February’s Sock

I was inspired by Lamb’s post about loving stockings. Unfortunately, I was inspired to make stockings and inspired to do a sock o’ the month activity about four days before the month began. I also don’t have the budget for the yarn I’d like to do stockings in, so that pattern will have to wait for another month. When I went looking for a yarn that I could afford, to make a pair of socks for February’s sock, I fell in love with this pink and green camoflauge yarn. I ordinarily don’t like this stuff, so maybe it was a mix of equal parts of desperation and inspiration, with a liberal dose of poverty that made this yarn stand out. I am pleased, though, with my socks. They are not the slinky stockings that I had envisioned for a February 14th roll in the sheets, but they are bright, pretty, flowery, and they remind me of spring -which is actually where my head is these days. I think we’re all pretty fed up with winter up here in Canada.

Depending on how you look at it, these socks took me either two days or 24 hours to make. I started them after supper last night and finished them after supper this evening. Mind you, I have the basic pattern in my head, and I work like a machine until this stuff is done. A beginner could probably do these in about a week. My suggestion is to wind the one skein into two balls of yarn and do both socks at once. Break them up into sections: toes, foot, heel, leg. This way you don’t end up with two socks that are both different sizes because your gauge will change depending on your speed, mood, and the weight of your project as it gets bigger. A happy hooker crochets a sock that fits. A pissed off one who was just stuck in traffic, lost her credit card, and has to listen to a sentence that starts with “Mom don’t hate me but…..” will produce a substantially tighter (and smaller) sock.

3.5mm hook
3.25mm hook
1 skein Bernat Sox in pink camoflauge
1 darning needle
split ring stitch markers
Cost: About $6.
Note: you may want to buy some elastic thread to crochet with on the leg. Just use the thread and your yarn together, working them as one unit. You do not need to twist it together. It’s just a suggestion, if you happen to like wearing your socks pulled up, because this yarn is not elastic. Otherwise, you can crumple them down a bit, or fold the leg as a cuff. I didn’t put any elastic in mine, but I also like pushing down my socks and wearing loose little cuffs – what can I say, the 80s were good to me:)

Special stitches:
V-stitch: 2 double crochet in one sc or in between 2 dc of V-stitch below
Shell: 5 dc in V-stitch or stitch indicated

Follow pattern for Basic Sock through heel shaping, using larger hook. After the heel is done, mark a side stitch as beginning of pattern round and work three rounds of sc. Switch to smaller hook. In next sc after marker, work V-stitch. Skip next sc, place V-stitch in next sc, and so, to end of round. Join last V-stitch to first V-stitch with a slip stitch, and then slip stitch into the centre of the first V-stitch to begin the next round.

Next round:

Chain 3 (counts as dc, now and always), dc in between 2 dc below for starting V-stitch, place V-stitch in V-stitch around, ending round and beginning next round as before.

Continue for 25 more rounds or until sock is as long as you like. If you find the bottom portion of the leg is too loose, you can decrease like I did by placing a dc where the centre back V-stitch would be, for 5-10 rounds, trying on as you go. Just keep placing a dc in that dc, instead of a V-stitch. When it starts to feel snug, put a V-stitch in it and treat it like the rest.

Last round:

To begin, slip stitch into the centre of the V-stitch as per normal. Do not work this area, though. Instead, place a Shell in the next V-stitch, a sc in the V-stitch after that, and carry on across the round, alternating shells and sc until you get to the last V-stitch. Work a sc2tog over the first and last V-stitches (depending of course, on your original numbers – your stitch count may vary from mine because your foot may be a different size so you may not have to adjust the last two stitches). Fasten off, weave in ends.