Why the silence?

Grey on grey entrelac socks

I increased the top three tiers of squares by one stitch. I knitted them with KnitPicks Palette yarn. I didn't need nearly the amount I bought. I have enough leftover to make some interesting gloves or something. And then some. I don't think I would recommend it as sock yarn. It's spun too loose for a sock yarn, in my opinion, and it isn't very soft. It's not marketed as sock yarn, but it's the right weight and it was a bargain. I'm still glad I used it for these. I'll wear them when it's cold out, for sure!

Finally

I finally got these things cast on. The recommended toe seemed unnecessarily complicated, so I did something easier. I've also completed the base triangles. However, I can't quite figure out how to start the first block. I've never done entrelac before. Here a snap of the start.

Knee Deep In Entrelac

At long last my socks are done! They've actually been done for about a week, but life has been pretty hectic lately and I haven't been blogging much, so at last I've gotten a photo and can show off what I did!

Overall I'm happy with the socks. I like the colours a lot, and the Cherry Tree Hill superwash sock yarn was really nice to knit with. I used one skein each of the blue variegated and the solid purple (each skein is enough for 1 pair of crew length socks) with a comfortable amount of each left over. I went up to 9 st squares at the very top, and maybe should have stuck with 8. The top triangles are bigger than I expected, and even decreasing quite a few stitches for the top ribbing and using a 2 x 2 rib the top edge is rather loose. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do anything about it or not; I'll decide after I've worn them a few times. I'm probably going to wear them as my yoga-class socks (I love wearing hand knit socks for shivasana!)

There are definitely lots of little holes in some of the squares corners, in the heel shaping, and along the base and top triangles, but I don't think I'm going to fuss with them too much. I usually opt for deciding to do things a different way the next time I do a similar technique or pattern rather than getting to compulsive about what is already done.

Would I make these socks again? Probably not as knee socks, but I would consider trying a crew-length pair and refining some of the techniques, such as doing the yo's in the heel instead of the wraps, etc. I'm also really intrigued by Bex's comments about the Fixation and/or Esprit cotton yarn. As wool does make me a tad itchy in the knee socks the cotton sounds like a very good choice for a second attempt. I must admit, I'd love to do black and white squares. I'll keep watching what the rest of you do as well!

Sorry

Sorry it took so long for me to post. I've been making tons of shower gifts. So, I've only finished the one sock. I'm pretty pleased with it. Even so, it's the second one that I have knit, so I'm going to take a short break before finishing the other one.



I'm really happy that I switched to the Cascade Fixation. I've seen a few people on craftster who are going to use Elann's Esprit, which i the even cheaper way to go. I only used one skein of the orange, and about 3/4 skein of the green to make this sock, so all in all, they will have cost me 20 bucks. With the Esprit, it would be 12. Not a bad deal.

This sock is super stretchy (except for the heel, but I think if you use the one Spincerely posted it would be awesome) and wonderful. It is thick and soft and luscious and many friends and have touched it and cuddled it, because it literally is cuddly. I was hoping that the cotton would make it wonderful to wear in the summer, but it appears to be a pretty warm sock. Some people have asked about walking on it, and it's lovely. The yarn is absolutely lovely.



I did have to increase to 8 stitch rectangles pretty quickly. I did 3 at 6, 2 at 7 and the rest at 8 to get the right fit for me.

Heel Idea

Good morning:)

I just wanted to write a quick post because in the newest issue of Interweave Knits there is an article on toe-up socks and the heel pattern given in that is awesome! It is so easy and looks much nicer. Both sides look very similar to each other. It is easier because it uses yarn overs instead of wraps in the short rows and they are much easier to see and count. Hope this helps!

Finally got the yarn

I finally bought the yarn for my Entrelac socks. It's Sandnes mandarin Petit cotton yarn in a multi-color and green. So now I have to wait for my needles to arrive. I feel the need to do these socks at once to avoid second sock syndrome.

heel

I was going to try and take pictures but my sock and I are currently not speaking to each other. I feel it best that we spend a few days apart and see how I feel then. (I droped a stitch right down a colum of P2togs.)

So I bassed this on the reverse dutch heel from the sock knitters class. They suggest adding about an inch worth of stitches to each side for the gusset. I did some scary math stuff that somehow seemed to work for me and figured out that for my last CC tier before the heel I needed to pick up 8 stitches instead of 6 on the sole side (I did this for the last 3 squares of the tier) Then I worked the heel triangles picking up 9 sitches for each one.

Then I followed the directions here: http://www.socknitters.com/toe-up/lessonfour.htm

I used 12 stitches for my heel flap, but you can adjust that if you need a narrower or wider heel.

Voila!

They're done! I used Koigu as the pattern suggests, but I made them shorter than knee socks. They are a little tight to put on, but other than that they feel very comfortable and I really like them. I've never done toe-up or short row heels before, so all the advice here on the KAL was really useful. There are more details on my BLOG

(A little more than) halfway there!

One down, about half of the second sock to go! I haven't blocked it yet, but as you can see the first sock is done. As is also readily apparent, it's just in time as the innards of my center-pull ball have spilled themselves out all over everything and if I don't rewind it soon I'll have one heckuva mess on my hands, if I don't already.

To make the socks fit my legs I have tapered the size of the squares from the ankle to the top as follows: I worked 5 CC tiers at 6 stitches each; 3 CC tiers at 7 stitches; 1 CC tier at 8 stitches; and 1 CC tier at 9 stitches for a grand total of 10 tiers of CC squares. Since my squares had more stitches at the top than the pattern specified I had to fudge the directions for the ending triangles a bit. Eunny picked up 8 stitches to begin each end triangle on a 7 stitch square , so following the logic of picking up 1 more stitch than the squares had, I picked up 10 stitches on my 9 stitch squares for each triangle. When I picked up stitches for the ribbing I had forgotten to count how many stitches I had, but it was on the loose side so I a) decreased right away down to 92 stitches total, and b) did the ribbing in k2 p2 instead of a single rib. I also did just 12 rows instead of the fold-over cuff with the tassle thing. I used a bind-off that's very stretchy but I don't know what it's called - it's been used on every lace shawl I've made and makes a beautiful elastic edge. I think the socks could be more snug at the top but it will do. But that is a clue to me as to why that tassle/drawstring was part of the pattern in the first place - I don't think they could be really snug at the top without some help.

I must say that I am VERY glad that the 2nd sock is already done to above the ankle so that I don't have such a daunting time to finishing the pair, and that the yarn untangling has been completed.

Stick a fork in 'em...

... 'cause they are done! :)



More details over on my blog. Thanks to everyone here for sharing your experiences on this one. You all definitely helped clarify the pattern for me and inspired me to soldier on with these. Can't wait to see more awesome pairs of socks here in the coming weeks. :)

*crickets*

Its been quite in here this week. I'm working on the heel of my second sock, I did a flap instead of the short row heel and it worked out quite nicely. I increased the blocks for the last CC row and then did a reverse dutch heel. I think that the short row heel looks better, but I like knitting and the feel of a flap better. I'll post up some pics after I finish the second one.

Making progress

I've been working hard on my socks, and have gotten sock #1 along to about 4 tiers of CC, so it's nearly a crew-sock length. More of my thoughts on the socks can be found here.

Chugging Along

I am chugging along. Knitting socks two at once wears at me sometimes since the progress seems so much slower. (on top of the fact I'm slow anyway) I keep at it since I feel like I might never make the second one if I did them one at a time. I think my entrelac is a bit quirky and perahps I could use some pratice. I think some of these quarks will be minimized by the time I'm done. (and hey no one sees the feet anyway.) Lucky for me these quirks don't show up too badly on the pictures.



The other one looks exactly the same, so you get one pic on the foot :)



And a closeup.

I've been a bad participant!

I joined this group last month, but except for leaving a few comments, I haven't even introduced myself! So hi! I'm Jessica and I've already finished my first of these socks:




It's been an interesting knit since I had never done entrelac before trying this sock. You can read more about my thoughts on these on this personal blog post. One question for the group right now, for those who have finished and worn these, how does the bottom of the foot feel? That's one of the things I found the most odd about this pattern, all those lumps and bumps on the sole of the foot. I'll be curious to hear all your thoughts. Thanks for the KAL and I look forward to seeing more of these! :)

Hi!

I just wanted to say "Hi!" to the group. I will be making these socks, but won't have my yarn for four more weeks when my knitting group goes on a shopping field trip. However, I will be reading along to learn from those who have gone before me on these awesome socks.

Making progress

Here's my progress so far. The yarn is Koigu which I love. This is my first toe-up pattern, so I'm glad to have this KAL to refer to. I used the easy toe from SKS because it seemed like the simplest way to get started. I'm nervous about the heel, but I've printed out all the tips I've found here so I'm sure I'll be fine.

Knitting along

Hello, fellow Entrelac Sock knitters! I just joined this knitalong so I've got a bit of catching up to do. I really enjoyed reading everyone else's thoughts and input - it's great to know that some of the problems that have rattled around in my head weren't just me - it looks like many of us are experiencing some of the same things.

I have come to realize that sock designers as a breed must be really tight knitters. I know I knit loosely, but there's no way I can get my gauge to match many of the beautiful socks that I see in Knitty, knitting magazines, other blogs, etc. And I do find that getting a dense yarn like Koigu to knit up at anything less than 6.5 st per inch or so to be impossible on any size needles. I used some Cherry Hill Farm sock yarn that I had on hand,which is definitely thinner than Koigu, but even then I couldn't get my gauge to be any less than 7.75 st per inch, even on US Size 00 needles. As I wear a size 6/6.5 shoe I knew I wanted the socks to be smaller than the pattern, but my gauge was already bigger, so what to do? (this is where it might have been good to read all those knitalong entries about size issues before I started!)

I ended up deciding to do the pattern as described but with % stitch blocks instead of 6. Since the toe-up design allows for trying on as you go, I found that after 3 CC tiers I needed to go up to the 6 st blocks called for. I've now gotten sock #1 done through just past the heel, and have decided that as all of the really tricky parts are in the foot that ultimately I would be a happier person (and one more likely to end up with a pair of socks rather than a singleton) if I went ahead and started sock # 2 now, and get it up to the same point before I start on the leg section. As of tonight I am a couple of tiers into the 2nd sock and am glad to have that toe cast-on done with.

More to follow soon! (sorry for the goofy picture order; I've just started blogging and find the picture inserting to be really problematic!)

Eunny Sayz

"Hey, I just found this! It's great that there's a knitalong, though
I'm sorry to hear that people are having elasticity issues.
I have a couple things to note:

1) DO NOT SLIP THE FIRST STITCHES OF YOUR ROWS. Seriously. Bias fabric isn't terribly stretchy anyway, and over the whole circumference of the sock, this will severely limit how much lateral stretch the sock has (i.e., how easily it will pull over the heel). The directions specifically call for NOT slipping the first stitches of the rows, and the accompanying article notes this. It will help, I promise.

2) The sock is written with a classic short row heel because it fits seamlessly into the entrelac structure, and because I think it looks cool to have a heel that first into the surrounding blocks like a puzzle piece. You *could* knit a gusseted flap-style heel, but it would require increasing the size of the bottom three blocks leading up to it to act as the gussets.

3) If you have big calves (like me - there's no way I could have worn the socks pictured), you will want to add another set of increase rows. Basically, when the sock reaches to the point at which your calf begins to widen, work your first set of increase rows (7 stitch/14 row blocks). Halfway between there and the widest part of your calf, work another set of increase rows in the same way (8 stitch/16 row blocks). This will give you another inch and a half or so of calf circumference. I did this for the ones I'm knitting, and it's working great.

4) Swatch, swatch, swatch. If your sock is too tight, go up in needle size. If it's too big, go down. Add or remove a stitch and two rows to or from each block. Make little adjustments to fine tune the fit.

Happy Knitting!
Eunny"

Hi all

I started my socks Friday and (for some unknown reason) decided that it would be a good idea to knit them two at once. I'm using Knit Picks Essential in Navy and Ash.

You can stick them with a fork

Guess what? I finished my socks!



I used just over 3 skeins of Koigu; 2 for the main color and 1 plus a smidgen of the second skein for the contrast color (so if you want them a bit shorter, you can definitely get away with 3 skeins all together and save some $$). I didn't do quite knee-highs -- more like calf-highs. I'm not really sure I would recommend that, but my goal was to knit as high as I could with one ball of the main color. They fit ok. I mean, I knew when I started that I don't have size 8 feet and that is what size the pattern is written for, but I think they probably fit me better than they would a true size 8. I can get them over my heels. They are a bit snug going on and coming off, but it is just a quick tug, not a 3 or 4 minute procedure like Bex had with her first sock try.


I really did enjoy making these. I learned how to knit back backwards which besides being fun to say, is fun to do and I did that a lot on the second sock. There are also far far fewer mistakes on the second sock!

I am teaching these as a class at my LYS at the end of the month and I have to knit a shop sample starting like tonight. I'm a bit worried about the sizing issues. Maybe I just need to cross my fingers for more process knitters than product knitters, right?

I like Bex's idea of using stretch yarn like Fixation. The shop does not carry that, but we do have Lana Grossa Point Print and Solid which is really close and a bit lighter even... Hummmm.... That is a good possibility. Ok, I'm starting to feel a bit better now....

Elastic Entrelac

The Cascade Fixation is working much better than the wool yarn that I originally used. The pattern gauge calls for 17 sts/2inches, which is what I had...though my wool sock was not easy to pull on, and almost impossible to pull off. I had to modify the pattern to get it to fit my foot, etc. However, the Fixation was giving me a gauge of 20sts/2 inches on the size 2 needles, and I haven't had to modify much at all.
I absolutely agree with brainymom that the heel sucks. Even with the elastic yarn, it takes a good tug to get it on my heel, and it is the tightest part of my sock. I modified it a bit by fixing the messed up count on the short rows, but that was about it. I was able to get a really nice fit with the 5 CC tiers in the foot portion, and unlike my other sock, I will be able to get by with the increases in the leg that the pattern calls for.
I picked a striping yarn for the CC, so it does some kind of fun things as the pattern goes on.
If anyone has not started these socks yet, I highly recommend using an elastic yarn, like the Cascade Fixation. I don't think that entrelac is really meant for a knee-high sock without some kind of synthetic fiber help. I am, however, in suspense over here...waiting to hear back from the knitters using the koigu!

First post here!

Hi guys!
Here's my entrelac socks in progress...

The pink yarn in Regia silk and the burgundy yarn is Regia silk shine. I've tried using both yarns to make socks but it just never worked out, but they work great together, don't you think?
I've since finished the 5th CC tier and am supposed to work on the heels, but I put it on and I think it's not quite long enough. What should I do?

I am done with sock #1 and ya know what? I don't like it.
damn.
I didn't like knitting it, I hate the way she did the heel, it has no elasticity (I don't think entrelac is a very good choice for a knee-high sock really)
it's cute, yeah, but my time and yarn could go to better uses. blah. I hate being disappointed, but I'm not doing the second sock.
son of a bitch

Finished!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!! This pattern has caused me some trouble, I had to add an extra CC tier in the foot, and then I had difficulties getting the sock over my heel. So to solve that I started my leg increases early. Then, I didn't feel like doing extra leg increases for the sock to fit over my large calves, so I decided to end the sock at a regular crew length. I am SOOOOO glad to finally have finished this pair of socks. In the first pic, one sock looks bigger than the other. This is because one sock had just come off my foot (and had been stretched) and the other had just come off the needles. So, now I guess I can say that my entrelac socks were based on the Entrelac socks from the Spring 2007 Interweave issue. Since I barely followed the pattern.

I used Knitpicks Gloss yarn in Burgundy and Serengeti, using only one hank of each. I did enjoy knitting these, and I think I might make another pair to pattern specs when I've lost some more weight.

Almost ready to start

I've been wanting to knit the entrelac socks, and I think this KAL will be fun and motivating. I just have to finish up the pair of socks I'm knitting now and wait for my yarn order to arrive. It's not like I really need more sock yarn - I have enough for something like 51 pairs of socks. However, I looked through my stash, and even though there were some yarns that would have probably worked, none of them seemed to be quite right for this project. So I ordered some Koigu - it seemed like a perfectly logical choice for an obsessed knitter like me! I'm looking foward to working on these socks and seeing everyone's masterpieces.

make way for the tortoise

I think the only members slower than me are the ones who haven't started their socks yet :) But, I did finish my first contrast colour tier today.

Am I exhausted.

Maybe that gentleman on the bus who mentioned sock crank machines was hinting .... Entrelac by machine? Sounds a little bit crazy to me. ***CV

One More Tier Before the Heel

I have heard horror stories about the heel. Any advice?

almost done

it's a good thing I have short legs...that's all I can say

One Entrelac Sock finished. But not to the pattern specs (shorter and no tassles). I didn't feel like adding in extra increases to accommodate for my large calves, so I stopped at 4 CC tiers after the heel for a regular length sock. I cast on for sock #2 this morning.

Chittavrtti's Yarn

I took a picture of chittavrtti's yarn while we were out on Saturday. It is so beautiful and soft and it's got that sort of spiral spin to it. Anyway, she's got beautiful colors, so I figured I'd post them for her!!

A Big Change

So I knitted in the 9th and 10th CC tiers (plus the MC's that went along with them) as 8 stitch tiers and the sock fit, but it's a real pain in the ass. Getting it on is okay, except for the part where I've got to get it over my ankle, but getting it off is a major bummer. I have to tug on the heel a bit, and then tug on the foot portion and then the heel again and then the ankle part, etc...until I slowly loosen it bit by bit so that I can get it off my foot. There is no 'give' to it at all, and it's so tight on my calf, even with the 8 stitch tiers that I worry that the fibers are going to break down really soon.

I went with chittavrtti to a coffee shop this weekend and worked on the sock some more. She suggested that I try and knit another one, either using size 2's for the whole thing, or switching to them after I got to the ankle. I decided that she was one smart cookie, so I'd give it a try. I started another sock on 2's. I got to the 2nd CC tier and just got totally bummed. The knitting up to that point was sligtly see-through and it still didn't seem to have very much give to it. I tried it on over my toe and it just seemed kind of loose.So, I started thinking that I just wished that there was some elastic in my yarn. That would solve all of my problems. I was getting gauge on this sock, but that didn't seem to be enough for this pattern for some reason. Just like brainymom said, different yarns seem to have different pliability, and it seems as if the vintage yarn I was using had super sucky pliability. I decided to give up on the socks for a bit yesterday and think about it and we went out to lunch. During lunch I decided that it would only cost me 10 bucks to go to the yarn store and get some Cascade Fixation and give it a shot. I didn't think that it would work, but my babe wants a headband to match his daddy's, so I figured I could always turn it into that.


Well, I'm up to the 2nd CC tier in the sock. I am loving it, and hoping that it's going to work out. I picked orange and a stripey green, cause that's pretty much all they had besides purples and pinks. The cast on and the toe were super hard because I kept pulling the yarn, which made the stitches way too tight to knit them on the 1's. I thought about switching to #2's, but figured that would be a major mistake, since I am getting 20 stitches /inch with this yarn and 1's. That's right...way bigger than gauge for this pattern. However, what I've got so far is fitting perfectly. Once I stopped stretching the yarn to knit it, and started knitting it slack it was much easier and obviously made for a much softer feel.I'm going to keep up with the Fixation until I finish the heel and see how the fit is. I'm kind of stoked that I went and got this stuff, because not only is the elastic seeming to make these fit better, but the cotton will enable me to wear them in the summer without worrying about the heat, and I can throw them in the washer (gasp!) with the rest of my clothes.

Here's hoping that this works, cause I really want a pair of these socks.

A few more modifications

So, I don't have time to post a picture right now, but I will soon. I finished the 11 CC tiers on the leg portion of the sock, but when I tried it on, the last 2 tiers were so tight that I could barely pull the socks over the upper part of my calf muscle. So, I took those two tiers out and I am going to increase them to be 8 stitch tiers. I will try the sock on again, but from trying it on this morning, I think I am going to put 12 or 13 CC tiers (so 1 or 2 more than the pattern calls for) on the leg portion because I want them to go all the way to my knee.
I got gauge with this yarn, but I guess it must not be as stretchy as the koigu. The only modifications I have made so far were to add an extra CC tier to the foot portion so that it would fit. I can get the socks on but they are really tight and I've got to be careful pulling them off. I thought about adjusting it so that they were bigger, but I kind of like the tightness to them because they keep the shape of my leg, thus looking much sexier than if they were bulkier, so I guess it's worth them being a pain in the ass to get on and off.
I am meeting some people at a coffee shop this afternoon to work on these, so I will post a pic when I get back.

they're looking good!

I, on the other hand, am not ;)
excuse the silly late-night web cam pic (the colors look a little washed out)

backwards knitting?

so the knitting goddess blessed me yesterday with a quick lesson in backwards knitting from the lys-owner friend of mine. The lack of turning this piece is wonderful and changing the whole way I'm knitting it 'cause it's not all messy in the middle and it's so easy to do once you practice.
for those wanting to use magic loop or two circulars, this may allow for that
I'm sticking with dpns though, 'cause I don't have any small enough circulars and can't afford new addis right now :(
good luck!