Wish You Were Here Socks

A new pair of socks has been casted off my needles! Do want to know the details, lessons learned, and thoughts? If so, this post is for you.

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Yarn: Malabrigo Sock Yarn in color, Kris

Pattern: Wish You Were Here by The Kitchen Sink Shop

Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) double pointed needles

What I Enjoyed:

• Lace stitch pattern that was simple and intuitive
• Springy feel
• A quick knit

What Bothered Me:

• Too many stitches decreased for toes

Materials

Malabrigo Sock Yarn is a 100% superwash wool yarn. I didn’t want to “gift” the stress of possibly felting a pair of socks that I would give to friends and family not living in my house; I hand wash and block the household’s handknits. Superwash yarn was a solution.

After knitting the boldly colored Whales Road skein of Malabrigo Sock Yarn I had knit into a pair of Mariesi Socks by Marie Amelie Designs, I had a skein of more muted colors. The lighter blue with hints of purple and pink in the skein felt perfect to knit on this spring.

I downloaded the Wish You Were Here sock pattern by The Kitchen Sink Shop. I knit the Medium size.

Double pointed needles were my needles of choice.

Modifications

Stitch Count for Toes

When I casted on, I was knitting up these socks as written in the pattern with no modifications. Even the number of times I repeated the lace stitch pattern along the leg was knit to pattern instructions.

Unfortunately, I made an unintended modification. In the instructions, it was written to decrease to 32 stitches before using the kitchener stitch to close the toes. I decreased to 16 stitches. I’m so used to decreasing to that stitch count with the toes I most often knit.

Thankfully, my slightly narrower toe still fits well.

Other Notes

Machine Washing Over Hand Washing

I had a light-bulb moment when going to wash and block these socks.

In the past, I have hand washed and blocked all my socks knit by hand. The majority of socks that I’ve knit were made with 100% wool yarn.

With my socks knit with superwash yarn, I realized I should be delicate washing them in the washing machine as I assumed the people receiving the socks would.

That way, I would experience any color bleeding from the yarn, stretched out socks, etc. and not the receiver of the socks.

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Inconsistent Tension

I never imagined how knitting with superwash wool yarn would reveal my uneven tension.

My inconsistencies in tension are highlighted when working with superwash wool yarn, especially in the sections I switch to a new needle on (double pointed).

My Mariesi Socks had ladders which I learned to eliminate in the process of knitting them.

Speaking of tension, I had a tighter tension when knitting the second sock of the pair. This resulted in a slightly smaller sock than the first one.

I have 2 thoughts on how to prevent mismatching sized socks due to tension in the future:

• Knitting 2-at-a-time socks
• Intentionally relaxing while I knit to avoid any stress affecting my stitches

Thankfully, both socks still fit well, and the difference mostly shows when the 2 socks lay side by side.

Overall, knitting with superwash yarn has heightened my attention to keeping even tension in several ways.

Conclusion

My spring days were brightened with the pleasure of knitting up these socks.

For those knitters on the hunt for delightful sock patterns, I was impressed by the socks in The Kitchen Sink Shop.

From my experience with Wish You Were Here, Garlene, the designer, writes clear and easy-to-follow patterns which makes the knitting process very enjoyable.

After eyeing several of her sock patterns, I purchased the Emmina Socks. I hope to knit up a pair of Emmina Socks before summer’s end.

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Have a blessed day, friends! I will be back with more to share soon.

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