I like to make things. Knitting is my current medium of choice and I want to share it through photos, stories, and patterns.
Knit. Write. Etc.
If you've been following this blog for a bit, it should come as no surprise that I love socks. I love knitting them. I love wearing them. I love browsing sites for socks I'd never knit. My sock drawer is actually 2 drawers, well, 3, if you count the one dedicated to the socks I've made. What's more, I have a great love/obsession with every kind of toe sock. Tabi socks, where the big toe is separate from the rest, are a personal favorite. They're fun to wear and, even better, they're fun to knit.
I'm not the only one in the house who loves tabi socks and this pair is for him. The challenge of these socks wasn't their large size. The challenge was starting completely from scratch. Other toe up tabi patterns have hard seams between the toes or just sew up the gap. Neither of these techniques quite appealed to me. Plus, I needed a pattern that would fit a US 14 foot at a gauge of 9 sts/in. Didn't have much luck finding that. In order to get what I needed, I came up with my own pattern and it's a pretty good start. However, it's not quite ready to be released into the wild. Tweaking aside, the finished pair has gotten the official seal of approval and another pair isn't too far off. Just not this month.
Sometimes simple, mindless knits are the best and these socks are no exception. Originally, my yellow and gray yarn was going to become a pair of these. I spent a day knitting and frogging only to discover that what I really liked about the pattern were the stripes on the bottom of the foot. After that, I didn't waste any time and the socks just seemed to fly off the needles. By the time I bound off I had tall, cozy socks with plenty of calf increases.
The scary thing about these wonderful socks is that I want to make so many more in so many different colors. Blue and white, green and orange, purple and blue... Plus, with a little more yarn, I could make knee highs. Now that's a good idea. Anyway, it seemed a shame to keep the pattern to myself so I'm posting it here. These sport weight socks are toe up with a gusset and heel flap and calf increases to get the most out of the yarn. Have fun knitting your own pair.