Soooo, should I try and knit some socks? i feel intimidated...

[jobnockey]

... but i feel i should try. How hard is it? I have only just got my head around using a circular needle and have always been a bit scared of usings DPNs...

Shall i give it a go or will it drive me round the bend? (I am a novice/intermediate knitter... trying to be more adventurous than hats and jumpers...)
Tips and encouragement/discouragment welcomed!

[jobnockey]

No I couldn't salvage it... needles to bloody small and fiddly to pick up the tiny stitches!!! I finished a hat which was for a chritmas prersent and just last night cast on my sock again. Doubtful i'll be able to knit a pair before christmas but if DP is lucky I'll be able to wrap up one sock with an IOU for the other one!

[Daisybell1]

Oh no, sock trauma for Job. I've developed lightning reactions for when dd is advancing towards my many work in progress

[TwoJackRussellsandababy]

Jobnockey did you manage to mend your sock? I have one in my huge mending pile which the dog chewed...I was going to wear them for only the second time when I found out his antics, at least its a plain vanilla sock so easily mended and I have leftover wool.

[FlamingoBingo]

Oh Jobnockey! :( is it salvagable, or do you have to start over? How frustrating!

I'm taking part in a KAL after Christmas on the UK Sock Knitters group on Ravelry. It may interest some of you. It's based on the thirteen full moons in the year, and is designed so there's a lot of creative flexibility for the knitters.

[MoaningMingeWhimpersAgain]

Oh No.

I have had too many bits of knitting ruined by the children. 4 inches of knitted up 4ply for a cardigan just taken off the needles, because they were 'helping me with the string'

[jobnockey]

WAAAAAH! had just got to heel turning point last.night. just got it out to start heel whilst ds watches dvd for a bit. STUPID TWAT that I am I left ds in room sat next to knitting whilst I got us a drink. I think you can guess what happened next....

[Viviennemary]

For my first pair of socks I used the Opal sock pattern. It was really straightforward I thought. And sometimes I do find patterns a bit confusing so I'm not great with all of them. I would recommend this one though.

[BigBirdisSaved]

Flamingo, it is the stopping and starting, tugging on the gap bit. I've done enough crafts to know what I like and what isn't going to be me fairly quickly.

Also I have a kid who will not leave things alone and dogs who tend to swipe things off surfaces. The loom is less likely to suffer from dropped stitches due to interference.

[FlamingoBingo]

Oh lovely! I forgot you'd linked already

[MrsHoarder]

I think I linked to my stocking pattern upthread, but here it is again: Ravelry stocking. There's not really much sewing: most of the weaving in is because I went a bit ott with stripes, and the duplicate stitch is only because I really want it to have his name one (pfb). Of course the only response I will get this year is he will try to eat it...

I love making my own clothes generally because I'm too long for everything the shops sell, so hoping by knitting my own socks I can have the pride in making something and then socks that fit.

[FlamingoBingo]

I hated the dpns at first too, BigBird. Stuck with it, though, and lvoe it now. I find the same with many patterns, but as soon as I'm used to them, they go much faster and I start really enjoying most of them

[BigBirdisSaved]

I tried with DPN and hated it, found it fiddly and ugh. I bought a sock loom to try and am much happier now.

[FlamingoBingo]

Yes, it's pretty much every pattern on the planet on there! Explore it, Sunny.

Blue - do you not do anything for the process ever? Or just for the product?

MrsHoarder - well done! What was the pattern? I've never made a sock I have to sew together - usually give up on patterns that have lots of finishing to do at the end

[sunnysunnyshine]

Ohhhhh - great, thanks mrs! I'll have a look. I've only looked at the online free patterns before...

[MrsHoarder]

Sunny I think you've misunderstood ravelry: this is (I think) all the patterns in Socks by Crissie Day. So you can read other people's comments on the patterns.

Its not just the free online patterns!

And I've pretty much finished my stocking. Just got to finish off weaving in ends, duplicate stitch DS's name on and sew the heel flaps together

[sunnysunnyshine]

It's not a pattern from ravelry, but from a book. I think I'm just going to give up on this one and start again with a different pattern altogether.

Can anybody recommend a V simple pattern that uses 4mm dpns? I'll start looking on ravelry now... Like you say, at least I can read any notes and contact the author if need be.

[bluebayou]

Coo , admire you , you go girl . I am afraid I just go down shops and buy a pair . Cheaper , with the price of wool .

[FlamingoBingo]

If it's the socks www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-clog/people?status=&group=&photoless=0&photoless=1&search= it seems you're not the only one worrying about the one-sided heels!

You could either look up a short-row heel tutorial on youtube, or designer www.ravelry.com/people/knittingnotetimes seems to post on Ravelry fairly often - you could message her via there and ask her.

[FlamingoBingo]

It may still be an error. Definitely check Ravelry for the pattern notes. what's the name of the pattern?

[sunnysunnyshine]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes it's short row shaping...

It's a pattern from a book called 'Socks' by Chrissie Day I picked up in Hobbycraft.

It says:
Row1: k19, wrap 1, turn (20 sts)
Row2: p19, wrap 1, turn
Repeat rows 1 & 2, working 1 fewer every 2 rows until 11 sts rem on needle.

This probably makes perfect sense but I just can't get it.

I understood that by working 1 fewer, I wrap & turn 1 stitch earlier. So this has to be at the end of the row. In which case if this is every 2 rows, then it's every other row but then it would be on the same side...?

I'll have a look at ravelry and the other forum mentioned to see if other patterns make more sense and shed some light on this. I'm sure it's something really obvious that I'm missing...

[FlamingoBingo]

I find it good to look up a pattern on ravelry, then look at the notes of those who've made project pages of it. You often get all the errata and explanations of odd instructions explained through doing that.

[FlamingoBingo]

That's a short row heel then, isn't it? Same as yarn over? Odd that it says at the end of every 2nd row. Is it a free pattern? Can you copy and paste the actual instructions? Or link to the pattern?

[MoaningMingeWhimpersAgain]

w&t is usually wrap and turn.

So 1 st less each row means, for example,
sl1, p11
Sl1, k11
Sl1 p10
Sl 1 k10 there should be a k2tog or a p2tog at the ends of some of those I think, the 2 together is one of the stitches you are working plus another from across the gap, IYKWIM

[FlamingoBingo]

That does sound very unclear. What does 'w&t' mean? What sort of heel are you doing? Do you have a link to the pattern?

[Viviennemary]

That seems like a very unclear instruction. What pattern are you using. If nobody on here can help, I recommend Phoenix Knitting Forums. Somebody will always answer a question and they have a whole section on sock knitting.