Favorite Thing Friday: Fireside Socks

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My sock knitting adventure continues with another pair of straight needle socks. After surviving the disaster of a totally failed attempt at straight needle socks, it was to nice jump in again and find success. In order to start fresh, I selected a new pattern, new yarn, and bought new knitting needles. Apparently, all that “new” paid off because I ended up with a super cute pair of socks!

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Fireside Straight Needle Socks
Photo by: c.b.w. 2014

For these socks, I used my favorite yarn, Paton’s Kroy in Aqua Jacqaurd. Lucky me, I got this yarn on sale for only $2 a skein. The pattern is called Fireside and comes from Knit Your Socks on Straight by Alice Curtis.

The pattern for these socks put up a fight right from the start as I realized it was riddled with errors. I loved the texture of the pattern so much, I decided not to give up. After doing some research online, I found the errata and was able to correct all the mistakes. Anyone else who attempts these socks should do the same. Trust me, you’ll end up with great socks if you put in the time to fix the pattern.

I hit a milestone with these socks as they are the first straight needle socks I’ve made where I had to knit a texture over the top of the foot while maintaining a smooth stockinette stitch on the instep. This can be a bit a tricky as straight needle socks split the pattern into two sections with the instep in between. Knitting even in pattern, while also working an instep takes a good memory and a lot of patience! But, I did it!

The success of these socks has pushed me to try something I’ve avoided up to this point. It’s no secret that I hate knitting on double pointed needles, but I’ve decided to try knitting a pair of socks using those cursed needles. We’ll see how it goes!

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What’s your favorite thing this week?

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c.b.w. 2014

18 thoughts on “Favorite Thing Friday: Fireside Socks”

  6. These turned out beautifully! I remain amazed that knitting socks on needles is so much trickier for fit, etc. than using the sock loom. BTW, if you learn how to do magic loop you will never have to use the dreaded double pointed needles to knit in the round. There are lots of good videos on YouTube. Doing magic loop is much easier than the explanations would have you believe, and well worth the time to learn it. Hats, sweater sleeves, socks, all can be done easily.

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    • I’ve looked into the magic loop method, but I haven’t been brave enough to try it. Just recently, I pulled out the double pointed needles to knit a pair of socks the traditional way. So far, it’s going pretty well. I’m not nearly as annoyed as I thought I’d be. It’s still not my favorite way to knit, but the socks are turning out great. 🙂

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  7. Sunflower

    I”m just wondering. Now do you prefer the needles to the loom? I sure don’t want to spend the money on the loom if the needles are easier. I have knitted socks with four double pointed needles in the past, but was thinking that the loom would be less messy, especially when knitted while travelling in the car.

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    • I definitely prefer the loom to needles. The last couple of years, I’ve traveled with my loom and it is so much easier than needles. No mess, no fuss, and no worries about stitches fall off during transit. 🙂 In all honesty, my loom still makes the best socks. I’ve tried two different needle methods and I still think the loom creates the highest quality and best fitting sock.

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