Basic Toe-Up Socks, Part 1

Learning to do toe-up socks, even without the magic loop, two at a time, is proving to be more of a learning curve than I expected.

I hate having to frog (unravel) items, so I was in great need of yoga after the Origami Socks Failure. Feeling far more peaceful, I started the Basic Toe-Up socks. Judy's Magic Cast On is rather fiddly on dpns, so the toe seemed to go on forever. Eventually I gave up on just two needles and added in a third so that half the stitches were on one needle, and the stitches for the heel were divided equally over two needles.

70 rounds later, I was ready to set up for Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato Heel. Just to check that I understood the instructions correctly, I found her video instructions for the heel.  Yes, I was doing it right, the only difference being that the pattern made the heel from half the total number of stitches, whereas Cat Bordhi set it up to use two-thirds of the total stitches, with the remaining third for the instep/front of ankle.

The heel looked lovely, and I was so lost in admiring it that I forgot to transfer the stitches to a cable and just check that the sock actually fitted. Off I went, for another 40 rounds up the leg (I don't like my 'everyday' socks long) and then did 10 rounds k2p2 ribbing. I went back to the Origami socks to try the different bind off (K1, slip the stitch back to the left needle, k2tog tbl, *slip resulting stitch from right to left needle, k2tog tbl*, repeat until all stitches have been cast off). Neat bind off, but although I did it quite loosely, it wasn't stretchy enough for the ribbing underneath it. Aaaargh! Unravel it and cast-off loosely in rib. Stretchier, although still not quite as stretchy as the ribbing underneath it.

Leaving the last loop pulled out and the yarn ball still attached, I tried the sock on. Or at least, tried to. Although the toe looked too pointed, I was surprised to find that it fitted quite well. The problem was, the cast-off edge wasn't stretchy enough to go over the widest part, the heel to instep/front of ankle. Try as I might, I couldn't get it onto my foot. Here's an idea, let's stretch the heel-instep part of the sock and see whether it actually stretches enough to meet the measurement, which means the cast off might be the issue. Nooo! I don't know what I hate more about unravelling, whether it's the fact that I haven't got it right first time, or the time taken just to find that it's wrong, or the fact that you can unravel in a fraction of that time. Perhaps it's all three.

Oh look, time for yoga class again! Then I'm going to have a hot bath, change into pyjamas, cook dinner, and have another go at the heel, having increased the number of stitches in an attempt to cope with my bulky heel/ankle measurement. And try to remember to try it on this time! I'll crack this yet!