Rubbish Day, Talk to Me About Socks!

[glinda]

I've had a rubbish day at work and I'm trying to distract myself in a positive fashion.

So...knitters of dreamwidth, if you would, please tell me about your favourite sock patterns. I have a bunch of sock wool and I kinda hate the pattern that came with the wool. I'm therefore looking for recommendations for better sock patterns. What are your favourites? Why do you love them? Do you prefer starting at the cuff or toe-up socks? Magic loop or four pins? And what on earth is an 'after-thought heel'?

Comments

[mommy]

I don't have a favorite pattern, but I do prefer toe-up to cuff-down because my cast-ons aren't as stretchy as my bind-offs. DPNs are my preferred needle option wherever possible.

Afterthought heels are where you ignore the heel and knit through the rest of the sock as a tube, then cut out and pick up stitches where the heel should be. It's not my preferred method, but it works well with a short-row heel pattern.

[hellkitty]

Have you tried the German cast on? It's quite similar to the long tail cast on (just one little tweak) and is super stretchy!

[mommy]

I usually use Jenny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off on cuffs. I've heard great things about the German cast-on, though!