03-19-2019

I don’t use a lot of self-patterning sock yarns, but the Regia Pairfect concept was interesting and I liked this Arne and Carlos colorway that I found on sale. Before I started I watched their YouTube videos on how to use the yarn and why you need to knit the socks from cuff down. Cuff down is my preferred technique, so that wasn’t a big deal, but the video was worth a watch to understand how the yarn “works” and how your sock design choices might affect your finished sock.

For example, I like my short row heels just a bit deeper so I tried increasing 4 stitches in the first row of my short row heel (despite having watched the videos). Of course, that added extra decrease and increase rows, so the brown for the heel ended up running out early and the foot patterning started again before my heel was finished…so I took it out and started again. I had a couple of false starts with the heel before settling on the fish lips kiss heel which worked great. I’ve had the pattern for a while, but I think this is my first time using this heel and I really like it! It’s easy to execute and it fits really well. I’ll definitely use it again.

The Pairfect yarn is designed around a 64 stitch sock, so I used 2.5mm DPNs to get a gauge that would fit my foot. I’d prefer to use a smaller needle and more stitches, but I wasn’t sure how that would affect the patterning. Now that I’ve done a sock, I think it would have worked out fine…the patterning isn’t exact even with 64 sts (for example, in areas like the bands where the yarn alternates between black and white stitches, you end up both with black and white columns and black and white checks, rather than one or the other). I’m a big perfectionist, so I had to accept that there was some randomness built in here and that fretting about matching up those checks was a bit much. Let it go and enjoy the socks.

I also used asymmetrical toes on these. My toes are tapered; big toe is the longest and they taper evenly down to the pinky toe (I’ve also seen my foot shaped described as Egyptian or wedge…hint, don’t Google anything to do with toes if other peoples feet kind of creep you out like they do me… ) Normal knitted toe shapes fit okay and I’ve used them before, but my first pair of socks had asymmetrical toes and they were always a favorite, so I decided to try really fitting these to my toes and I’m super happy with the results. I used Clare Devine’s Midweek Masterclass article at TheYarnLoop.com on choosing the right sock toe method for guidance and the socks fit my feet really well. I might tweak my decreases a bit, but for now…no complaints.

Here’s a link to the knitting graph paper generator that Clare mentions in her article. Good to have in your favorites. You can input your exact knitting gauge, print out the paper, and then trace around your foot to help you plot your toe decreases in actual size. Cool!

Off to knit my second sock…

NOTES:
Cast on 72 sts on size 0 (2.0mm) needles using Alternating Cast-On from Principles of Knitting.
Join round and switch to size 1 (2.25mm) DPNs and knit cuff. When brown runs out, switch to size 1.5 (2.5mm) DPNs and decrease 8 stitches evenly around first row of leg patterning and proceed with rest of sock using 64 sts.
Heel is Fish Lips Kiss Heel over 32 sts. Knitted two rounds of brown before starting short row heel.
Start first round of toe decreases on first round after color change to indicate toes (Now that these are finished, I think I probably would have been fine to knit a round of brown first).
Decreases start on outside of foot only for asymmetrical toes:
Rnd 1; K2tog, k, k, SSK (62 sts)
Rnd 2: K2tog, k, k, SSK (60 sts)
Rnd 3: K2tog, k, k, SSK (58 sts)
Rnd 4: Knit around (58 sts)
Rnd 5: K2tog, k, k, SSK (56 sts)
Rnd 6: Knit around (56 sts)
Rnd 7: K2tog, k, k, SSK (54 sts)
Continue with decreases on every row until 32 stitches remain.
Rnd 19: K2tog, k, k, ssk on outside of foot and again on inside of foot for 4 sts decreases. (28 sts)
Rnd 20: K2tog, k, k, ssk on outside of foot and again on inside of foot for 4 sts decreases. (24 sts)
Rnd 21: K2tog, k, k, ssk on outside of foot and again on inside of foot for 4 sts decreases. (20 sts)
Rnd 22: K2tog, k, k, ssk on outside of foot and again on inside of foot for 4 sts decreases. (16 sts)
Knit to side of foot and arrange stitches evenly on two needles (top of foot on one needle and bottom on second needle). Graft stitches using Kitchener stitch and weave in ends

03-21-2019

Socks are finished. I should have been done a couple of days ago, but I’m knitting asymmetrical toes (left and right socks, like your shoes) and of course I knit the second sock for the wrong foot! Argh! I even looked at it and thought about it before starting the toe to make sure I was knitting for the correct foot and still flipped it! Anyway…

Socks are done and I love them. My minor quibble with the Pairfect concept is all of the leftover yarn. I had 23 grams left…that’s half of a sock! It seems like a lot, but when I compare the leg length on these (which is fixed based on the Pairfect dyeing), it’s actually 10”, which is what I would typically knit without any constraints (that’s from top of ribbing to the bottom of the heel…or about 8” from ribbing to start of the heel). When I weigh these, though, they’re only 37 grams each compared to my last pair of Regia socks that are 47 grams each (although both are about the same length). I think the difference is in the needles size and stitch count. My last pair are a tighter gauge and firmer fabric, which I prefer. Will be interesting to see how these wear.

Overall, the Pairfect yarn is great for a quick knit and fun patterning that you don’t have to think about too much.