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Aug. 17th, 2011 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avendya posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
knittingSocks! Someone tell me about socks!
Or, rather, tell me how one gets started on making them. I am a beginning knitter, about two feet into an Irish Hiking Scarf. I was playing around with some size 3 needles, and really, really liked them. It seems like socks are the most common thing made on small needles, and I would rather like a nice warm, fuzzy pair of socks. (Emphasis on warm -- my goal would be socks that can be worn in the house, instead of shoes, by a person with the world's worst circulation.)
DPNs look slightly terrifying, but they are probably manageable, right? Anyone want to give me pattern recs? The nicest looking pattern I've found is the skew sock, but oh dear god complicated stitchwork. (At least to a beginner.) A Coraline sock looks less terrifying, but also less pretty.
So: should I avoid socks for the time being, and knit a couple other things that use increases/decreases (the Saroyan scarf comes to mind), or try to make socks anyway? And, if I should knit socks: pattern recs?
Or, rather, tell me how one gets started on making them. I am a beginning knitter, about two feet into an Irish Hiking Scarf. I was playing around with some size 3 needles, and really, really liked them. It seems like socks are the most common thing made on small needles, and I would rather like a nice warm, fuzzy pair of socks. (Emphasis on warm -- my goal would be socks that can be worn in the house, instead of shoes, by a person with the world's worst circulation.)
DPNs look slightly terrifying, but they are probably manageable, right? Anyone want to give me pattern recs? The nicest looking pattern I've found is the skew sock, but oh dear god complicated stitchwork. (At least to a beginner.) A Coraline sock looks less terrifying, but also less pretty.
So: should I avoid socks for the time being, and knit a couple other things that use increases/decreases (the Saroyan scarf comes to mind), or try to make socks anyway? And, if I should knit socks: pattern recs?
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Date: 2011-08-20 07:26 pm (UTC)Were I to need to learn all over again? Two circs, worsted weight yarn, top down, plain stockinette with some ribbing at the top. You get the basic construction down, don't have any truly fiddly cast ons to deal with, and can relax into it instead of swearing at the yarn & needles.
If you do use DPNs, awesome! Though it probably feels like wrangling a porcupine, you're only ever using two needles at once, and the rest are just hangin'. Bamboo or wood are definitely more "grippy". I personally use Inox most of the time, as I have some issues with nickel, and the teflon coating on them makes the yarn slide way more than bamboo, but not as much as Addi Turbos.
After struggling with finishing socks for quite some time, this year I did a personal challenge to knit a pair a month. Simple stockinette with ribbing, but to a) use up stash, b) give me something very not stressful to zone out to, c) always have an easy travel knitting project with me and d) have lots of gifts to hand. It's funny - I'm using the same pattern & needles, and because of the varying yarn thicknesses, they're all turning out just a wee different in the sizing. It's awesome.
Socks are totally awesome, and can be as simple or complex as you like. I'm totally utilitarian in my tastes at this time, so I like mine as simple in lovely hand dyed yarns as you can get. That said, at some point, I'm sure I'll explore cables or lace or more interesting construction (I'm lookin' at you, Cat Bordhi), but for now, I'm just focusing on perfecting the simple. And really loving it.