Well, this is a blog that has moved up on my « to write » list. Today, I’m going to show you my argyle sock. Sock, singular, as I am still gathering the courage to knit this beast a second time.
The idea of this sock started maturing in my brain maybe 8 years ago. I had been binge-reading the Yarn Harlot blog. Do you know her? If you don’t, let me introduce you. The Yarn Harlot (Stephanie McPhee) started blogging way back in 2004. She gathered a big following which enabled her to organize conferences and (off-line) classes. She’s also a writer who invented the genre of « knitting humor » books, which made her a New York Times best selling author. Very cool lady.
Anyway, she’d knit these socks, in which the argyle parts of the socks are knit flat. Now, I hate sewing seams, and suspect I would hate the existence of seams in my socks even more. So I started thinking about knitting intarsia in the round. I made a first effort and frogged it real quick (messy color borders). But the idea kept bouncing around in my head, while I did not do anything more with it (well, this blog is called THINKING about fiber…)
Then, I got the book New directions in Sock Knitting as a present. Great book!!!!!! Socks knit every which way!!! We’ll talk more about it in future posts. It contains 18 patterns with unusual sock construction. And one of them had multi-color intarsia in the round, which proved in my mind that can be done!
This September, I asked my dad to pick colors for a sock in a wool shop. He has fully worn out the first pair of socks that I knitted for him, and I love to see they have been so happily used. Time for new socks. I did some in my head figuring (I know he needs 68 stitches per round for socks to fit him, and never referenced the book), and then I was off! At first, the novelty was speeding me on. Back then, I wrote part of a blog post about it that I never published… an extract….
For someone who loves following instructions, I really am liking just knitting ‘randomly’ and seeing how the socks are turning out – makes me feel like a 3D printer. I’ve made quite some mistakes in the argyles, so they are not exactly diamond-shaped – but I don’t care and knit happily on.
I’ll make another argyle before moving onto the heel. I’ve decided to do a heel flap with eye of partridge pattern, which I haven’t done for years, and am really looking forward to it. Then, I want the sole to be a different color – let’s see whether I can also 3D print that out of my hands. I may lack the bravery to do that until the toe.
Well, people, spoiler alert; the novelty wore off. Knitting intarsia in the round can be done, but it ain’t fun. It keeps tangling my balls of wool up.
So this sock was not one of these projects that speed along. Every couple of rounds, I’d untangle my balls of wool, grumbling all the way. Figuring out how to knit the heel also required some coaching through. Luckily, I have plenty of experienced knitters among my friends. This friend first taught me how to knit socks and even was so kind to re-teach me how to knit a Dutch heel!
After six months, I reached the toe and cast off. Victory is mine! I was already writing in my head to y’all about the originality of this project. And then… I turned on Instagram. It turns out, that when you’ve had a good idea, you probably aren’t alone. Who do I see if not the Yarn Harlot knitting her own intarsia-in-the-round argyle sock.
Sigh.
Well, the good news is, now I can link the pattern she knit, instead of only telling you ‘I just invented it in my head’. And she’s cursing as well! I told you it’s hard!
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