You see, I wanted to make a pair of plain knee length socks from this gloriously stripey yarn I was given by Kylie.
Kylie gave me two balls of it and Pru generously gave me a matching one she no longer wanted - thereby providing me with enough to make long socks.
Nearly all the patterns I found for plain knee high (or even just long) socks were for toe up and I have, to date, studiously avoided toe up socks. I did try it once. I learned how to cast them on, then promptly lost interest before I got to any of the good stuff like turning a heel in reverse.
I asked RoseRed what she thought of trying them top down and just figuring out the calf increases myself. RoseRed's advice back to me was this:
"If you can steek you can do toe up socks!"
And I figured she was right. Not that steeking, or cutting your knitting for the uninitiated, is really anything like knitting a pair of plain socks starting at the toe, but the message was clear. You've gone into some pretty daring places with your knitting, Bells. Toe up socks really shouldn't be that daunting.
Fair call. So I started, using some clues by Wendy Johnson and the clever increases that RoseRed told me about by Cat Bordhi. (Edited to show link to the increases I'm using). I was off.
And it's fun! It's not scary. So far, thanks to the magic of Kaffe Fassett's colour genius in this yarn I'm enjoying watching the stripes emerge and I'm also enjoying seeing a product I know so well from the other end, as it were.
Of course, I haven't had to deal with the gusset or heel formation yet, but I'm guessing that won't be so scary once I've given it a go either. Honestly, there are times when I wonder what's going on in my head that I have systematically avoided any pattern that called for toe up construction. How silly, really.
This time, it was just a knitting fear. A minor, inconsequential little fear. Maybe I can think this through next time there's a big, real life fear to deal with.
Have you got any knitting or craft related fears to overcome? I bet you have. Maybe we should all have a go at addressing something we're afraid to try? Go on, get it on the table, let's declare our knitting (or other) fears!
Bells
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