First Socks: The Journey Begins
Posted on May 23, 2007 in Knitting & Crafting
Socks: essential and addictive to some knitters, a road to be crossed for others. I decided to try my hand at this last winter. These socks will be my first, and I’ll be making them for myself. I have been sort of putting this off since I finished the clapotis. First, I got the Regia yarn from a closing yarn store. It was only off by a mere dollar or so compared to the others. Sock yarn is not cheap I must say so even if I do get addicted, I’m not sure I can afford to make so many pairs. Yesterday, I finally went to my LYS and bought a set of five 2.5mm bamboo dpns. They’re like toothpicks. I tried doing a gauge swatch today, but I gave up. That may bite me in the bottom later, but I’m trying to decide which pattern to use. Should I just use a really basic pattern that shows pictures or try myself at some lace while at it so I can go head on in? I’m leaning toward the latter as the lace may help make them stretchier. I have many browser tabs open at the moment with pictures of turning heels and decreasing gussets as support. This seems very daunting, but I must be brave and plunge head on I guess.
Oh you sound like me.. so many tabs open, so many choices! I’m wavering towards jaywalkers myself, on the off chance they might be *easier* for a first time sock knitter like myself. Gonna keep an eye on your blog, kinda cool to see someone else about to tackle their first sock at the same time as I am.
I knit my first pair of socks this spring, and I used the basic instructions in Knitting Rules. But I decided to use two circular needles instead of “toothpicks.” And then halfway through I decided that one circular needle would work just as well. And I screwed up the placement of the decreases because I wasn’t using 3 neeldes as the pattern assumed. (ONly on one sock, though.) Nevertheless, I love my socks! You can do it! But I would stick to a basic pattern the first time out. There’s enough going on without adding yarnovers and all that. Just my opinion.