FO – 9 to 5 Socks
Aug 8th, 2008 by Amy
I finished these a few weeks ago, but at the time I was kind of frustrated with them, so I didn’t do a FO post right away.
Pattern – 9 to 5 Socks
Yarn – Fleece Artist Nova Sock Yarn in an unknown colorway, purchased at French Creek Fiber Arts
Needles – Knitpicks 40” US size 2 circular
Started – April 14, 2008
Finished – July 18, 2008
Back in the spring, I really wanted to knit with this yarn, and I went on a search for a suitable pattern. After a false start or two, I went with the 9 to 5 Socks pattern, which had been in my queue for a while. It is the kind of pattern that needs to be knit in a solid or semi-solid yarn and I really like the way the cable twists continue down along each side of the heel flap.
Now that I have knit with this yarn, I’ve decided that I have a bit of a love-hate thing going on with this yarn. I LOVE the saturation of the color combined with the bit of shine in the yarn. The label claimed that it is 100% merino, but I’ve never seen 100% wool with so much shine to it. While very pretty to look at, the yarn turned out to be very splitty to knit with, which made the project a bit less enjoyable.
I knit these from the cuff down, one at a time, using the magic loop method. I’ve never had a problem with running out of yarn while knitting socks, so I didn’t bother to split the skein in two before starting. When I got past the heel on the second sock, I realized that I might run out of yarn before reaching the toe. I started to knit faster, which seems to be a common response to the fear of running out of yarn. And it turns out that I did run out, right at the start of the second toe. I thought about frogging a bit of the cuff of each sock to scrounge enough for the second toe, but I decided that I was mad at the project and didn’t want to put in that much additional work. Instead I went through my stash of leftover bits of sock yarn and found something (Duet Middy yarn I had left over from the Peacock Plume Socks) that pretty closely matches the weight and the twist of the original yarn, since none of the yarn in my stash came close to matching the color. I figure that most people don’t see my toes anyway, and I was just ready to be done.
In general, I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, if I can ignore the toe issue, which was not the fault of the yarn or the designer, but rather my lack of planning. The fit is absolutely perfect, which makes me look forward to wearing them, once the weather cools back down.
Aw, well they do look lovely even with the toe. I like that pattern, I’ve got to remind myself about it next time I’m starting socks…
they are really pretty socks, that’s too bad about the yarn! Splitting and then running out… no wonder you were frustrated. But they are cute!
Bummer for running out. I know exactly what you mean about knitting faster… like it’s going to make a difference, right?! I think it’s kind of cute to have the random contrast toe. When it’s stuffed in your shoe, it’ll be your little secret
how funny! that would be really frustrating, but they look really good. and no one will see that toe, but if they do, it’s a design element right?
I love your socks. I can understand how you must have felt in regards
to the yarn, but I like them! This is your own little “signature design”!
I just cast on the 9-to-5 sock yesterday! Hope it’s not frustrating to me! Yours turned out beatiful!
I came quite by accident on your blog. I have rather small feet, size 5, so I have tried toe=ups and had too long knitted legparts, lol,I’ll stick o regular toe down. If I had landed short of wool for one toepart, I would have frogged the first toe all the way, divided that yarn in two, had knitted borh small bunches till the last centimeters and continued the toesparts with the new wool and declared: I felt a great urge to paint the toes. But I do understand you had had it with the toes, maybe you can still do this if you have not worn the socks very much, you could start a new fashion : painted toesocks.
I think these are lovely, mismatched toes and all. You’ve got a bit of happy on your toe!
I think i’ve seen this somewhere before…but it’s not bad at all
That is an excellent lesson in “making lemonade when you’re given lemons” (They are also pretty great looking socks!)