I’ve been a knitter for five years, and I have never before knit a pair of socks. Well, until today. I’ve always wanted to venture into sock knitting, but something about it always scared me away. Maybe it was all the double-pointed needle contraptions.
I kept buying sock sets from indie dyers because they were so, so cute, but I just kept pushing off my first pair of socks. Did I want to use DPNs? Did I want to use the magic loop method? What were all these new stitches and knitting methods I’d never heard of before?
So, what’s a girl to do? Well, I settled on trying out some 9″ circular needles, as those felt the least intimidating. (Side note: I’m hooked on these and will be buying an interchangeable set sometime in the future.) I eventually used some DPNs at the heels and toes, but these, at a minimum, helped me get started and completely fly through the main body of the sock. But let’s talk more about the pattern before we get into the construction.
The Pattern:
Pattern: I’m So Basic Socks by Summer Lee
Cost: Completely Free!
When I was browsing patterns, I knew I wanted one that was clearly written and inexpensive, since this was my very first pair of socks. Summer Lee is known for her sock patterns and offers this I’m So Basic pattern at the affordable price of free ninety-nine. It had plenty of projects on Ravelry and a great rating, so I went ahead and downloaded it and started perusing the notes.
Because I wanted to add colorwork to the socks, I knew I wanted something that had a very simple construction, and this pattern fit the bill.
The I’m So Basic Socks pattern gave me:
- A vanilla cuff-down construction
- Simple heel and gusset shaping
- Minimal math or guesswork
- Freedom to focus on the colorwork instead of the structure of the sock
Basically, everything I needed.
The Fair Isle Chart:
Colorwork Chart: Hot Dog Pattern
If you know me at all, you know I have a borderline unhealthy obsession with hot dogs. I was browsing Ravelry for hot dog-inspired patterns when I found this colorwork chart.
This chart is also free on Ravelry and looked simple enough for someone who has done colorwork before. Sure, I’d never done socks, but how hard can it be?
This chart inspired the socks completely. The pattern repeat of 8 stitches also matched perfectly with the sock pattern, without any modifications.
The Yarn:
I went to a local yarn store in Denver to find what I needed for this pattern. If I made this again, I would choose a slightly darker yarn for the hot dog buns, as my yarn doesn’t have enough contrast against the white, but that’s a note for next time.
I mainly used Malabrigo Sock, which came in perfect minis for the colorwork. I used superwash merino only, just in case I ever want to toss these socks in the washing machine.
My Finished Project:
For my first pair of socks, I was super happy with how these turned out! I definitely made a few mistakes – I have a few k2tog and SSKs that are in the wrong spot – but I know that some of my favorite knits have a few misplaced stitches here and there; it’s just part of the process.
These came together super fast; I expected knit socks to take much longer! You can expect a few more pairs out of me now that I’ve found a new hyperfixation project.
As always – happy knitting!
