Thursday 2 July 2009

Happy stripes

I managed to finish the stripy socks while we were in Auckland. I love how the Wendy Happy bamboo yarn knitted up. They are soft and silky and the bright stripes make me smile.

stripy socks and mary janes

I used the Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula Knitty pattern (Ravelry link here), which I highly recommend, especially if you have irregular-sized feet (mine are quite wide). You measure your feet first and then plug the numbers into the pattern to make custom-sized socks especially for you! The toe-up method (using a crochet/provisional cast-on) means you can try them on as you go to ensure that they really are going to fit. For the cast-off at the top I used a stretchy sewn cast-off method that was recommended on Ravelry. It is from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac and there is a video here showing how to do it. Very useful bind-off for areas where you need stretch, like the ends of sleeves or tops of socks.

stripy socks

10 comments:

Cindy Y said...

wow your socks looks so good. I never thought we can knit our own socks!

Trina said...

I never thought of using bamboo for socks, must make a note of that!

And thanks for all the links - I haven't done my first pair of socks yet, so all the beginners info I can get, the better :)

castingontrouble said...

Great looking socks!! well done!

sweetp said...

I love these, gorgeous colours. And OMG where did you get your shoes??!!

LIESL said...

Just discovered your blog... Really enjoying it!

Glad you had a great time in AKL. We're about 20 mins from Piha. We love taking a drive out that way! Seems like you caught some great weather.... :)

Special K said...

are you going to be at Craft 2.0? I need to buy some shoes..

Anonymous said...

These are gorgeous! I love that the stripes aren't all the same size. Cute colours!

16 windows said...

I love the colors!

Anonymous said...

Bugger the socks (lovely as they are). I want the shoes!

sas said...

I am a huge fan of stripy socks and these are gorgeous!
There is definitely a little autumn in the air over here. I can feel an expedition to the sock shop coming on...