Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Sock randomness

Before I started crocheting or knitting socks (about a year or so ago) I thought, like a lot of you who have never tried them yourselves, that it was too complicated to do but they really aren't. You look at even a basic pattern and think "I could never do that." That's exactly what I thought until I jumped right in and started making socks. I would wonder why all that stuff about heels, turning and gussets? There's a method to all that, actually.

The cuff/ankle portion is pretty straightforward-a stretchy tube, then comes the heel flap. That's just the part of the sock that goes from ankle to the bottom of your foot along your Achilles tendon. Turning it brings it around underneath your foot. Gussets-I have no idea why they're called that-just gets your stitches back to the original number you had on your needles/hook to begin with and finish shaping for the foot part then you're back to a stretchy tube again until you reach where your toes start. The toe decreases shape the sock to the ends of your feet so you don't have any leftover sock to bunch up in your shoe when you put them on.

Really, once you jump in and try it isn't all that scary. Sure, you'll mess up but didn't you mess up a lot when you were first learning to knit or crochet? Don't knock it unless you've tried it so much that it really is beyond you and I'd have to believe that would not happen all that often-about as often as a frog gets a haircut, really.

So what brought this on? Beats me, it was just something I was thinking about while I was crocheting on a pair of socks. Sure, I'm just using RH Soft Baby yarn but they're still socks. I don't wear socks that much as the weather warms up but this is the perfect time of year to be making them so I can have them for when the weather cools back off. Perhaps I'll even have been able to afford wool sock yarn for a few pairs by then. Yes, wool, it's actually a lot softer than you think it is, only a few kinds are scratchy and they don't use that for sock yarn. If you get the superwash wool/nylon sock yarn they're even machine washable so no hand washing.

So, all you sock virgins out there get your hooks/needles out and give it a try ;)

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