Welcome to the next instalment of the Use Every Scrap knitalong! So, now we’ve knitted some tubes, with nice uninterrupted sequences of stripes, be they of the hand-dyed or scrappy variety, that are a bit longer than our feet. Lovely! Except, of course, the small matter of not being able to try them on anymore – our pesky heels get in the way. So today, that’s where we turn our attention.
Read moreUse Every Scrap Knitalong: Cast On!
Today’s the day that we cast away for our Use Every Scrap Knitalong, and cast on! Over the next two months, we’ll be sharing posts that together will form a road map for knitting toe-up socks that use up every bit of a special skein or scraps that you’ve got lingering in your stash. If you missed last week’s post on preparing your yarn, you can catch up here. Today, we’re going to cover casting on and knitting your toe. Needles at ready? Let’s get started!
Read moreA chat with Wendy D. Johnson
Today, we bring you an interview with Boost Your Knitting designer Wendy D. Johnson. Wendy is a prolific knitter and designer who has a penchant for toe up socks — she’s written two books on the subject, Socks From the Toe Up and Toe-Up Socks for Everybody. Her Boost Your Knitting design, the Alcedo Socks, are a highly wearable and quick to knit pair of toe-up socks that teach this month’s featured technique, toe up sock gussets! Wendy was kind enough to answer some questions a few months ago about her design and what she loves about sock knitting!
Read moreHow to Work a Toe-Up Gusset Heel
Sock construction is endlessly fascinating to me. That you can choose from which end of the sock you start at (or even somewhere in the middle!), as well as selecting from myriad heel options means that there should be a well-fitting sock for everyone.
I generally knit socks from the cuff down, simply because that’s how I learned to knit socks, and I can make that sock, to fit me well, without having to look up a pattern. However, there are times when working from the toe-up is preferable:
With a new to me yarn, I can guesstimate the needles to use and then increase until the sock fits me
When the yarn is special and I want to use as much as possible
Just for a change!
This month’s Boost Your Knitting technique is a toe-up heel with a gusset. A gusset is a series of increases that gives more space at the upper foot, and the construction used in Wendy D. Johnson’s cute Alcedo Socks is nifty, since it avoids any need to pick up stitches.
Read moreThe Alcedo Socks and Toe-Up Socks with a Gusset
It’s hard to believe, but it’s time to dive into the penultimate Boost Your Knitting project! Here are the Alcedo Socks, designed by sock knitter extraordinaire Wendy D. Johnson. These deliciously textured socks will be teaching us how to work a gusset when knitting a toe-up sock!
Read moreIntarsia in the Round and the Heartgyle Socks!
After a few months of fabulous patterns that play with texture, it’s time for some fun with colour! I am so pleased to introduce you to this month’s pattern, the shockingly cute Heartgyle Socks by Julia Farwell-Clay, which will have you working intarsia in the round, July’s technique, in no time!
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