Sideways

I got an amazing amount of work done on this pair of socks. I had a lot of sitting time -- it's spring break, it's been raining, and our niece and nephew were here for a sleepover this weekend, so I got a lot of needle time whilst watching Pippi Longstocking. Keep your eyes open if you watch this movie -- it has a knitting scene!

It's been good to get out of the knitting box for this project. I've had to look at socks in a different way and was forced to try new things. The biggie for me was the sideways grafting at the toe. Rather than grafting the top to the bottom, the sides are grafted together creating a solid horizontal band across the toe. It feels a little strange on my toes, but it's very appealing, visually.

There were other odd details. For instance, there is a little row of purls down the heel flap. Not sure why -- a way of keeping track of the center of the flap? Also, rather than pairing the k2t right-slanting decreases with ssk, these socks paired the k2t with s1 k1 psso. I've never really used that left-slanting decrease before, and I think it mirrors k2t better. Why don't more people use this in patterns? Maybe I just don't get around enough, patternwise. I may start substituting this for ssk more often.

Overall, I like this pattern. The sock fits quite well. I'm not sure about the tweed yarn, though. I think it would have worked better in browns or greens. This slate colored yarn with bright red and yellow bits is a bit much. It looks better from a distance than it does close up. But as yarn, it knits up nicely.

Now on to the second sock. The instructions don't mention knitting a second one, and the name of the pattern is Gentleman's Fancy Sock (singular). I'll go out on a limb and make a second one -- because that's the kind of daredevil knitter I am.