Using Kate Atherley’s wonderful book to generate custom fitting, I made some sock-yarn socks at Christmas. They fit better than other patterns I have used but still the yarn seems to bag out. Next time I would use fewer stitches around the front part of the foot, then gradually size up in the gusset and heel. Bottom line on those is that I still REALLY don’t like thin socks, and somehow the feel of the fine yarn is icky. So I am trying with this incredible lime tweed yarn from Agni T which I bought on MDK. Made by Serendipitous Wool… I want to know what base and can I buy a plain base and dye my own tweeds???

I am using DK yarn on SIZE 1 !!!!! needles to get a tight gauge as recommended by the pattern. Size ONE! INSANE. However, I think it will wear longer and I get the recommended gauge. Not surprisingly, it isn’t as stretchy, but I think that will also help since I hate sloppy socks. I am planning on using the 1s up until either the heel or ankle, then going up to a 2 then a 3 for the calf, which may mean I don’t have to add stitches (particularly since I’m doing them in a 3x1 rib which could be tricky). I’ll probably do a slip stitch or quail’s eye pattern on the heel flap to make any increases easy.

July 26: finished these a while back and I LOVE THEM. This DK knit tightly is turning out to be perfect--so much so I ordered a skein of the same yarn in a different color way for another pair. Once I moved up to size 2 just above the heel, that was plenty for the size increase on the calf.

Next time, I will see if I can take the ribbing down the entire heel to where the foot meets the back of the leg, or use a different rib or texture on top/leg, and birdseye on the back of the heel.

What really worked: around the ball of my foot I am about a shoe size 6 in socks, but around the diagonal from the back of the heel to the front of the foot/leg join, I am a size 8 - 8.5, and have large calves. Trusting the measurements worked. I did more wrap so the actual turn is narrower, this allowed the diagonal measurement to increase, and increased a couple more stitches I think on the way up to the leg. Worked perfectly for me feet.

I found the directions for turning the heel VERY confusing… had to rip back and re-try, but once I understood what she meant by heel (which to me is the bottom of the foot, and in Atherley’s instructions appears to mean going up the back of the leg as well) it worked fine.

Finally, a comfortable pair of hand knit socks!