01/24/24
The plan was to make a green pair of socks in exactly the same way as a pink pair i just finished - https://www.ravelry.com/projects/mariolac/yarn-over-cable
The pink socks came out fantastic and I wanted to experiment and see if this green yarn would behave similarly to the springy pink one. It did not.
After knitting almost the entire leg of the first sock I wanted to try it on. It was way too tight. I considered ripping it out and starting over with at least 10 more stitches, but finally decided to just make fingerless mitts instead! The St. Patrick’s is just around the corner anyways!

I am using the stitch pattern from my favorite sock book titled “Sensational Knitted Socks” by Charlene Schurch. The pattern is located on page 43 and is called Yarn Over Cable. It is a simple, yet effective 5 stitch and 4 rows repeat.

Specs and modifications:

• Top down construction
• Casting on 71 stitches (the extra one is for joining in the round) on size 2.5 needles using the German twisted method. Then switching to size 1 needles o start the 3x2 rib.
• knitted 16 pattern repeats and started the thumb gusset (after the last plain knit row)
• put markers on both sides of the center 3 pattern stiches (3rd stitch in the pattern). The purl stitches fell outside the markers. Increased 1 stich on both sides of the middle stitch. Did this 5 times till had 13 stitches between the markers (including the 2 outermost).
• then increased 3 times every other row till had 19 stitches between the markers
• then increased 2 times every 4th row. This corresponded to the 1st row of the pattern (when the k2 psso happens). 23 stitches between the markers.
• After the last increase continued the gusset straight for 11 rounds - the remaining 3 rounds of he 1st pattern repeat and then 2 full 4 rounds pattern repeats.
• increased 2 more stitches - 25 stitches between markers (1st row of pattern repeat)
• 1 round straight and put thumb stitches (25) on waste yarn
• cast on 8 stitches. Used the knitted cast-on method - https://knitalongclub.com/mid-row-co/ Cast on from inside-out after turning work Did that thorough the back loops.
• continued in the round (now on row 3 of the stitch pattern). 25 thumb stitches on hold to finish later.
• back to the hand - 3 full pattern repeats and then ribbing on size 0 needles.
• bind off inside out using my twisted method and size 1 needle in my right hand. Purls toward me, knits away.
• thumb - 25 stitches from hold + picked up 7 = 32 sts. will decrease 2 later to arrive at a number divisible by 5 (for ribbing). Pickup up and knit with size 1 again. Knit 5 rounds plain, then dec 2 stitches. now 30 all around. Knit 1 more round and switch to size 0 for ribbing. same method for casting off as for the hand.

Progress notes:
- After casting on I knitted 1 “wrong side” row in purl 3 x knit 2. Turned, and knitted the “right side row “ in k3 p2, then joined in the round by knitting the last (71st) stitch together with the 1st one. I did this because the German twisted cast-on, although very stretchy, creates a bumpy/purly edge, which looks much smoother on the other side. The second reason for doing this is to avoid twisting the cast on when joining in the round. It works every time! The tiny gap created by this extra row is easily closed using the tail.

03/21/24
I just finished! will post pictures in a few.