Smiler has weirdly shaped feet and ankles - he has multiple complex health conditions and wears supportive boots as well as a splint on his right foot, which wears holes in his socks quite regularly. As his circulation is quite poor I think cosy socks are an obvious choice, and writing this I’m actually feeling really guilty for not having made him some already. Parenting fail. Terrible mother. Oh well. To keep his splint from rubbing on his leg we always pull that sock right up and fold it over the top, so I imagine it would be best to make that one longer and put in a purl row to change the direction of the sock at the point where it will fold over. I’m hoping this will be quite a squishy pattern once it’s done, so will provide a bit of protection for the other places that the splint rubs too. Smiler loves stripes so even though these are meant to be kind of a test to work out sizing for him, I think he’ll still enjoy them.

Cast on 8 per needle, inc in usual rhythm to 44 per sock. Place marker, knit on to dpns, knit 5 more rounds before starting pattern.

Colour order needs sorting - I want wide enough stripes that they actually look like stripes! Maybe rnds 1- 8 in light blue, then 1- 8 x2 in blue? I think for mine (his feet are bigger than mine) I did 28 rnds before starting increases, then inc by 10, so another 20 rnds to give a total of 48 rnds for the foot. This would be 8, 24, 32, 48, so foot would be two slim light stripes and two darker wider ones, then obviously more as his feet are bigger - numbers to be pondered later!

Sock one :
Toes
Long toes
Light double stripe
Dark quad stripe

Such a wally - just realised I’ve been doing the pattern all the way round including on the sole of the feet. I can just fib and say I meant to, right? He does have lumps on both sides of his foot at the widest part, just before his toes, so let’s pretend I did the pattern right round for the sake of cushioning.

Light double stripe (pattern on top only from here)

Sock two:
Toes
Long toes
Light double stripe (with all round pattern honestly on purpose this time so they match)

Maths interlude!
Need to check how much more foot before starting increases… Eyeballing the sock next to his splint it looks like the overall length of the foot is going to need to be about twenty rounds longer than mine.
My pair - 28 rnds between long toe and starting increases, then 20 increase rnds, so toe +5+28+20=53
Though his foot is wide, it’s not deep, so I think maybe start the increases twelve rounds later than mine, and with (53+20) 73rnds in total, this means 5+(28+12)+inc=73
5+40+inc = 73
Inc = 28
This would mean (28+12) 40 rounds after elongated toe before starting gusset increases, then inc each side every other round for 28 rnds, which is 14st increased each side. Sounds about right.

So 8, 24, 32, 48, 56, 72 then heel in dark blue WITHOUT A FINAL EVEN ROUND AFTER THE 14TH INCREASE.

End of maths interlude!

Though I’ve linked these to the Speed Bumps sock pattern, it’s only actually the stitch pattern that I’m using, slotting it in my usual sock recipe. As it knits up it forms rolls, the same way as Basketry does. Hopefully this means they be nice and stretchy, but fit quite neatly, and be quite squishy so provide that bit of padding too. When I first started switching yarn I was worried that the two blues were too similar and you wouldn’t see the stripes, but as I’ve done more I can see they will look different.

Sock two (cont):
Dark quad stripe
Light double stripe (pattern now ended on sole)

Both socks now at the same point, with elongated toes and 32 even rounds complete. Next step - switch to dark blue yarn, 8 rounds even (so one full repeat) then begin increases. Should have four stitches increased at each side before switching back to lighter yarn.

Both socks now have 12 gusset increases at each side, and I’m not sure if another four rounds/two inc will make the foot a bit loose…

Knitted both to 13 increases then end of round (not knitting the plain knit round afterwards) and after some sneaky foot measuring (it was like a comedy sketch - don’t look at mummy, don’t worry about what she’s doing to your foot, look over here at your brother doing a silly dance! - I’m going to leave it there and start the Fleegle heel. Sock might be a bit too long in the foot, or might be okay once all the stretch is taken up widthwise with Smiler’s weird flat flipper feet.

Turned both heels, starting on the round immediately after increasing to 13 stitches per gusset.

Sock one (star marker) has 27 stitches across the back of the ankle after finishing the last ktogether round, so need to decrease 5.
Sock two (flower marker) has 26 stitches, so 4 to decrease.

Having knitted, frogged and reknitted both heel and then the decrease section on both socks (more than once!) I’ve realised why I’m so confused. Because I increased more than I usually would for the Fleegle heel, I didn’t have room for all the decreases I needed to get back to a total of 44st per sock. Looking at Smiler’s ankles and legs, I’m pretty sure they’re going to need more than 44st though, so aiming to get both socks to 48st. This means the star sock (one) needs to decrease by one, and the flower sock (two) is fine as it is.

Have had to let the cat out of the bag and have Smiler try on one of the socks, which means the pressure is on now to finish them as he will ask me about them constantly now.

Tried on the right foot - foot length is about right, could be slightly wider though so the sock isn’t too stretched out and the pattern retains some squishy-ness. Ankle needs the extra width gained through not decreasing all the increases. Leg width okay at this point but will need to increase to get it over the outside of the splint. Bottom photo for my reference - needs at least two more complete pattern repeats to get to the top of the splint, probably three, so it isn’t tight/stretched, and width will need to be increased gradually - maybe lifted increases four stitches from each side point, four times per repeat? Not sure so getting both to this point before working it out.

Knit 4 after marker on plain knit rnd, then lifted inc from left side. K to 4 before next marker, lifted inc, repeat. 4 extra st.
Next rnd, knit 8 after marker then inc, repeat, 8 extra in total. Knit next 2 (pattern) rnds as usual.

Splint sock - inc 4 on (dark blue) rnd6 (12st inc)
Inc 4 on (light blue) rnd2 (16st inc)
Inc 4 on (light blue) rnd6 (20st inc)

Non-splint Sock - inc 4 on (dark blue) rnd6 (12st inc)

Finally finished these - feels like they took ages even though it was actually less than a week - I think it must be because of all the ripping back of the heels! Smiler’s thrilled, but getting photos could be tricky.

Ended up doing the splint sock 1.5 repeats longer, to give the extra length to fold over his splint, and (I think) 16rnds of ribbing on each. Would have liked to have done more, but was running out of the dark blue yarn (Drops Fabel blue 107) so decided it was best to stop there this time round.

Numbers to remember
8 original number of stitches cast on per needle
44 st after increases
5 rnds after final increase
40 rnds after elongated toe before first increase
13 st increased per gusset
48 st total for leg
68 st for splint leg after increases
60 st for left leg after increases

Right 70.28g, left 63.77g, so 134g altogether, which is quite a lot less than the 200g I had estimated it might take!

Left sock is 2.5 repeats (20 rnds) longer than the boot - maybe reduce by a bit next time? Right cannot be shorter, but start ribbing earlier.

Though I like the way the Speed Bumps stitch pattern looks, and it is nice and squishy for Smiler’s feet, I personally prefer Basketry - less faffy, less switching between knit and purl stitches, and so quicker. Might use this again though, depending on if Smiler specifically asks for it.

Next time
○ Pointy feet, so anatomical toe worth looking at, especially as socks are already for specific feet due to extra over-splint section.
○ Smaller needles if it’s a mixed stitch pattern, as otherwise my gauge is a bit too loose. Try using 3.5mm.
○ Left sock - less increases needed than I did - they’re a bit saggy by the end of the day. Increase by 4 less stitches after the ankle, so 8st inc instead of 12.
○ Left sock - less leg rounds - try 36 instead of 40.
○ Right (splint) sock - less st increased, but not by much - try 16st inc instead of 20.
○ Right sock - start ribbing earlier - try 40 leg rounds then 24 ribbed rnds instead of 48 leg rnds and 16/18 ribbed.