Somewhere along the way, 2016 became the summer of socks. I didn't really mean for it to happen, but it suddenly became "cast one off, cast one on"...and three pairs later, my whole family had hand knit socks.
Of course, as it usually does, it started with some yarn. Some yarn that I bought for myself, but thought of my mom every time I looked at it. Firewood by madelinetosh is a gorgeous combo of purples and gold, which for some reason, I always associate with my mom. So a week before Mother's Day, I decided to cast on some Mother's Day socks.
My dad measured her shoe and I guessed at how long the foot should be and I failed miserably...they were just a bit too saggy. Luckily, they fit my dad perfectly. And so my Mother's Day socks went to my father.
My mom and I set off to Tolt Yarn and Wool to pick up some more yarn for a second pair of Mother's Day socks and wouldn't you know it...that woman can pick a mean color combo. Which meant of course I needed a near-matching pair for myself. And Mother's Day socks for me and my mom were born.
I love the pattern for the Hermione's Everyday Socks, but it's written cuff down for fingering yarn...neither of which I was doing (but then again, let's be honest, I also really just love Hermione...). I definitely prefer a good afterthought heel and had already committed to DK yarn, so I combined a few patterns into one.
I used this pattern for toe-up socks to shape the toe. I cast on 8 stitches initially, and then altered knit rows and increase rows until I had 48 stitches on my needles (52 stitches for my dad's socks).
I then started working in the pattern across the top of the foot and knit stockinette across the bottom of the foot. The texture is created by the following pattern:
Knit one row
*Purl 1, Knit 3*
Knit one row
*Knit 1, Purl 1, Knit 2*
When the foot length was 2" shorter than my foot, I put in the waste yarn for my afterthought heel.
For the leg of the sock, I worked in the knit/purl texture pattern around the entire leg, until it was the length I wanted and finished with a ribbed cuff. After picking up the afterthought heel, I knit a few rows and then alternated knit rows with decrease rows until there were 24 stitches left. A little bit of Kitchener stitch and you're good to go!
These socks were quick, easy, and painless. For someone who has terrible second sock syndrome, I'm pretty impressed that I knocked out six socks in under a month. Now if I can just keep up that momentum on sweater sleeves...
