Pattern: A basic toe-up sock recipe. See bellow for the details.
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock in 'Havana'.
Ravelry project page here.
Hey, I love a good yarn club as much as the next guy, and I've joined a couple over the years. One that never disappoints is the TFA Year In Colour Club. Ha! Just kidding. That's not what this post is about (though it is an awesome club!) I've joined two different Hedgehog Fibres Clubs and Beata consistently comes up with amazing, super interesting colourways. This skein of her Havana colourway is a great example of her work. Really interesting, no pooling, spot on.
After much consideration (and a failed attempt at a more patterned sock) I knit this skein into the simplest pair of toe-up socks. For years I only ever knit socks top-down with a gusset heel. But then I started knitting with self-striping sock yarns and really felt like toe-up was better suited to them because I had more control over how the stripes fell. And for some reason, even though these aren't self striping, I still opted to knit them toe-up... maybe I'm a convert!? My mom keeps asking me for my toe-up sock pattern, it's less of a pattern really and more just a series of links that I use:
Cast On :: I use Judy's Magic Cast On - link to a tutorial on Knitty, link to a Cat Bordhi youtube video.
I typically cast on 24 stitches for a pair of socks for myself and will increase to 64 stitches. For socks for my dad or Chris I'll cast on 28 stitches and increase to 72 stitches. I usually use size 2.25mm needles for socks.
Heel :: for self striping sock yarns I really prefer an afterthought heel because it's the only way to get those perfect stripes. For this pair of socks I used the Fish Lips Kiss Heel and though I think it's fine, I'm not obsessed with it. It's easy to work but then creates this weird ridge down the middle of the heel that I don't love. Here's another tutorial for your classic short row heel (this is the heel I always used before all the the Fish Lips Kiss buzz).
Cast Off :: the real beauty of toe up socks is that you can maximize every last yard since fitting your foot happens early on in the process and then you just knit the leg and cuff as long as you want! No need to play the yardage guessing game. The only important thing is to bind off using a very elastic bind off so your sock will easily slide on. I use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off - link to a tutorial on Knitty, link to a Cat Bordhi youtube video.
And there you have it! A list of links for a perfectly simple toe-up sock.
