Simple Stripes Sock Specs: the Whats, Hows, and Wherefores

Since this blog is partly a place to track and share gritty knitting details, here is more than you ever wanted to know about the Simple Stripes socks, shown here in their current stage of completion:



Yarn: Simple Stripes, formerly offered by KnitPicks.com, 2 balls from my stash. There doesn't seem to be a color on the ball band. They are 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. Each ball is 50 grams/231 yards, and the advertised gauge is 7-8 st/in on size 1-3 needles. Guess that makes me a pretty darned tight knitter.
Needles: Addi Turbos, US size 2 (3.0 mm). I meant to be working on size 1, but just discovered I wasn't. Go figure! I like to do socks on 2 circulars for ease of try-on and to avoid ladders -- it works great for me. I tried the "magic loop" with two socks at once on one huge circular, but I didn't like the amount of rearranging I had to do between half-rows, so now I stick to 2 circs. Also, I like the satisfaction of finishing one sock quickly, even though I then have to do the second sock. And the magic loop was partly an effort to save on needle costs. Now that KnitPicks sells Options Needles, which I adore, this is not an issue for me. But I still use the Addis in sizes 1-3 that I bought in pairs before Options came out, and they are great. (NB: I have only tried the metal Options needles in sizes 5-11, so I can't vouch for the bitty ones or the wooden ones.)
Gauge: 10.25 st/in, so I used 80 stitches to fit my size 7.5 foot. Do you know, when I got out my knitting today, these needles actually seemed large to me? What a great feeling!
Proportions: 80 stitches got me a circumference of about 7.75 inches. I used 7 inches as the length from the tip of the toe to the beginning of the heel turn. These are my actual foot measurements -- I like slightly snug socks, so could have used slightly smaller numbers, but I'll be machine-washing these, so I expect a little shrinkage to produce sock-fit perfection.
Pattern: Basic crew sock from Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy, by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts, with stockinette for the foot and 2x2 ribbing for the leg. For the number of sts between YOs when turning the toe and heel, I used her percentages for an average foot. In hindsight, perhaps my toes should be considered sharp.
Direction: Toe-up. I prefer to knit socks toe-up for four reasons:

• Knitting toe-up makes it easy to figure out how long a leg I have enough yarn for.
• I like the ease of trying on the sock for custom fitting as I go.
• I often find the leg portion boring, so it's extra-motivating to have it be the home stretch.
• There's no problem with cast-off elasticity because PGR provides graft-off instructions that make an extremely flexible ending for 2x2 ribbing.

Getting the stitches of the provisional cast-on from the scrap yarn back onto a needle after I've completed the toe is a bit of a hassle, but I LOVE the totally seamless finish that results.

I like PGR's short-row toe and heel for simplicity (I had a hard time figuring out the instructions at first, but now, after a few socks, it goes easily), smooth "seams" (no real seams at all, but I mean the increase/decrease line on the sides of the toe and heel) and ease of replacement. PGR recommends switching to larger needles halfway up the ribbing, but I didn't do that this time, for three reasons:

• I like the pattern produced by the self-striping yarn to stay consistent all the way up the leg.
• I don't plan to wear these folded over much.
• They fit fine with the same size all the way up. If they were longer, I would need to do some adjustment with either needle size or increases, but then I'd probably choose a non-self-striping yarn, or at least one with more amorphous transitions.

Joins: Against all the advice I found, I spit-spliced the yarn when joining for striping adjustments around the heel. I know, it's superwash. If they start falling apart on me, you'll hear about it here. I really appreciate socks with no lumps from woven-in ends, so I took a calculated risk. The joins seemed strong when I pulled on them, and they knitted up beautifully. If it doesn't work out, I guess I'll just avoid joins whenever humanly possible, 'cause I love superwash for its softness and machine-washability. (I do put the socks in a lingerie bag, partly to make it gentler on them, and partly so I won't miss them and put them in the dryer by mistake.)

So, future-Deborah and gentle readers, there you have the Whats, the Hows, and the Wherefores for this pair of socks. May they be useful. And readers, if you've tried the PGR toe/heel and have another you love just as much or more, I'd love to hear about it!

I'll resume FlyLady details in my next post. Rest assured, I'm still fluttering and taking it slowly.