My sweet uncle has been diagnosed with Stage IV Cancer. He’s young, otherwise healthy, and has a great attitude, and is undergoing various treatments. But he lives in Arizona and I feel helpless to do anything, so of course I’m hitting the needles. Since he’s in a very warm climate, I wanted to make him something that he could wear around the house without overheating, and I needed a soft base. And I want to get these done ASAP.

PROJECT NOTES:

I only have 75g total of the striping gradient colorway, and this is the first time I’ve used this yarn. So I’m knitting a tube for each sock with this yarn first, with afterthought heels, toes, and cuffs to be added at the end, in contrasting colors. My uncle has large feet, and I don’t want to take any chances! Note to self: foot will need to be ~ 10.75”-10.95” total for a men’s size 11; with my method, I’ll need ~ 7.25” of mc before adding heel/toe.

• CO: Used PCO and 72 sts to begin colorway; cut yarn where blue and black met at beginning of first mini-cake, then used the blue as the waste yarn.

• Gauge is coming out a bit tighter than usual with this yarn that’s new to me. I’m also trying out Addi’s FlexiFlips, which I suspect may be causing the biggest disparity. However, I’m glad for the smaller gauge; I was waffling between casting on 72 or 68 stitches, and think these will fit nicely (and last longer) being knit at 9.5 sts/inch.

• Having alternated the FlexiFlips with the exact same size in Addi circular needles for Magic Loop, I can say with confidence that my gauge is a little tighter on the FlexiFlips; I get 10 sts/inch on 2.25mm Flips, and 9.5 sts/inch on an Addi Turbo (of same diameter) using Magic Loop method.

As of 5/5/18, first tube complete at 15.” Had a bit of extra yarn (could’ve knit another 1/2” - 3/4” using the striping base), but by the time I got to the end, I wanted the heel to hit at a certain point in the color transition. As such, I marked where I thought the heel would work best (with a removable stitch marker), and then knit until the finished foot was about 7” long from there. With the toe and heel I use both measuring about 2” each, this should leave the sock with a foot measuring just about 10.75” as planned. Of course, this strategy backfired when, after the heel was placed, I changed the tube’s direction and had the “leg” portion become the foot.

Completed second tube 5/25/18. Wish I’d been faster on these, but the fault is entirely my own…the yarn couldn’t be easier if it knit itself! Just too many “end of year” responsibilities for the kids, and not enough time to knit even simple tubes. :woman_facepalming::skin-tone-2:

• For heels, cuffs, and toes, I’m using semi-solid yarns dyed to match…mostly. The gray is great for the cuff, and the black for the toe. The heel will be a slightly different shade of blue than in the sock, but should be lovely!

• Because placement of heel depended on striping sequence (more below), I chose to place heels before doing toes. That way, any adjustments could be made so the toes were aligned with the heels, and even made longer/shorter if necessary.

HEEL NOTES:

• Afterthought Heel: As I didn’t initially know where exactly I was going to place the heel, I did NOT use any scrap yarn for the heel. So I had to find a place where I could use three rows; one for the top of the heel, one for the bottom, and the row to be cut out. This proved to be a challenge, as the stripes in this yarn are two rows wide; no matter what I did, I’d be getting a gray for the top or bottom, and blue for the other, which I didn’t love, as it seemed less fluid than if I could stay within one color. I was able to find an area where there was a large overlap in colors, leaving only one row of blue for over a third of the heel stitches, and gray for the rest (due to flashing of the yarn). See fourth photo with markup, as it’s much more difficult to describe than to see it. As always, chose to place heel on sock where most relevant; in this case, where I could maximize the color overlap of the gray stripes. This is why I like to do the heels before toes if possible; although my toe is still on a needle, I can adjust it to line up with the heel from this point forward.

• Picked up 2 extra sts “in the gap” on each side; total of 76 sts (38 each needle) stitches total.

• Knit two rounds straight on heel (after pick up round) before beginning decreases.

• Heel decreases (using magic loop): ssk, k to end of needle, k2tog, repeat on other side. (No knit stitch between decreases, as some patterns have.) Four sts decreased every decrease round.

• After initial decrease round, worked decrease round every other row until 20 sts left each needle (40 total), kitchenered seam.

No gaps/holes to “fill in” on heels…third photo shoes a close-up.

TOE NOTES:

• Worked in black, and similar to heel, minus picking up extra stitches.

• Worked two rows straight before beginning decreases. Because I had added the extra “gap” stitches on heels, and technically (counting the pickup row) had an extra straight row before beginning decreases, I knew this would make the toe a bit shorter.

CUFF NOTES:

• Began with one row of straight knitting, in order to avoid purl bumps in blue. Then continued in gray with 2x2 ribbing for remainder of cuff.

• Worked 25 rows in ribbing (26 when counted with initial knit round).

• Used JSSBO for bindoff.

Edit to add that they fit perfectly! I’m so relieved!!