Finished Object: Tube Socks

For some reason, socks have long eluded me as a knitter. 

I can knit most other garments without a second thought; give me a yoke or a raglan, seamless, cardigan, tee, or pullover any old day. But I shrivel at the mere mention of a heel turn. I tried cuff-down, toe-up, Magic Loop, and so many heel methods, but I just couldn’t produce a sock (let alone two) that were in any way functional or vaguely foot-shaped.

Despite the fact they’re often considered the next step in the evolution after scarves and hats, knitting socks was my Everest. Until now.

I was hot off the heels (pun intended) of yet another unfortunate toe-up sock attempt when I remembered something that would solve all my sock anatomy problems in one fell swoop: tube socks exist.

Indeed, a sock without a clearly defined heel that still fit snugly to your foot was the perfect antidote. I found this fabulously simple pattern for a tube sock from the blog Miss Wooly Knits, and that became the basis for my formula — wherein I alternated sections of stockinette stitches with a wide knit 7-purl 7 rib section four times, followed by the Star Toe.

I felt like a scientist who just cracked the code.

Best of all, I got to use the yarn I bought from Lily and Pine. Her colourway Surf’s Up is a neon turquoise base with speckles of orange, red, purple, blue, pink, and yellow. It was so fun to watch a new flash of colour just suddenly appear in the work as I went along. 

In all, I’m extremely pleased with myself. Now that I’ve figured this out, there’s no stopping me!