My right wrist has crapped out on me, so sock production has halted for a few days (yeah, yeah I know, if I was knitting continental I probably wouldn’t have this problem. Shut up)
In the meantime, I’m copping out with a meme (I pulled this off Amy‘s blog t’other day):
1. What’s your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word “yarn” is singular. Just pick one. I know it’s hard.)
At the moment, I’m really loving TOFUtsies; it’s so cool and silky to the touch, and a real pleasure to knit with. My experience of sock yarns is not as wide and varied as I might wish, but I’m trying new yarns whenever I can (if the Aussie dollar stays nice and strong a little past Christmas, I’ll be hitting the Loopy Ewe for a binge that will make Ben Cousins look like a Mormon).
2. What’s your favorite type and brand of sock needle?
KnitPicks Classic Circulars (I lurve the Magic Loop!), of which I have several in various sizes. Most are the nickel plated, but I have a couple of Harmony woods, and they are delicious!
3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down or sideways?
I’m a toe-up girl by preference, but now and then I go top-down just to mix things up a little. I’ve tried the sideways thing once, for my wide-footed 4yo, and it was an unmitigated disaster. For the full saga, see here.
4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?
One at a time. I have made two at a time a goal for SSoS though, so stay tuned.
5. What’s your favorite toe and why?
I like a Provisional short-row toe. It’s easy, neat, and not too fiddly.
6. Favorite heel?
Reverse-gusset, with a slip-stich heel flap.
7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?
I have a great deal of difficulty staying focussed on a plain stocking-stitch sock. Bores me to tears. Given my druthers, I like a textured or lacy pattern with an easily memorised 10 or 12 row repeat. That way I can pick up my sock at odd moments of the day and knock off a repeat of the pattern, which gets the sock out of the way without too much angst.
8. Who do you knit the most socks for?
The one person who I have made more socks for than anyone else? That would be me. I have knit myself three-and-a-half pairs. I have knit nine other pairs of socks, which have been more-or-less evenly distributed between my kids, husband, parents, in-laws and my Sockapalooza 4 pal.
9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?
It’s never come up.
10. Do you only wear handknit socks?
It’s one of my goals for SSoS.
Bonus Question: What pattern, if any, is your basic “I-just-need-a-pair-of-socks” sock pattern based on? Do you keep it written down or memorized?
2.5mm circulars, Magic Loop, 64 stitches (or thereabouts). Provisional short row toe, knit till you reach that little bony part on the top of your instep, increase up to 92 stitches for the gusset, reverse gusset heel (like this one), keep going till you’re nearly out of yarn, do some rib, cast off (I like Lucy Neatby’s tubular bind-off). As mentioned in Item # 7, I like to have some sort of stitch pattern, and I do still require a cheat-sheet for the heel-turn.
Tomorrow, I will post pics of the sock that has stopped me in my tracks. It’s really honking me off, as I only have one 8-round pattern repeat to go, and the ribbing and I’m done.
Kiss My Frog 