As I age (gracefully I hope) it occurred to me that I might be less mentally sharp or not as quick on my feet as I once was. This may be true or a result of terrible new sleep patterns, but I figured I oughta try and make the most of what brain power I have now. Just FYI, I used to solve problems quickly, in minutes but while I still solve them, it may be the next day or a week later. Frustrating. I heard that knitting was good for the brain, so why not start there to sharpen the ol' stick. Thanks to Youtube, our channel of choice these days, I kept seeing vids on German Short Rows as a feature of sock heels. A lovely French lady demoed how to do it and I thought, I should learn this. I began on a day when I had no caregiver for Dave, so I had all the time he was napping to work on learning this technique. I should add that my small knitting group is very interested in learning to knit socks and I wanted to give them options to try, once we all stop fooling around and get serious. As if!
In all honesty, it took me ALL DAY to learn this technique. Not because it is difficult, but because I think I already know everything (major personality fault) and I had to pay better attention to the directions I had been skimming over in haste. Geesh. Luckily I am not adverse to ripping out knitting and starting over, because that is what it took to slow me down long enough to actually get the point of how it is done. And Ta Da! I have it mastered. It is a very nice heel which can be done toe up or cuff down and looks just about the same. It feels nice on the foot (although I made these socks too long for my size 7.5 foot) I am sure they would be comfy to wear. I also decided to get fancy and do a cable pattern, which is lovely but unless you wear sandals, will not be seen. O well. 
The toe I used is the easy toe from Knitty.com. Scroll all the way to the bottom of that link. And I decided to get even fancier and make the whole sock on two circular needles which was way fun.
I'm feeling very brainy now. O, and I should add, that as a long time watcher and re-watcher of Law and Order (even the UK version) GSR also stands for gun shot residue. O my.
Amazing! I've never been brave enough to even attempt a sock and I've been knitting for 60 years (very basic stuff). As always, Melody, I tip my needles to you!
ReplyDeleteThese are the socks I have been making, minus the cable. I am going to start trying some patterns and then maybe some colorwork. But for now I'm keeping it simple. I learned off YouTube. I'm doing toe up, two socks at a time. I use the Judy's Magic Cast On (toe up socks), Jo Torr's The Perfect Sock (it uses that short row heel) and Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. I need to do two at a time or I'll never finish the second. I love the two up as I hated using the Kirshner stitch to stick up the toes and the cuff of the sock was always tight. I've used these three patterns four times now, finish a pair last night and am about to continue on another pair I already started.
ReplyDeleteI love your ribbing and cable docks. My next patter is going to be a checkerboard of two rows alternating knit two, purl two, to make alternating blocks. I did this for a hat and really like the pattern and think it will do well for socks.
The thing I like most about these socks is I can choose the yarn and so far my socks have been oh so soft and comfy. I have no idea how long they will last but I hope to have so many I can rotate them all so they all last a lot longer.
Happy Socking.