Well, they are done! And I think that I’m in love with knitting toe-up socks.
I did have some frustration with the lack of instruction from DIY on some key parts of the pattern – the extent of the instruction on how to do a short heel was to “turn and wrap,” rather than “wrap and turn.” Which would have been great had I ever made a short row anything and knew how to wrap and turn anything. But, the internet is a wonderful thing, and I found a very helpful video at knittinghelp.com. The short row heels came out perfectly – that is why I’m in love. No gaps, no odd looking stitches (the whole near the top in the back is the lace pattern yo). I simply love these heels!
I chose to do a 2×2 rib at the top, I prefer how it looks coming off of the lace pattern. My other advice would be not to follow DIY’s video instruction on how to do a sewn bind-off. It was another thing I had never done before and realized half-way through the first sock that something was wrong with the video clip from Knitty Gritty on how to do it. I got out my copy of Knitting Answers and realized that they only showed the first step of how to do a sewn bind off, so I went back and redid that sock. I really like that type of a bind-off for socks – very stretchy and leaves a nice edge.
So, a big thank you to DIY’s Knitty Gritty & Vicky Howell for putting up the pattern for free on their website. And thanks to Cookie for making such an easy and beautiful toe-up pattern in Twinkle Toes. And a big WOW to Blue Sky Fibers for making such awesome Socks that Rock yarn.
