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stripey ribbed sock and second sock on needlesI was away over the weekend. It was literally a flying visit. Taking the second sock of this pair (which has admittedly grown since the toe appearing here) didn’t seem like a good idea. I might get it finished and run out of knitting! Hardly likely but, of course, that would be when a flight gets delayed! I’d also have to take the first sock so I’d know exactly when to start the ribbing and when to cast off.

Starting a new pair sounded like a much better idea! So I did. I got the toe knitted up before we left and was ready to get cracking with some texture. I chose  Kebnekaise, having had it in mind when I bought the sock wool. Unfortunately, my colour splashes are much shorter and it just didn’t look right. I carried on for a bit, just to be sure, and then a good two inches into the foot, I frogged.

Attempt number two: Estonian Button Stitch Socks – from memory. Well my memory did not serve me well and the sock looked awful. The “buttons” pulled the stitches together and made gaps either side. So the sock was frogged back to the toe. Again.

Attempt number three: Hermione’s Everyday Socks. You can’t go wrong there, I thought. After all there are 5887 pairs of them on Ravelry. So off I went, knitting plain rows in-between the patterned rows until I had about two inches of foot. Again. Was I happy? No. The fabric felt very dense and I tried blaming it on the sock yarn even though it was quite normal otherwise. Something wasn’t right. In desperation I frogged. Again.

Attempt number four? Yes, there was a fourth attempt. I was in an aeroplane after all. I started anew with the same knit 3, purl 1 ribbing I’m doing on the sock I didn’t want to take with me! It works but I’m really not keen to knit the same pattern all over again right now.

black speckled yarn and sock toe

So what did I learn? The patterned rows on Hermione are one purl for every three knit stitches and not one purl for every knit stitch. Estonian Button Stitch is quite different to what I was attempting to do and, done properly, I think this would match the yarn quite nicely.

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