.

So that's my last Christmas present crossed off the to-do list!  I might start working on some generic handmade presents just to have them on hand for next Christmas.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!