From the Archives - Zig Zag socks

If they were knitted this year can I really call them from the Archives? I have been good to myself this year. I have knitted myself quite a few pairs of socks. Two of those pairs I did in the end give away (unworn). One to a patient and another to a colleague who happened to mention that she loved knitted socks. This pair I knitted during the summer (I think). I had this beautiful blue yarn by For the Love of Yarn which I actually recieved from the last time I took part in Fibreshare. These days I am all about the solid colours as they can really show off a pattern. I wanted the perfect pattern for this beautiful shade of blue and I thought I had found it. The pattern is called Layers of Lace and can be found in The Little Box of Socks.

It’s a toe up pattern which I don’t normally do. I tend to prefer to knit cuff down. Although I can see the benefits of toe up. My usual method of toe up involves a crochet chain in a larger yarn and picking up the stitches from the yarn. It can then be pulled loose at the end. I decided to use the method in the book as it’s always good to learn new skills. However, I became stuck and I went days with nothing on the pins for quite some time. I even contemplated getting one of my UFO’s out.

The joys of living on my own is that I have no choice but to cook. I cooked before but I have learned to enjoy cooking. I have also learned to use YouTube for some recipes. It was while watching one of these videos that I had an epiphany. Why don’t I search for a tutorial for this method on YouTube. Please do not ask me why it only just occurred to me to do this. However, I did and I found one. The method is called the magic cast on and I was able to do this following a tutorial by Sockmatician. Don’t get me wrong. I had to watch it a few times as I was doing it (mainly because I dropped the stitches a number of times). It’s a little foolery but once I got the hang of it I actually quite liked it.

I did a short row heel and then got to the exciting part, the leg. It was then that I noticed that the pattern wasn’t quite what I expected it to be. Despite the title I had seen what I wanted to see and so was disappointed when I got to the next stage. I always say you should read a pattern through before starting. I always say this and I rarely do it. You would think I would learn by now. So instead of following the pattern I continued the zig zags round the full leg of the sock. I actually quite like the result. I then used a lovely speckled pink yarn (also by For The Love of Yarn) and knitted them from the cuff down. I took some notes and I plan to publish it next year. I might make a few more changes though.