Yay! Carl finally gets his red socks!

I really like this pattern. I’ve actually made them before, and don’t normally like to make the same thing twice, but I’m not all that experienced at knitting socks, and since this is the first pair of socks that I’ve ever made for my husband, I wanted to go with a pattern that I was familiar with. I want him to like them, otherwise he’ll be turned off of hand knit socks forever, and I don’t want that to happen.

I’m a little disappointed in the yarn. It’s not quite as “squishy” as I had hoped, given it’s name, and the socks stretched out horribly as soon as I washed them. A trip through the dryer tightened them back up, but then they stretched out immediately again as soon as he put them on! The color is perfect though, and he actually seems to genuinely like the socks, which makes me really happy, but they’re really too big - a lesson to wash your swatch! I’ve since read that superwash yarn has a tendency to grow like this, but I didn’t know that before.

PARTICULARS:
Judy’s Magic Cast On
Desired Total Sock Length: 10.88”
Rows per Inch: 11
Toe-to-Gusset-Length (TGL): 6.06”
Length of Leg to Ribbing: 6.5”, measured relaxed (off-leg)
Length of Ribbing: 1”, measured relaxed (off-leg)
Russian Bind Off in ribbing, as described on p.27 of Wendy Johnson’s book, Socks from the Toe Up.

I followed the chart for the size small (2 purls between the ribs rather than 3 for the size large), because I prefer more ribs closer together, but it didn’t work out evenly for the stitch count. There were 2 extra stitches, so I put 1 at the end of each side (ended w/p2 instead of p1), making the ribs on each edge 1 stitch wider than the rest. I think it worked out fine, as it’s barely noticeable.

I worked them 2 at a time, following the method in the book. I started out on 36” KA bamboo swivel tip needles. I prefer metal needles, but I wanted something that swiveled, and my Hiya Hiyas only go down to a size 2, so I thought I’d give them a try. But they broke half way up the leg! Sheesh! So much for those!! So I switched to 40” Addi Sock Rockets at that point and wow! What a difference! I wish I had used them from the start. They’re my new favorite needles for socks. The join is incredibly smooth, and the cable nice and flexible. It didn’t even matter that they didn’t swivel. Also, I didn’t like the grabbiness of the bamboo, so the Addi’s felt like heaven after those.

Note that the yarn bled like crazy when I washed them. The water looked like blood! But it didn’t seem to fade the color at all, at least not yet.

Update, 2019:
This turned out to be the worst yarn ever! No wonder it’s discontinued. These socks were a bitter disappointment! Not only were they NOT smooshy, but they stretched out hopelessly, they developed holes immediately (and repeatedly, despite darning), and they continued to bleed like a stuck pig every time I washed them. I tried to rinse, rinse, rinse them, but the water never ran clear. I tried heat, vinegar, Synthrapol, Epsom Salts, you name it, but they never stopped bleeding. I must have washed them fifty times. They even transferred pink onto white socks worn after them in the same shoes. I finally threw them away.