I have to admit that my socks isn’t generally the first place I go, when I need something to give me an injection of joy! But it has been my go to so far this month…
I’m not talking about my sock drawer, although as a knitter with a penchant for self-striping sock yarn, there is certainly joy to be found there! I am of course talking about my current knitting project: Dambisa Socks by Noma Ndlovu (Etsy link) (Biggerthanlife Knits on Instagram).
I am loving this project. The pattern is simple but really effective, and it’s working so nicely with the Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Cashmere/Nylon 4ply that I knitting with. This is a combination of a pattern and yarn that was just meant to be.
I’ve completed the heel flap and turn and now I’m ready to do the gusset… which brings me to my video tip…
I had a message on Ravelry a week ago asking whether we had a video on picking up stitches to avoid a gap between the heel flap and instep on a sock. When I was asked last week the answer was no, but now that we are set up in our new office (whoot!) and I have a dedicated filming and photography space (double whoot!), it wasn’t too much trouble to pop in and film since I already had socks in that construction on the go! If there is a topic you’d like us to do a video on, do drop us a line via our contact form. I can’t promise we will manage to turn around a video quite as quickly as this, but we are always on the lookout for tips to share, so do get in touch!
I present to you a video tip: Closing the Gusset Gap
The video shows you how to pick up extra stitches to avoid a gap between the heel flap and gusset. It doesn’t matter how many stitches you pick up and each end. In the video I picked up three at the start of the instep and just two at the end. The number of stitches you pick up will be determined by how much of a gap you can see. And, of course, if you pick up some extra stitches, don’t forget to work some extra decreases in order to reach the desired number of stitches for the foot of your sock. That’s generally quite straightforward to do.
I really hope that you’ll find that little tip helpful. All new videos on our YouTube channel have corrected English subtitles which I hope you’ll find helpful. We are working through our back catalogue, so do drop us a line through our contact form if there’s a video we haven’t got to that you’d like us to prioritise.
I’m knitting my Dambisa Socks as part of our Bringing Joy Knitalong, which is taking place in The Knitalong Hub. If you’ve not signed up yet, then do come and join us! We are awarding weekly gift voucher prizes in the knitalong, as well as goodies (books! yarn!) as we pass membership milestones in The Knitalong Hub. There are knitters from all over the world sharing the projects that are bringing them joy, so there’s heaps of inspiration if you are looking for a new project.
And talking of new projects… I have a new design which I did for The Mimo Yarn Company and it’s now available! I present to you the Cables & Beyond Socks (Ravelry link)…
These are toe-up socks with a honeycomb cable pattern worked up the front panel. They have an afterthought heel construction, and you can pick up the extra stitches at the corners of the heel opening in the same way as the extra stitches in the video tip. Double tips! They are knitted in Molly’s beautiful Yak Sock in the Crushed Velvet colourway. This colourway is currently out of stock, but here are alternatives: Yak Sock And you can get in touch with Molly at The Mimo Yarn Company if you’d like to know when Crushed Velvet is back in stock.
I do hope you are finding joy in your knitting, whether it’s socks or another project. Do stop by The Knitalong Hub and tell us about it.