Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Sock Knitting Design



We were heading to the beach last weekend.
It's a 5+ hour drive,
and I was armed with plenty of knitting.
Socks are oh so doable in the car,
but all of my socks in progress
(and I cannot stand to have 
* just one pair *
in the works at a time!)
were the most vanilla of vanilla socks.
By that I mean, simply stockinette
with a bit of rib up the calf.
Having just completed the Bough and Cable Hat,
I started thinking how meandering cables
might look nice on a pair of 
otherwise vanilla socks.
Rather than look for a pattern on Ravelry,
I thought I could design my own.


This is the simplest of simple patterns,
but it's out of my own head,
and uses what I believe are a few 
basic principles of perhaps
Aran Knitting -
not sure: need to do more research on this.
I have 30 stitches on each side of the leg,
and the beginning and end of each row
is the alternating knit and purl.
Then the cable meanders across the middle front and back
of the leg, 4 stitches wide.
It was a good exercise for this
chemo-adled brain, 
just graphing out the pattern,
and then trying to follow it!

I hadn't totally refined it,
when I began knitting it on the upper foot,


perhaps you can see that in the red and blue
at the base of the meandering cable.
But as I knit along,
I perfected the pattern!
I love it!
It keeps me focused
and my brain active!!

Here's the back:


(the white threads are for the afterthought heel)
I think I will knit another pair in a yarn
of simply one color,
so that the design will show up better.
Also, I'll begin the cable pattern
where the two cables join?
Question mark there, as I'm not really sure
which is more visually pleasing.
Anyway, it's been fun learning a bit about 
pattern design,
while I'm still perfecting my personal
toe-up afterthought heel sock knitting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve,
and a Happy and Healthy 2014!



8 comments:

Merrilee said...

Beautiful stuff, Judy! You are so smart!!

Ginny Huber said...

A good new year Judy!! Socks in progress are not very vanilla!! As a non knitter I am even impressed with vanilla..

Connie said...

Hi Judy, I love the colors . . . so happy and full of sunshine :) These are not going to be the socks that get lost in the wash, LOL. I'm celebrating my second year Blogging Anniversary with a “Give-A-Way”, so come visit and get your name in the hat :)
Your blogging sister, Connie

Cate Rose said...

Have a great new year, Judy! Wishing you much good health and happiness! xoxo

deanna7trees said...

wow...your own design. and you say you're not an advanced knitter. i think you are. i've only made 1 and ½ pairs of socks...so i'm not an experienced sock knitter. i'm very impressed.

Jeannie said...

Happy New Year!!! I am so impressed! I have yet to be able to follow a knitting chart, let alone chart my own. :) I now remember why I didn't like counted cross stitch. LOL! Enjoy each wave as it hits the beach! xoxo

Carol said...

Oh, Superwoman! Now you can design your own socks! What a wonderful and clever girl you are, and what gorgeous socks you are producing! Stunning! Enjoy your holiday. Thinking of you every single day. xox

Maggi said...

It takes me all my time to follow a pattern. You've done a great job here.