“Better Than Average” Sock Gallery

Custom-fitting socks is one of the topics that comes up regularly on Ample-Knitters, and members enjoy sharing tips and ideas. Getting a great-fitting sock is basically a matter of taking accurate measurements and adjusting commercial patterns to fit our often wider feet and larger ankles and calves. I have invited listers to send in pictures of their completed socks to share, and will feature them here. Do send information about any fitting modifications as well. Thanks to all for sharing your photographs!

Thanks to lister Beth Templeton for the phrase “Better Than Average” to describe Ample-Knitters!

Mary Jefferson's “Fanning the Flame” Socks

These socks are Heartland Knits “Fanning the Flames” Socks. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock wool, color is Sweetie. The one part of me that is small and reasonably dainty are my feet so I could follow the instructions. There are suggestions given for enlarging the sock in the instructions. I did make mine taller than the instuctions and I added a couple of rows of garter stitch above the ribbing in order to give a very non-binding top. The foot is on 2.5 mm needles and above the heel 2.75 mm.

Mary Jefferson's Green-Striped Socks

These are Mary's Green-Striped socks in Blauband Maxi Ringel...with short row heels and toes and fitted arches.

Mary writes that her pattern is pretty much, “in my head. I use the short row heel and toe from Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts. The fitted arch is from The Sole Solution software. The pattern on the top is Interrupted rib. These are done toe up by the way. I've done so many socks I mentally plug in numbers and then do a pattern that fits the wool.”

Daphne's socks for Rajan

Daphne Basnet knit these socks for her husband, Rajan. She writes:

“The photo doesn't do them justice. They are very pretty and my husband loves them. I am so PROUD. It took me three tries to get two socks the same, but they are great, and the stripes match and everything!!!!!

Now I am starting a pair of ample socks for me!!!!

I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to see those socks on his feet. they are not just okay, they are perfect and he LOVES them. And I made them!!!!! (with a lot of help and advice and encouragement, but every stitch was my own work)”

Francine’s “Mis-Matched” Socks

We had a fun discusssion on the list some time back about making “mismatched” socks on purpose. Francine shared her thoughts on the subject, “I'm one that does the ‘mismatched’ socks. I suffered badly from SSS (second sock syndrome), so what I do is knit 2 socks using the same yarns, with some similar features (ie cuffs and heels of both socks the same colour, pattern etc) but do the body of the socks with different small patterns and different combos within the body of the sock..and then feel like I'm making something different...and it keeps my attention so that I'm not getting stuck in SSS Hades!”

She has since finished a pair, and sent this picture and her notes.

They are all handspun and hand dyed. Overall, the socks are corriedale 2ply, but the heels and toes are 1ply corry/1ply Wendsleydale. They were fun to knit because I didn't have to worry about where things were going, I could just “play” with the colours etc.

Lorna Campbell's Rainbow Socka Socks

Lorna used a modification of the “Down & Dirty” Gaugeless, Toe-Up Sock Pattern. She added a gusset by increasing before working the short-row heel and then worked a ‘sort-of heel flap’ to decrease away the extra stitches.

Lorna writes: “I increased for my calf at the back instead of going up needle sizes as some folk do - the change from 2.25 mm to 2.75 mm needles (which is all I had) was just too much of a change in fabric.

Next time I think I’ll make the cuffs a tiny bit longer, and I’ll experiment with types of ribbing to stop the ankles bagging - I seem to have very narrow ankles compared to the rest of me!

Despite the Socka being the same dyelot (colour 9071) the two balls were different tones of the same colourway. One is a greyer tone, the other much more bright in the red and yellow bits. Additionally, the yarn was wound into balls in opposite directions. On one I knitted from the centre out, and the other I had to work from the outside in. Very confusing to a poor sock-knitter, I can tell you!

Also, the yarn isn't colourfast. Being a paranoid type I hand-washed them last night, and the water went an interesting shade of red brown. So - Socka-users be warned.

I used the remaining sock yarn to make a tiny pair of ‘Jane's baby booties’ from Woolworks.”

Marina Salume's “Braids Socks”

Marina writes: “I am a new member of your list, and just finished making the wonderful free Braids sock pattern that was posted to your site by Lorna Campbell. I used a wool/acrylic blend yarn to make these, and as you can see, they are a perfect fit. Yesterday I started another pair in cream cashmere. In the background you can see a quilt that I made last year, using some Japanese fabrics that I’ve been collecting for years.”

See more of Marina's Quilts on her home page.

Profile View of Marina's Socks (pop-up window).

Opal “Dalmation” socks from Paula Roberts

Paula knit these socks from one skein of Opal Yarn in the “Dalmation” colorway. She had a bit of trouble getting the spots to come out in a pattern she liked. She writes, “here they are...snug but I love them! I did 72 stitches on 0’s, and they're a bit snug on my 10W feet, but the cuffs and feet are long enough, and I didn't run out of yarn.”

Paula keeps the list on track with UFO Mondays, reminding us and giving us little pep talks each week. These have been her UFO project for several Mondays now, so it’s especially fun to see them completed!

Shelda’s “Conwy Socks”

These are the “Conwy” socks designed by Nancy Bush, and included in her collection Knitting on the Road: Sock Patterns for the Traveling Knitter. This volume was published by Interweave Press. Very unusually for me, I actually used the yarn called for in the pattern: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, even in the same colorway (#46 Jeans). I really liked the photo of these socks in the book!

This sock pattern, as written, is about 7 inches around the foot, and is begun by casting on 72 stitches. The calf is shaped with strategically placed decreases (there is a graph), and at the ankle and foot there are 60 stitches.

I needed a larger sock (I've found an 8-inch foot fits me well), and cast on 84 stitches, working down to 72 stitches on the ankle and foot (adding two stitch repeats of 6 sts each). That let me use the same graphs to decrease 12 stitches. I am very happy with the fit of these socks, and just thrilled to find I can adapt even fancy patterns to make socks that really fit me!

Hazel Spencer's “Opal” Sock

I thought this Opal yarn needed a plain pattern to see what the colors really do so I just made a generic sock, casting on 74 stitches on #1 bamboo dps. I used k2p2 ribbing and a short row heel. The sock fits beautifully and as soon as I get the other one made I'll let you know how they wear!

The yarn is fun, & tho I'm not really wild about the color combo, it feels nice enough. I usually knit both socks together but got so involved in seeing what would happen next that I never got the mate started before the heel so just went ahead alone this time. I'm casting on the second today.

Pam Black's “Harvest Cable” Socks

Pam initially heard about Ample-Knitters through the Socknitters List, and sent me this photo of a terrific sock she's just completed.

“The pattern is Harvest Cables, from the Opal-Chatters list. I knit this sock using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport, color - Bucks Bar, stitch gauge 8.5 st/inch. The original pattern calls for a cast on of 72 stitches and a stitch gauge of 9 st/inch. I knew this would not fit my leg, so I added one complete extra pattern repeat, which brought the final stitch count up to 86 stitches and adjusted my stitch gauge slightly. This resulted in a 10-inch circumference leg.

I did a standard heel flap with gussets. Since I don't need 86 stitches for the circumference of my foot, I reduced the stitch count along the gusset to 76 stitches. Although the original pattern calls for cables which stop at the ankle, I continued the cable pattern down the instep, while doing stockinette stitch for the sole. I ended with a symmetrically decreased toe.

If I had needed to adjust the original stitch count less than 14 stitches, which is the size of the pattern repeat, I would have added extra purl stitches on either side of the cable stitches. The purl stitches are a constant in the sock throughout the stitch pattern. Since cable patterns tends to pull in fabric, I opted to add a full pattern repeat, instead of just a few extra stitches.

Happy AK Sock Knitting!

P.S. The sock toe in the pic is folded up so that the sock would fit on my scanner.”

White Lace Socks from Kirsten Lenius

“[These are knit from] the Checkerboard Lace pattern from Cast On Winter/Spring 2002, worked in off-white acrylic that I 'inherited' from my Grandmother's immense stash of yarn.

The socks, aside from the pattern stitchy part, are a bit free form.. You can make them as long or as short as needs be... I just did two repeats of the 12 row pattern at the top.. Then continued the pattern down the front all the way to the toe, as instructed.

This is the first pair of socks that I've made with a hemmed top... am used to ribbing... and I was quite pleased with the results.”

“Easter Egg” Socks from Kirsten Lenius

These socks are based upon “The Fair Pair” from American School of Needlework's Learn to Knit Socks by Edie Eckman.

I changed the ribbing from k2, p2 to k1, p1, because I like it better.. I prefer shorter socks, so I changed the pattern on the body of the sock to fit the length I like. Oh.. and I also changed the colors from white with a purple pattern.. to purple with pink.. these socks remind me of an Easter egg!

Lynzy's “Socks for AK”

Lynette Holzer, AKA “Lynzy,” is a frequent poster to Ample-Knitters, and offers us a free pattern! Thanks so much, Lynzy!

Lynzy designed these socks with a 9-1/2 inches foot circumference. The socks pictured were knit from two skeins of Brown Sheep “Lamb's Pride” worsted yarn.

Download the free pattern in Adobe pdf file format (You'll need Adobe's free Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded at Adobe.com)

Shelda's Marble Magic Socks

I've been playing with various techniques for creating a “perfect”-fitting sock for some time now. I wear a US size 11 shoe in the widest width I can find, but I like a fairly snug fitting sock. I am usually happy with the fit of commercial women's socks in the 9-11 size, except that the cuffs are often too snug. The ball of my foot measures 9.5-inches, and most of my favorite socks measure about 8 inches at the foot. A lot of sock patterns are written with that measurement, so the main part of any pattern that I need to adjust is the cuff. About 3-4 inches above the ankle I need more width than a straight up-and-down cuff allows.

I've done some sock cuffs with ribbing and that works pretty well, but I don't want each and every cuff to be ribbed! I am indebted to Priscilla Gibson-Roberts who suggests in Simple Socks that you simply use a needle one to two sizes larger on the top 3-inches or so of each cuff to make that area larger than the bottom of the cuff and ankle. I have used this technique on several pairs of socks now, including the ones pictured, and it has worked beautifully for me. I think you can see in the picture how the top of the cuff flares out.

The socks shown here were knit from Roxi Willoughby's “Marble Magic Socks” pattern, which is a very interesting slip stitch pattern written especially for the spray-dyed variegated Cascade Fixation yarns. This yarn is 97% cotton and 3% lycra, and I really like its stretchiness and comfort. If you're going to machine wash the socks, be aware that this fabric does shrink, especially in length. I overcompensated and got this pair a little too long, and need to go back and redo the toes. The pattern tells you to knit the socks starting with 48 stitches on size 3 needles. I started with 60 stitches on size 4s, and then went down to size 3 needles about half-way down the cuff. When I finished my gusset decreasing, I left 56 stitches on the needle to finish the foot.

And be sure to check out the free pattern from Sande Francis, her “Not for Skinny Legs” Socks!

Send sock photos and modification details to Shelda Eggers

Ample-Knitters Home Page

Copyright © 2003
Shelda Eggers, Owner-Ample-Knitters
Last modified: 4 May 2003