Pattern: My toe up sock recipe with an afterthought heel.
Yarn: His - Quaere Fibre Self Striping Super Sock in 'Let's Dress Crazy'
Hers - Quaere Fibre Sparkle Sock in 'Shalom'.
Ravelry Project pages here and here.
I'm not certain where I first saw this sock yarn, somewhere on Instagram for sure, but I do know that the second I saw it I was in love! Just look at those colours. Look at how many stripes there are!!! 20 stripes in each colourway. I immediately picked the bluer skein for myself but after knitting them both I think that I might actually prefer the more red 'Let's Dress Crazy' colourway. It's perfection!
I ordered this yarn as little treat for myself in December. I cast on for my own pair on Christmas day and then cast on for Chris' on January 4th, his birthday! These socks were a pleasure to knit and I've been stalking the Quaere Etsy shop ever since I finished these because I definitely need more awesome striped socks like this.
Taking these photos was quite comical because though it looks like we're just lounging in front of the fire it actually took quite a bit of acrobatics on my part to get this to look at all natural. Chris' legs are literally twice as long as mine, when we lounge my feet are usually somewhere around his knees, not toe to toe. I wish there had been a third person to take a photo of us taking photos of our feet! One of the details that these cute photos doesn't capture is the fact that each pair of socks is exactly identical. Because I have small feet, there is always ample yardage in a skein of sock yarn to play with. I'm never worried about running out of yarn or having to fudge something in order to match up the stripes. But for a larger pair like Chris' the planning is a bit more important because his pair took up the entire skein of yarn. I have a trick and it's really easy.
Totally identical socks in progress!
A toe-up sock with an afterthought heel is the best way to maximize yardage in my opinion. The heel will take exactly the same amount of yarn as the toe, so once you've knit your toe you can count the number of rows (or stripes) that it took and plan on having that much yarn left for your heel. I would probably budget an extra stripe just to be safe. Here it is all broken down for you:
Chris sock features 20 coloured stripes, the toe used 6 stripes, so I budgeted 7 stripes for the heel. I wanted 8 stripes for the ribbing. The 20 stripe sequence is repeated 8 times per skein, so I had 4 repeats per sock to work with. I knit the sock toe-up and after having knit 3 full repeats and then 5 more stripes (leaving 15 stripes left - 8 for the cuff and 7 for the heel) I started the ribbing and worked it for 8 stripes. Then I used the 7 remaining stripes for the heel. I had just a few yards to cut out before being right back at the beginning of my 20 stripe sequence and ready to cast on for the second identical sock.
Full disclosure, what super funny about the fact that I'm making a big deal about these socks being completely identical is that I accidentally knit 2x2 ribbing on the first sock and 1x1 ribbing on the second! Chris didn't notice and I actually think it's kind of endearing so I have no plans on ripping and re-knitting either of the cuffs.