Socks problems!

Looking at this photo don't my socks look impressive?

Well so I thought too but all is not well with them.

Here I could just do a blog post and not tell anyone what I have done, but whats the point of that? Its not about bragging about "Oh look at this, I made this etc etc" Its about sharing the truth with all the ups and downs that come along with like minded people who understand the frustrations as well as the joys of crafting, even when some do not do the same crafts, most people get this kind of problem.

I lost my 2.5mm needles when I started to knit these. Well no, I began with a straight cast on on 3mm then did the ribbing (mostly) using a Addi Sock Wonder circular. I do not get on with these really. Maybe because my hands always cramp and hurt because I have chronic arthritis but I thought I would try them out, hence paying out loads for both a 3mm and a 2.5mm. Anyway I own them so decided to attempt to knit with them. They are very good if you want to carry knitting around with you - much better than double points for that, but I am slow knitting with them and prefer the double pointed needles, despite every now and then I end up dropping my knitting off one end or the other. 

 

Part way down the ribbing I swapped to 2.5mm double pointed needles. All was well. Then one evening I miss-placed two of my needles. Still have not found the things. So I looked through my stash of needles, many of which belonged to my Great Great Aunts, so very old imperial things. I do not use them usually just keep them because they are "heirlooms" from my familly/ancesters. I used my needle gauge to check the size etc (- its obviously wrong!)

 

And then I got along with knitting my sock on what are very old, going rusty, needles. The rusty bit is why I decided stuff it and bought two new sets from Love Knitting because it turns out Drops Budget range sell for £1.70 so two sets is sensible bearing in mind I cannot find two of the damned things anywhere. So now I have 10 double points in 2.5mm so that should sort me out for a while.

 

I carry on knitting with my ancient needles whilst waiting for the new ones to arrive - the last generation to use these died in the early 60s! 

 

Try on sock. Its a bit tight but I assumed I had pulled the fairisle a bit too much and it does fit so carry on. New needles arrive and I swap over to them. Lovely by the way. Drops budget range, I definitely recommend. Nicest needles I have had in yonks. Aluminium so will only suit you if you prefer metal needles. I do.

 

As I knit I realise the foot part of my sock is much more stretchy than the top. I come to the conclusion my needle gauge I used to check the needles is out and I actually must have knitted with what equates to 2.25mm. According to Love Knitting thats an old size 13 and there is not actually an imperial equivalent to a 2.5mm. See here if you need the chart. I never realised there was no imperial needle to match a 2.5mm till now so this is all a learning curve.

Well I reckon I can live with a slightly tighter sock top so continue anyway. I can get it on and even wear a thinner pair underneath which is important to me because I have Raynauds Syndrome so will need two pairs a lot in the UK. 

 

I start sock two.

Disaster!

 

If you look at the photo here you can see my problem:

 I have 8 rows of diamond patterns ( or 4 if you count actual repeats rather than patterns etc)  to get to the heel, but on sock two to get the same size I only need 6 rows of diamonds (or 3 total repeats). You can also see relatively clearly the tension is totally different on the two socks. The right sock is much much tighter knit with far smaller stitches. I realised for sure what was wrong about 10pm (22:00) last night. 

 

Though the above really demonstrates how changing a needle size changes stitch size and shows very well how to alter your tension to fit a pattern should you want to. I unfortunately checked the tension at the start before I lost my needles!

 

So all is not well here. I am not going to knit sock two with my imperial 2.25mm ( 13s) but instead opt for a more comfy sock and undo and reknit sock one. 

On the upside I should finish sock two faster than sock one - unless I make it a bit longer, which I might do actually, but thats not following the pattern. But then the KAL finished weeks ago now so it really does not matter because I am far behind everyone else anyway. I love this pattern though, must admit. Its a bit tricky but thats a good thing. 

 

And in the end its not about being in a race to make socks as fast as other people do. I know one person doing the Kal completed 3 pairs in the time it took most people to complete just one pair. Well me - I will be taking considerably longer! 

 

But the aim is to complete a nice wearable comfy pair of socks and make them well so thats what I intend to do so yes sock one has to be undone. And knitted again on the right sized needles. 

Once you accept a problem it actually becomes easy to rectify it. 

I have been considering un-doing these from the top, but I know thats difficult. For some reason the stitches twist on the ribbing so unless I cut off the ribbing and just undo the body of the top of the sock, it will not work and I might just as well just undo the entire sock and start it again I think. And make it right - I have yet to decide which way I am going here I must admit but experience tells me you have problems if you undo it from the cast on edge.

 

And of course here I also learn a very valuable lesson. Besides having the patience to wait just 2 days to get some more needles its really not a good idea even if you have a modern needle gauge to check by, to use unmarked, very old needles. Its just a waste of time and effort. I should have waited for the post to arrive with my lovely new needles. 

 

On the upside I now know not all imperial needles have a metric equivalent and I never realised that until now. It might come in useful with some of the very old imperial patterns I own should I decide to knit them.

Well have a great week and if nothing else I hope you might take this blog post and see how other people ( in this case me!) have such silly disasters and maybe it might make someone smile knowing they are not alone in stupid behaviour and should carry on knitting/ crochetting or whatever else because you can get there in the end and its all about learning. That has to be good, to keep on learning. And I will finish these socks I promise.

Take care and thanks for reading about my problems with knitting socks,

Have a great week

Bracken