Last week I shared a video about starting a pair of socks (see here). And here is the progress I’ve made as of a few minutes ago.  (a more pedantic discussion is down below)

I cast on and got started, then about half-way up the toes I discovered a problem, so I set them aside to dye a batch of Blog Reader Specials.

The socks were started with a Turkish cast-on, wrapping 2 needles with 14 wraps for each sock, then increasing every other round at both ends of each needle.  For socks I do a yarn over for the increase, and on the next round I knit into the yarn-over through the back of the loop so that the stitch is closed.  There are many different ways to do toe-up increases; this is just the method I like and use, at least for toes.

Anyway, I got about half-way up the toes and paused to count the stitches.  Casting on 14 stitches, then increasing by 2 every other round, I should have had an even number of stitches all the way up.  Nope.  I counted 25 on the first needle.  I looked to see if I had skipped in increase, and then counted all the stitches on all the other needles.  Dang — they all had 25 stitches and should have had 26.  So apparently, my Turkish cast-on only had 13 wraps somehow on both toes.

I wasn’t going to rip it all out and start over.  I decided to remain diligent until I reached 35 stitches on each needle for each toe, front and back.  Working with undyed yarn, inserting an extra stitch would have been too obvious, so I decided to start my contrast band that separates the toe stitches from the instep/sole stitches.

I have always centered my socks at the bottom of the toe, as well as up the center of the heel and back of the leg.  This allows any shift in design or color to be less obtrusive.

So I knitted across the bottom of the toe for 17 stitches with the undyed, and then introduced the contrast yarn, knitting the remaining 18 stitches. I knitted across the top of the toe, came back around and knitted 17 stitches of contrast into the 17 stitches of undyed. When I got back to where I started the contrast, I know that was the 18th stitch, into which I knitted front and back (Kfb), then knitted around to the other side and did a Kfb at the 18th stitch.  And, of course, I did the same thing on the other sock.

So, now I have 36 stitches on each needle for each toe, front and back.

I’m ready to start the next round, but I’ve not decided which sock yarn or yarns to add into this pair of socks.  I’m going to leave that to faithful readers to suggest a skein from all the yarns on the Blog Reader Specials page.   I may well decide to incorporate multiple skeins, with each new color separated by 2 rounds of the contrast color.  Please leave a comment below with the BRS # of the colorway you want me to start with.

I have seen other socks knitted with different yarns, and they are often cute, but my regimented mind requires a strong contrast band to separate the various colorways, just like I require the contrast between the toes/heels and the rest of the sock.  I’m sure if I spelled out all the “rules” my brain concocts for socks, some of you might question my sanity.   But rest assured, my sock-knitting rules only apply to my own socks.  In real life there are no rigid rules for socks or most other things.  🙂

Tomorrow I will reskein the most recent BRS yarns so I can ship on Thursday; and also on Thursday I will pull new hanks from cones so I can dye a new batch on Friday.   Reaching the end of the month I realize I’m already over $400 short toward the bills due on Saturday, so I will likely dye a larger BRS collection and hope more sell.  Nearly everyone I know is feeling the pinch these days, and I’m not sure where the breaking point for many people I know.  I’ll just keep doing what I know how to do and hope it all works out.