#but colorwork is pretty difficult actually and i now have this yarn that would pair up actually pretty nicely with the yellow

[twilightprophet]

sock project #1 :: crochet

first boot socks finished! i used laceweight wool yarn to avoid bulkiness. followed this pattern for the toe and foot, then switched to this one for the heel flap onward. i wasn't sure if they'd come out fine enough to make a practical / comfy boot sock, but actually i'd say these are officially now my best boot socks (even over my knitted ones), particularly bc i like how strong the heel is. & to assuage the common complaints of crochet: these are more elastic than people give crochet credit for + with such small stitches, the textured nature of crochet isn't really an issue. the pattern is easy (laceweight would be the most difficult aspect for beginners), almost no math, and they work up actually pretty quickly thanks to the linked dc stitch. they feel spongy and sturdy, a good boot sock that i'd gladly wear all day! that said, i do have some notes for next time i crochet boot socks (yeah, i want more) to get a better fit, please see below the readmore if you're interested! but to sum up:

10/10! if you want a good sturdy sock and don't care about fancy colorwork, i highly recommend giving crochet a chance

ok i had some problems making these to mark upfront:

i underestimated crochet's capability for elasticity. i feel like 'crochet isn't stretchy' is just a stereotype made up by Big Knit. they stretch really well. i can't do math, but i'd say they hit around that 10% elasticity marker that knitted socks have. but i was so concerned they wouldn't stretch at all that i made them to my measurements and, ultimately, a bit too big. it's not a disastrous problem, but next time i crochet socks, i need to make them a bit smaller and trust the elasticity when i put them on.

the next 2 are definitely a me problem. first, i have small feet (US 3 / EU 33) and a short heel. obv this means i had to mess around w the patterns a lot. i'm extremely lucky that crochet is adaptable for this (how well this will go in knitting is making me nervous), but it did make the heel/ankle part of the pattern a bit difficult to follow. i'll get into my solution below. but this also fed into my previous problem with elasticity, bc i often overestimate how large my feet are -- i get nervous about fit (surely i can't be this child sized! no, i am, for sure) and go larger than my actual measurements -- and i'm 100% certain this contributed to this pair of socks being a bit too big. like again, these socks are still a fine pair to wear, but i wanna work on getting a better fit next time, so i need to be better about trusting my measurements.

my laceweight yarn was gifted and i think it was handspun, bc omg, the dark brown yarn especially was inconsistent. it's not a big problem, but i had to frog multiple times bc the yarn weight would suddenly change and i'd overshoot my measurements. but this means i can only give measurements; i can't provide a firm pattern this time around for my socks.

anyway, here's how i got this pair of socks and my notes for the future:

Toe: i just followed the original pattern. 2.5mm hook, increased up to 56 sc until i got to 5cm long. the yarn i have is considerably thinner than hers, so 2.5 was honestly too large and it shows, but i was also... too lazy to find my 2mm hook and switch in the beginning. lol. anyway, next time i crochet socks, i'll use 2mm for the toe too. that'll smooth out the join at the toe/foot for sure. but rn idc, it's just to note in the future

Foot (pie): this is when i switched to 2mm hook / dark brown / linked dc. i also added one more increase to the first row (64 linked dc) to make up for the switch in hook size + the dark brown yarn's inconsistency. the width is perfect (~9.75cm across; ~20cm circumference i guess), no notes. the foot portion for me is 11.5 cm long -- with the yarn's inconsistency, that means 24 rows for the 1st sock and 21 rows for the 2nd sock lol. however, the foot length is also the most ill-fitting part of my socks; they're for sure too long. next time, i should take off at least 2.5 cm from the length and go from there

Heel flap / turn: switched yarns again and to sc. the heel flap is just over 1/2 of my sock width and it had to be divisible by 3. this was the only important math for my socks really, thank god. but 64 / 2 = 32, i went up to 36 sc just for funsies. my heel flap was 4.5 cm (18 rows), which i'd say worked out fine. then just continued with the heel turn as instructed -- 12 sc for the heel turn part

Heel/Ankle: ok well starting out the ankle was... interesting. the heel and the foot did not match up well, the heel was too short to really meet with the foot part, so crocheting across both wasn't going to work well. and making the heel flap longer didn't work well with my feet when i tried them on -- even when positioned correctly, the heel pulled away from my ankle. idk if that makes sense, it just wasn't working. my best guess is my actual heel is shorter than expected lol. anyway, my best solution has been to add 1 row sc, turn, 1 row linked dc to the heel part to make it match with the foot, then just carry on (76 linked dc). it worked out fine, whatever

Ankle: i also have thin ankles, which i tried to account for but not enough. anyway, once i was a few rows into the ankle, i decreased to get those 76 stitches to 62 linked dc (every 5th stitch decrease worked well enough). i pulled the ankle of my 2nd sock in a few more stitches for a better fit (57 dc), which is pretty noticeable in my pic lol, but that was a smart move. when i followed the video tutorial, it made the ankle ill-fitting for me. for my next socks, i need to pull the ankles in to 57 (or less) more quickly. i suspect that'll help with the bunching at the front of my ankle, there's too much space there for sure. but i think making the foot shorter and bringing the ankles in more / more quickly will help make the next pair better fitting

i've been wearing ill-fitting / kids shoes (almost always unbelievably horrible quality) + socks for my entire life. i can't find boot socks my size. led to quite an appreciation of bespoke footwear. and i've been working on getting custom boots, but boot socks have always been impossible for me. these crocheted socks are a bit too big still, sure, but i can't convey how cool it is to wear a sock that has a heel fitted for me. it's actually so fucking exciting! i mean, there's a lesson in the value of a bespoke item (esp for something that supports your feet!) over the mass-manufactured options. but even just customizing patterns to fit you better is such a useful thing!!

and that is a lesson that i learned from nalbinding, the queen craft of customization, which is next up for the sock project!

[o-wyrmlight]

Making a swatch right now for the yellow yarn, but I think I'm going to try to make another directional scarf with these two colors. I'm still going to give the green one as a gift. I wouldn't mind that massive mistake I made as much, if it weren't for the fact that it makes it constantly want to curl in half. We'll see if I learned from last time and whether or not I know how to cast on from the sides properly. We'll see.

I also did this scarf a while ago, but wasn't much of a fan of the color. Looking at the picture now, it does seem rather colorful, in hindsight. It has some wool in it, so it should be warmer. I have another one much like it, but it's white instead of the grey that goes throughout it, so that's probably why this one looked 'meh' to me.

Maybe I'll send this one to my grandma, too. I still need to block both of these scarves regardless: I just don't have enough blocking segments to fit even one fully, let alone two.

Something I noticed with the grey rainbow wool scarf is that it always seems to get a bit wider when it reaches the purple sections. Hopefully blocking it will help mitigate that.