Turtle toes

Well, my knitting has added one new pair of socks to the sock drawer.  Most of the socks I have made, have been for my daughter or one of her kids.  I have two pair of handknit socks of my own, not counting the newest ones. One pair I made for me, the second pair I made were too small and I ended up trading that pair for a pair a friend made that were too large for her, win/win.

For my non-knitting friends, handknit socks take about 20 hours to knit, a skein of sock yarn costs $15 and up, and  yes, I know you can buy socks at Target, Sears, Penneys, etc, for a couple of dollars, but knitting is relaxing, handknit socks are awesome.  Now the reason, I don't usually make them for myself, is I am hard on socks and wear them out way too fast.  I have worn out a couple of pairs way too quickly, like after only a dozen wearings.

This is a new pattern for me, an after thought heel.  This means that the heels are knitted after  the cuff and instep and I used a contrasting yarn for the heels and toes, so that when I wear them out, I can remove the heels or toes and reknit them with the remaining contrasting yarn, hopefully doubling the life of the socks.

The pattern is After Thought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman, the yarn is TurtlePurl Yarns Turtle Toes stripe  with the heels and toes knit with Regia.  They were knit two at a time from the top down and since the TurtlePurl is wound double stranded in order to knit two at a time, the stripes match exactly.  I rarely worry about whether they match exactly, so this is unique for me.

Now to see how they actually wear!