I’m very happy to introduce my fabulous new Gone Fishin’ boot socks.
As many already know, I live right on the sea on the East coast of England. While it has massive advantages in the summer – obviously the beach is on our doorstep, and heatwaves don’t affect us remotely as dramatically as our inland relatives – the winter winds off the ocean can be pretty brutal. During these times I live in boots, and nothing suits a boot like a sturdy, snuggly boot sock. But why not make it beautiful too?
I began my prototype in West Yorkshire Spinner colour lab DK pure wool and absolutely loved the result BUT I realised two things: 1) I wanted to tweak the motif a little bit and 2) I wanted to use some of the stunning yarn I kept ogling at (my favourite night of the week) Stitch Night at Folk Yarn Studio. So the very next opportunity, I came home with these. I especially love the name of the vibrant contrast yarn.
Back home and into the sunshine, busy keeping small-fry entertained in the garden at the tail end of the summer holidays, they soon became these gorgeous cakes (the littl’un was most entertained by the yarn swift and ball-winder in operation – they’re very old and a bit cheap and it may be time to hint heavily for something new, streamlined and beautiful…)
I suspect it goes without saying that my original sock is still eyeing me balefully from the corner of the sofa, transmitting its loneliness… I promise its partner is underway, but – you know how it is!
So, continuing my desire to produce simple but striking patterns, patterns that relatively new knitters might look at and think “I could have a crack at that!”, or experienced knitters might crack out on a slow bank holiday weekend, this pattern contains lots of photos of the socks in progress and is designed to be easy to follow, and simple and quick to make. They were knitted top down, one and a time, have a Dutch heel and contrast toes, both of which are reinforced. We all know how battered boot socks get.
And I’m particularly delighted at how the waves and a few fish poke happily out of the top of my DMs.
A couple of thoughts about things I have learned from past experience and whilst designing these socks:
- I don’t like overly-complicated techniques, especially when they need to be duplicated exactly in a second sock! So, having researched and been extremely impressed by the ladder-back jacquared technique, for example, I know it’s not for me. So when it came to tackling the issue of colourwork being a) tighter and b) with the potential for more visible floats, I decided to increase the stitches below the cuff, and decrease again after. Let me know what you think about this if you give them a try!
- Since the yarn I chose is pure wool, and these socks are designed to be worn under boots, I know that the first place my own socks wear (in general, but especially badly with pure wool) is the heels and toes. So I looked around for ideas for reinforcing those areas. There are a few around, but this one – holding the yarn together with silk / mohair on a slightly smaller needle was my favourite. (And I decided to hang onto the smaller needles for a snugger foot). This pattern will give you the option to reinforce your heels and toes.
If you give them a go, do let me know – you can find the pattern in my shop, or by clicking here.