Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Good News, Bad News



Good news: I finished my very first sock today!
Bad news: It doesn't fit me at all! It's quite a bit too wide and just a smidge too long. See how it bags around the ball of my foot and how the toe floats on the end of my foot? I have a long big toe that sticks out farther than my other toes, so I don't really like how this style of toe fits my foot. (Unfortunately, I know nothing about other toe styles either, so I have no idea what I would even try to get a better fit.)



A closeup of the hideousness of the toe (doesn't it look look a cobra getting ready to strike?):



Okay, so . . . time for another yucky knitting decision:

Option A: Frog the entire thing and reknit using size 1 needles (instead of size 2 as recommended in the tutorial).
Option B: Frog the toe and half a dozen or so rows of the foot and start the toe decreases sooner. I'm thinking this might stretch things just enough to get a snugger fit around the foot.

I honestly don't know what I want to do yet, but I'm sort of leaning toward option A. Any thoughts? Do you think option B might work?

Despite this unfortunate result, I really enjoyed knitting this sock. I can see how people get totally hooked on sock knitting. Right after I turned the heel, I bought enough yarn to make four more pairs of socks. I'm dreaming of all the different patterns I want to try. Now, if I can just get the size thing down . . .

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9 Comments:

Blogger Diana said...

They look great but if they don't fit it's not good! If you frog them (only back to the beginning of the heel) I'd do the toe decreases sooner like you mentioned but you can also continue the sock pattern, is it K2,P2, across the top of the sock to the toe keeping the bottom in stockingnet. That will make it more snug. I might not go down a whole needle size if the leg part does fit then it would be too tight. I think!!

9:41 PM  
Blogger Tabitha said...

There is an Option 3. Give the first pair to your hubby. He will never deny you sock yarn if you do. BTW this is what I did with my first pair that were too big.

If they were my socks I would adjust the fit on the foot rather than frogging the whole sock. What I do to adjust the sock fit to my feet is knit the foot of the sock on a smaller needle than the leg. And then I start the toe at the base of the joint of my pinkie toe. I do not know how many inches this is but this is what fits my foot.

A nifty trick I learned to keep from having such a square toe is this, after all the toe decreases are done and you are ready to graft the toe (kitchener stitch), pass the last stitch on both ends of the each needle over the stitch next to it (just like a psso). This will reduce the number of stitches you will have to graft by two on each needle and will make a more rounded toe. Check out any of the socks after my first on my blog and you will see how this toe looks.

Good work on your first sock. Very nice knitting. Learning to fit them to your feet takes a fit of trial and error but it is worth the effort. Happy Knitting!

10:00 PM  
Blogger laprincessa said...

You could also, along with the ideas offered already, when frogging the toe, drop down to a size 1 needle.

10:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had to adjust the number of stitches left after the gusset to make the sock fix snugly around my foot (instep) which in turn affects the toe area - that might help you not be so wide when you get to the toe decreases - I like the idea of psso before the kitchner graft too
Really you will have to do a little experimenting whenever you change yarns - I bought some sport (2) that was bigger than the DK (3) and some other sport(2) that was thinner than the yarn labeled 'sock' good knitting tho!

11:25 PM  
Blogger Katie said...

I was going to say the same as Tabitha. I've found that when I start decreasing at the bottom of the pinky toe it fits better.

by the way, love the yarn, I'm using that same yarn for my current sock.

10:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Awesome job Kelley! It's pretty, but I'm sorry it doesn't fit. I just placed my very first order from KnitPicks today! I couldn't find size 6 or 7 dpn where I live...:*( I can hardly wait to start my first pair of socks!!

5:21 PM  
Blogger Jofrog said...

I'd definitely go for B. My most comfortable socks are a bit too small. They fit wonderfully once they are on and stay snug all day. Pull back 0.5 inches before you started the toe shaping and start again.

4:15 PM  
Blogger Kim said...

I just got back from spring break and I'm checking my blogs - I had the same problem with my sock!! I was thinking about giving it to my Father - because he always asks for socks at Christmas. See you!

8:56 PM  
Blogger EvaLux said...

Hello, I wandered over from the EZ blog. US#2 is definitely too big to use with 'regular' sockyarn. I too would rip back to the heel if you don't want to redo the whole sock and reknit the foot. I also think that a star toe would fit your foot better. A star toe is done like this: start with 16 stitches on each DPN. Row 1: k13, k2tog, k1 (repeat this on each needle), row 2: knit, row 3: k12, k2tog, k1, row 4: knit. Keep repeating these 2 rows until you have 8 stitches on each needle, then repeat row 1 until you have 1 stitch on each needle, break your yarn 4-6 inches from the sock, thread a needle with it, and pass the needle twice through each stitch, pass the needle through the little hole in the middle, turn sock inside out and pull close, weave in thread... Nice fitting toe and no grafting!!!
If you need a longer toe part, you can do knit 2 rows between the decrease rows for a couple of rows. Just as for shoes you need to shop around a bit before finding a toe and heel that fit your foot, but once you've found them you can substitute them for whatever toe/heel the pattern gives you.
Cheers Eva
PS: if you need more info, e-mail me at sweetpea at sweet-p dot net

2:37 AM  

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