It may seem like I've been finishing a lot of stuff lately. Not so much though when you consider that yesterday's scarf posting was knit back in May.

 

Finished these yesterday.

 

  • Pattern: My basic toe-up sock pattern with an afterthought heel.
  • Yarn: Gurdy Run Woolen Mill 3ply alpaca/wool blend. 1.25 sk
  • Size 3 needles, Brittany dps.
  • Etc: Made as a Solstice gift for ************. Modeled by Rob. (If they won't fit Rob, they're not for you. Sorry.)

I decided not to tip the cuffs with the dark brown. As I speculated earlier, once the heels were done it would be obvious whether or not to do them. With one heel done I realized that the dark brown edge would look nice, but that the socks looked fine and were long enough without it.

I almost went back on my decision though when there didn't seem to be enough lighter yarn to BO both socks. I ripped my BO out twice on the first sock to use less yarn each time. My BO for toe-up socks is one described by Grumperina in this post. After running out of yarn using that BO, I alternated 3 stretchy BO stitches with one regular BO stitch. It looked fine, couldn't even tell. But I ran out of yarn again. So I used a 2:1 ratio and had juuuuuust enough yarn to weave in the ends of both socks. I had already hunted down the yarn ties to lengthen the yarn. Yes, I was *that* desperate but thankfully I didn't need it.

 

This was my first time using an afterthought heel. I like the way it looks and I enjoyed knitting it. Didn't like picking up the stitches - I think I knitted the waste yarn in too tight. I'll try it again and when I do I'll knit the waste yarn loosely.