Disappointing Socks

A few months ago, harrock came home with some blue yarn from Mind's Eye, and clamored for socks. I thought I would be very clever and make him two pairs of two-color socks, rather than one pair of light blue socks and one pair of dark blue socks. Sadly, the tension on the stranded colorwork is just a little too tight, and it doesn't fit over his heel. I can put it on, but it's a little too long for me (since it was intended for Jerry, who has huge feet). I am not sure there is really a good target audience who has extra-long but narrow and small-heeled feet. However, if you are such a person, these could be your socks! Having tried three times and failed three times to make a pair of stranded socks for shumashi years and years ago, I really need to internalize the lesson DO NOT TRY TO MAKE STRANDED COLORWORK SOCKS YOU WILL BE SAD. My tension is pretty good for sweaters, but socks just require so much more stretchiness.



This is a pretty good demonstration of the difference between the top strand and the bottom strand. In the toe transition, the light blue is the bottom strand; in the leg transition, the dark blue is the bottom strand. In both cases, that means the toe-side solo stitches are a little more pronounced than the cuff-side solo stitches. (The bottom strand is always a little more emphasized).