Sunday, November 27, 2011

Twisted Stitch Stockings--Getting Started

My knitting journey through Sock Knitting Master Class has brought me to Meg Swansen's Twisted Stitch Stockings (shown on page 86).
I love twisted stitches and have been looking forward to this pair of socks for the pattern. But I have to admit that I'm a little intimidated by the moccasin foot shaping. It requires that the upper foot be knitted back and forth in rows, then the heel "flap" is worked back and forth in rows while it is joined to the back of the instep. Finally, the sole is knitted in the round, shaped with decreases, and finished with a length of Kitchener stitch along the center of the foot. There's not really a way to try on the sock and check for length until it's completely done. But the advantage is that the sole can be removed and completely reknitted if holes develop.
Not wanting to mess with perfection, I ordered two skeins of Vuorelman Satakieli from Meg at Schoolhouse Press in the same gray-blue color she used (#631). But instead of using two 32" circular needles, I chose to knit mine using the magic-loop technique with a 40" circular.
Everything went smoothly for the first few inches. But then I realized that there was an error on Row 3 of Chart A (the braided pattern). The chart says to work a left traveler on the center two stitches of this row. But the pattern is a little more elegant if these two stitches are worked as a left twist instead. The difference is that both of these stitches should be knitted through the back loops as for a left twist. A left traveler has one of them purled, which doesn't flow as nicely into the embossed braid pattern. (I will notify Interweave of the correction on Monday.) Fortunately, this is a minor error visually and you really can't see where I changed the way that these two stitches were worked.  
I'm anxious to get to the instep so I can try my hand at the unusual construction. If things go as I plan (but why should they?), I'll get to the instep tomorrow.

4 comments:

GerryART said...

I've heard comments re: the sole.
I'm intimidated by it.
You know, any thing new to my usual sock - - -
Your post has drawn me to it, somewhat.
Gerry

judy said...

These are next after the second "Rose Ribs" is finished. However, they have a leg length of 15" and my limit on leg length is 9". How can this lovely pattern be adapted for the shorter leg length and still look great?

Lori Gayle said...

The leg could be made shorter by skipping some of the chart rnds. For example, starting with Rnd 43 of Charts B and C would eliminate 42 rnds and cut about 5.25" from the leg length while still beginning the pattern at the base of a motif "pyramid". Chart A would begin with Rnd 3 instead of Rnd 1 in order to stay in sync. If you work only 4 rnds of ribbing instead of 10 rnds, that would remove another 0.75", resulting in a leg 6" shorter overall.

Begin by casting on 72 sts. Work 4 rib rnds as follows so the ribbing will be set up to mimic the upcoming chart rnds:
Rib Rnds: *[P1, k1tbl] 3 times, p2, k1tbl 2 times, p2, [k1tbl, p1] 7 times, k1tbl 2 times, [p1, k1tbl] 4 times; rep from * once more.

Then establish the charts as follows:
Set-up Rnd: Work 18 sts from Rnd 3 of Chart A, work 18 sts from Rnd 43 of Chart B, work 18 sts from Rnd 3 of Chart A, then work 18 sts from Rnd 43 of Chart 3.

Work in the established patterns until Rnd 83 of the big charts has been completed, then continue with the book's instructions from there.

judy said...

Lori,
Thank you so much for the great guidelines on adapting this pattern. I simply do not have artistic vision.
Judy