For the month of July, I picked up knitting again. I have knit before. It has been a while. So why is it new? I tried socks on circular needles. I have never knit sock or used a circular needle.
A friend of mine is a wonderful knitter. She loaned me a book on “Socks From The Toe Up.”
I went to a local yarn store and purchased some yummy blue washable wool yarn and two circular needles. Me being me thought I would be able to take that hank of yarn and easily turn it into ball. Boy was I wrong. If you have never done this, please ask for assistance. I spent 4 – 5 hours unraveling the mess I made of that yarn.
Following the instruction for Judy’s Magic Cast-On, it took me 4 -5 tries to get the appropriate number of stitches cast on the needles. Then it took another 4 -5 tries to knit the first row. I was able to knit up to the heal turn. But not without issues. I kept dropping stitches. Somehow added a stitch. But now I need help figuring out the instructions.
I reached out to my friend Katie again. She guided me through the instructions on how to complete the heel turn and the heel flap. It is a little tricky. The pattern I am following calls for a slip stitch heel. I have never worked a slip stitch pattern. I like the way it looks. The reasoning behind using the slip stitch is to give more strength and thickness to the back of the heel for better wear.
With help from the internet and YouTube videos, I finished off with a Russian Bind Off. I was hoping this would not be too tight as I have large calves, but it is a bit tight. I’m glad I didn’t make the sock too tall. Does anyone know how to loosen the bind off?
Now to start the other sock.
C
Update: I took out most of the bind off. I proceeded with binding off again. This time I used a larger needle. Now it’s much better.
Go up at least one needle size for the bind off
Yeah, I just did that. But I went up two sizes. I wish I had figured that out before. Taking the bind off out was not fun.