Monday, June 16, 2008

Helix Socks are Finished!

The Mustard Stripe Helix Socks are finished. Here is the first one, posing in the garden.



There are, of course, two.



I really like the helix method of striping – saves one from struggling with the infamous "jog." But it has its limitations. For starters, you can only do one row of each color. If you want a two-row stripe, you need to add another ball of yarn. I found it challenging enough to cope with three little yarn balls. Four might be acceptable, but no more.

I had a lot of fun making these socks and learned a lot too. Some items of interest --

The Cast On – I used the long-tail cast on for both socks. For the first, I cast on in one color, then added each of the others as I got to its section. For the second, I cast each of the three colors on to a separate needle, then joined up (and joined up and joined up). I think you can see the difference in this picture. Either way, though, the top flared out in an unappealing fashion. Might have been the K5, P3 rib. I've used that rib before, but with a K2, P1, K2, P3 cuff. Probably should have done the same here, but I was so befuddled by the color management that I forgot. In the end I did some sewing around the top edge that succeeded in pulling in the flare.


The Toe – I decided to do a round toe, because I simply couldn't imagine how to sort out three ends of yarn while doing a Kitchener stitch. The concept was good, and I had no trouble pulling up the final stitches with the last color worked, maneuvering the other two colors through, and poking all three to the inside. But for some inexplicable reason, I decided to continue the ribbing on the instep for a while, executing those decreases on the K5 panels. Looks stupid. See the pink line? That's where the round toe starts. I could/should have either done a regular round toe in stockinette or done the instep decreases on the purl stitches. Brain was apparently not engaged.


The Heel – The heel is fine. No technical problems. I did, however, make this project more exciting than it needed to be by selecting the yarn of which I had the LEAST amount for the heel.

Often impromptu projects are more entertaining than those more carefully planned. Although these little guys fall short of perfection, we had great times together and I'm going to enjoy wearing them.

6 comments:

Susan Luni said...

Very nice. I especially like the dark brown heels. Good thing you had enough yarn for them.

SNOWBIRD said...

I think the socks turned out great!

Darcys Knotty Knitter said...

Lovely color so summer:)Hugs Darcy

Marjorie said...

Those look so nice. That is the kind of striping I like! Subtle and regular.

Do you carry the three colors up on the inside of the sock? That is, how exactly did you change colors on every row?

Delighted Hands said...

Delightful results-so sunny yet subtle-thanks for walking us through the work-I like the toe, it doesn't look silly at all!

Leigh said...

I really like the way these turned out. Excellent use of various colored yarns. It was interesting to go back and read the Helix post, and see your problem solving in action. The results paid off handsomely.