Those Pretty Socks

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

You might remember that I cast on these socks in May, from the book Knitted Socks from Finland.

Here’s my original blog post about them.

And here’s the first picture I shared then.

Dear Sister socks in progress, knit in Knitpicks Chroma Fingering by Deborah Cooke

Soon after posting it, I saw the mistake. Do you see it? Look at the left wing of that completed butterfly. You can see a row of black stitches, making the five dots into two dots and a weird V. It’s maybe 15 rows back.

I failed the trick of inverting the chart – what’s black on the chart is being knit in the pinks and what’s white on the chart is being knit in black. That always bends my brain a bit.

I’ve been looking at it ever since, pondering what to do, and finally decided to pick it back and fix it. I don’t know why I ever linger over this choice. Once I’ve seen an error, I can’t un-see it and I always have to fix it. Maybe it just takes me some time to accept the sad truth. I had knitted further than shown in that picture, so there was even more to frog.

So, here’s the same sock with the error fixed. I knit to the end of my kinked up yarn, so this is how far I was. The light is a bit harsh, but that butterfly’s wing dots are now right.

Dear Sister socks in progress, knit in Knitpicks Chroma Fingering by Deborah Cooke - corrected

I tried on the sock because it seemed short. It won’t be a knee sock for me – it looks like the sock will end at the widest part of my calf. That means they’ll definitely be lounging socks, because they’ll slide down when I’m walking.

Onward!

Socks in Old Patons Kroy

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

I have been sorting my stash lately, sending some of it on to find new fans. During that process, I rediscovered some old Patons Kroy. It feels so nice and I love the colour so much that I cast on a pair of socks. I also fell down a rabbit hole…

Patons Kroy is a sock yarn. It’s been available for a long time, so it makes sense that there have been some changes over the years. This Patons Kroy is a 3-ply yarn – it’s the heathered blue one on the left – while the current Patons Kroy Socks (the variegated one on the right) is a 4-ply. The 50g put-up on the old Kroy has 250 m, while the new one has 151m. There was another older 4-ply that had 186m per 50g ball, and it’s a really soft squishy yarn. (It’s in the middle.) I have a bit of that, too. With the old 3-ply, you can get a man’s sock out of one ball; with the new 4-ply, you might run short on even a smaller sock.

I bought this 3-ply Kroy yarn about 30 years ago, in two colours – this seagreen mix and a purple. There was a yarn store on Bloor St. W. in Toronto, close to Spadina Ave. on the north side. I don’t remember the name of it – it’s possible that it was a short-term rental in an empty retail space and had no sign – but it was an outlet store like Spinrite. They sold mill ends by the ounce. It might have been another Spinrite outlet.

At that time, there was a Patons mill in Toronto still. It was on Roselawn Ave. I remember it closing and being developed as condos – it is, in fact, Forest Hill Lofts, which were developed in 2003. (Yes, I had some fun checking out the condos for sale.) Patons had a mill store a little west of there for a bit, on Dufferin near Castlefield, but then closed that as well. There was only the Spinrite factory in Listowel after that, which closed earlier this year.

I bought the Kroy in two colours to make a pair of entrelac socks, from Socks Socks Socks. (That’s a Ravelry link.) They ultimately frustrated me so much that I frogged them back. (The issue was entirely user error: the pattern called for sport weight yarn, and 3-ply Kroy is a light fingering. I was going to change the stitch counts to make it work, but with entrelac, that was complicated.) The yarn has been loitering in the stash ever since – although I’m not sure where the purple has hidden itself away.

It’s surprising to see that this yarn was made in Canada. The current Kroy is made in Turkey, and has been balled and banded in Canada. I’m not sure what happens now since the Listowel mill is closed. Will the yarn be discontinued? Or will they ball and band in the US? Hard to know and harder to care at this point. Patons is a Canadian company no more so I’ll be knitting from my stash.

The pattern is an old one, from a Beehive book called Socks by Beehive #113. They must have printed a lot of copies of this booklet as they’re pretty easy to find in thrift stores and antique markets. This pattern is Knotty Pines. (Those are both Ravelry links.) I really like this pattern and have made it several times, long before Ravelry (so those socks aren’t listed on my project pages there.)

Looking at the pattern on Rav, I see the recommended yarn is Kroy 3-ply by Lady Galt, which was made by Newlands in Cambridge Ontario. Here’s a blog post I found with a bit about Newlands – and LOL I have that knitting book, too. I remember my grandmother buying Lady Galt yarn at Eatons, a long-closed department store, which is another peek at the past. (I wonder if that Newlands building in Cambridge is condos now, too. Hmm. There are a bunch of them there.)

In the meantime, here’s the first Knotty Pines sock knit in the 3-ply Kroy:

sock knit by Deborah Cooke in Kroy 3-ply sock yarn, in Beehive Socks Knotty Pines pattern

I was planning to knit these for myself, so made the leg shorter than the pattern. The foot, though, ended up being too wide for me (at 76 stitches) so the sock ended up being for the mister. He doesn’t mind that it’s a bit shorter. I’ve started the cuff on the second one – it takes a bit of concentration, since it’s not as regular a ribbing as usual. The bonus is that the ribbing lines up with the pattern once you start it, so it’s worth paying attention for a few rows.

Pretty Socks

Posted on May 12, 2025 by Deborah Cooke

My friend sent me this book at Christmas, full of pretty sock patterns. I don’t usually make pretty socks – I stick to my tried and true, usually in a self-striping yarn – but the socks on the cover are so pretty (and knee socks!) that I had to cast on a pair. I was due for a little fair isle project.

It’s curious that I find knee socks so irresistible – I never wear the ones I’ve knitted, but I do love them.

The book is called Knitted Socks from Finland, and it’s by Niina Laitinen. (The title and image are both linked to the book’s page on the publisher website, which displays buy links too. A lot of smaller stores appear to have the book in stock, so there are plenty of places to buy a copy other than the big river.) The pattern for the socks on the cover is called Dear Sister, and the book includes complete charts. I had a peek on Ravelry before casting on, and could only find the book in the original Finnish: the pattern is called Siskoni Mun. (Those are both Ravelry links.)

It’s always fun to scroll through the completed projects there and look at yarn choices – some Ravellers had knitted the socks in Knit Picks Chroma Fingering, a single ply fingering weight that is available in both solid colours and gradients. (That link will take you to KP’s product page.) I have some Chroma in my stash, but wouldn’t have thought of using it for socks – it’s very soft, partly because of the loose way it’s spun, and even though it has 30% nylon, I wouldn’t expect it to be tough enough for socks. But, I love the gradient look and I had the yarn, so I cast on. I used my trusty pair of short circular needles in 2.5mm, which usually have a sock on them.

I also loved the projects that had used a different background colour than the off-white shown in the pattern picture – why not have dramatic socks? I’m using the solid black for the background and a gradient – the colourway is Lupin – as the contrast. Making a change like this always bends my brain a bit when it comes to the charts. I’m knitting the white squares in black so have to think about that for a minute each time I pick up the project again. I have used some patterns (mittens, mostly) that offered the charts both ways around, which was just great. They were digital downloads, though. In a printed book, that would take up too many pages.

Here’s my progress on the first one. I didn’t do a twisted rib because I’m not a fan – my socks have just plain ribbing at the top.

This is the first chart completed, about a dozen rows of ribbing and fifty-some of pattern. There’s another chart of another 40 rows or so before the beginning of the heel. I’m not sure they will actually be knee socks. They might be mid-calf socks, which is fine, too. We’ll see. Part of that will be due to the yarn substitution, but another variable is legs. 🙂 You can see the model has slender calves. My hiking/biking calves are not that slim, so the sock will be stretched wider rather than taller.

It’s not a difficult knit, but not a TV knit either. Each row is different and there are deceases down the center back of the sock. I have to pay attention a bit. Although I always worry that stranded knitting in socks will get too tight, I think my tension is in a good place on this project. I’m not one of those fast fair isle knitters with one colour in each hand. I put down each yarn and pick up the next one, which does give me a chance to check my tension. It means for slow progress, but it’s meditative. Watching the butterflies form and the colour change keeps me knitting just one more row.

This project also had me reaching into my knitting library for a book filled with wonderful fair isle sweaters – The Tudor Roses by Alice Starmore. I have the hardcover edition from Calla Editions and it’s such a lovely book. I’m tempted to order up the yarn and cast on the Mary Tudor cardigan (that’s a Ravelry link) but need to finish up some other projects first. I have two fair isle cardigans already on the needles, waiting on me. (There were changes to the sweaters between editions. In the first edition, the Mary Tudor sweater was a pullover. That’s a Rav link again.)

The Chroma yarn is very soft (and a bit splitty, as loosely spun single ply yarns tend to be.) These will be lounging socks, not hiking socks. And yes, I’m hoping to make them match because that’s just how I roll. It looks as if there are two repeats of the colour gradation in the ball, so fingers crossed.

Onward. They are a bit addictive once you find a bright spot to work…

Poof A Month Vanished – and Fuzzy Socks

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

I apologize for the quiet here. A month has slipped away from me, and I’m not entirely sure where it went. Of course, there were things to do in the garden this time of year and some canning to finish up. I also treated myself to a lot of reading on the porch, which was just wonderful. (I might not give up on that anytime soon. I’ll be out there in my fuzzies when the first snowflakes fall! LOL!)

I have been sorting and organizing, too, which seems to be a fall impulse for me. The girls are getting some new accommodations, so they won’t be standing on the bookshelves all the time (getting dusty). I’m doing some sewing for myself again (yay for fun clothes that fit) while I continue to knit on the endless black sweater in Kidsilk Haze. I may never take this one off once it’s done.

I’ve been thinking, also, about my Noro Mitred Jacket. (le sigh) The colour is pooling, each square taking repeatable increments of the colour gradation. I’ve reached the end of the I-cord, which is a bit tighter than would be ideal, and am debating the merit of taking it all back, then reknitting it, planning the placement of the squares.

And yes, the pattern does display an order of working the squares, but I never read that bit until now. I’ll guess the designer noticed the same thing, so my result is entirely user error. Those two leftish ones that start with fuschia and end with green, in the second row from the bottom, really irk me, as do the four mirroring each other on the other sleeve opening. (Pink through purple to pink, with pink through green to blue immediately below.) Still thinking on that. On the upside, it looks as if it will fit which wasn’t at all a sure thing.

Finally I’ve been knitting myself a pair of fuzzy socks. (Hmm. I cast them on before I even realized the reading-on-the-porch plan.) This may be my fave way to make socks right now, so let’s talk about that today.

A few years ago, I made a number of pairs of the Snowshoe Socks from Knits about Winter. (The first link goes to Ravelry and the pattern. The second is a link to the publisher’s website and wow, the book is really on sale right now.) Essentially, you carry two strands of Kidsilk Haze or a similar yarn along with your sock yarn. The three strands held together make for a thick fuzzy and warm sock. Here are those pair – I made three for myself and one pair for the mister. I think there was a fourth ladies’ pair in teal that went to my SIL.

Here’s my original blog post about them from 2020.

Snowshoe Socks by Emily Fogen knit by Deborah Cooke

Snowshoe socks, designed by Emily Foden, knit by Deborah Cooke

You can see that the orange and the purple pair for me are quite generous through the ankle. I find them a bit sloppy to wear. The first pair, OTOH, which I knit from a smaller size, are a bit snug. The mister finds his too hot so doesn’t wear them much.

While two strands of silky mohair make for a cushy sock, my current experiment is a pair with just one strand of the fuzzy stuff. That makes two strands overall. I’m also using my regular sock pattern, but I dropped the stitch count to 64 stitches instead of 72. Still knitting on 2.5mm needles but the socks come out a little bigger with the two strands and so, they’re going to fit me perfectly. Ha. No baggy ankles this time. Having just the one strand doesn’t influence the final gauge as much, but you still get a fuzzy sock.

Here’s where I’m at, just after turning the heel on the first sock.

sock knit by Deborah Cooke with The Alpaca Co's Paca-Ped and Halo Watercolors

These yarns include alpaca fibre, so the socks are going to be really soft. Both are from The Alpaca Yarn Co. – the sock yarn is Paca-Peds in Purple Rain and the fuzzy one is Halo Watercolors in Picasso. Those are Ravelry links but The Alpaca Yarn Co has an online store right here. Here is Paca-Peds on their site, and here is Halo Watercolors.

I love how the colours become muted when the two yarns are held together. The sock yarn is space-dyed so I knew it would want to pool, probably in a swirl, so the fuzzy yarn softens that a bit, too.

The project bag is one I made from quilting cotton in my stqash. This is the free pattern. It’s a very easy sew, and you can subsequently play with the size of the bag. I’ve added a zipper into the seam between the two colours, too.

If you’ve never knit socks with two strands – and your feet get cold – then give this a try. Your usual sock pattern should work out just fine, but use two strands of yarn instead of just one. Like me, you may want to go down a few stitches in circumference. It depends how tight you like your socks.

New Socks for the Mister

Posted on April 17, 2024 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve been stuck with my current knitting project. I can’t find the right needle for the sleeves of my current No. 9 sweater. It defies belief that I don’t have a 40cm 6.5mm needle, in all my stash of knitting needles, so I’m hunting through everything. Dollars to donuts, as soon as I decide I must not have one and buy one, I’ll find the one lurking in my projects. This is, after all, how one gathers a needle stash.

I actually made a spreadsheet a few years ago, inventorying all of my knitting needles for exactly this reason. At the time, I listed the project where the needles could be found, if they were being used. The spreadsheet is out of date, sadly, but it does not show that I have a needle in this size. Maybe I don’t. I’ll keep looking to be sure.

In the meantime, there was movie night and nothing to knit. I cast on a pair of socks for the mister, and now they’re done. (But I still haven’t found the needle.)

men's socks knit in Online Supersocke New Wave by Deborah Cooke

This yarn has been well aged in the stash: it’s Online Supersocke (6-fach) New Wave – Color, a sock yarn from Germany. That’s the Ravelry link for the yarn since it’s discontinued. The yarn was actually made in Italy. This colourway is 1091.

And yes, I really like that I was able to make them match. 🙂

This is a nice yarn, squishy but with a firm twist. I think it will wear well and the mister really likes the colours. It comes in big balls and I bought a few of them when they were on sale, once upon a time, since the colours appealed to him. Thanks to Ravelry, I know I don’t have any more of this specific yarn in the stash, but I should have one more big balls of Online Supersocke. Time for it to be knitted up!

Meanwhile, I’ll keep looking for that elusive 40cm circular needle…

New Projects

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

There’s an unusual confluence of variables in my life right now, which means I’m starting both new writing projects and new knitting projects. It’s amazing to me how similar the two situations are. It’s not just about choosing the project—the bigger issue is getting the combination of variables right. Possibilities abound! I need to get some of them settled so I can start creating effectively.

Let’s talk about the knitting project here.

First off, I finished another pair of socks. These are knit in my usual pattern, the one I have memorized, in Fleece Artist Kiki. (That’s a Ravelry link.)

socks knit in Fleece Artist Kiki by Deborah Cooke

The tag says the colourway is Pansy but I think it’s really Nova Scotia (there’s no purple in this skein). I was excited to get this yarn on sale and realized later that it’s discontinued. It’s quite a thick sock yarn, so I went down to 64 stitches from my usual 72. I knit another pair of socks in another colourway of Kiki and showed them to you earlier this year. It’s a nice squishy yarn and good to have another pair of socks done for the winter. (I may have to cast on another pair of socks, just to have an anchoring project in my currently chaotic world.)

I also cast on a new shawl. Water is a pattern I’ve wanted to knit for a while (that’s a Ravelry link) and I finally found the perfect yarn for it. The designer is Sylvia McFadden and one of the official pix of the shawl is at right. (Click through on the Ravelry link to see more.) You can see that it’s in garter stitch with lovely wavey insertions.

I bought a collection of her patterns and knit Waiting for Rain from it – that’s the Ravelry link for the pattern and this is my blog post about my shawl.

In case you don’t feel clicky, here’s my Waiting for Rain shawl.

Waiting for Rain shawl knit in MadTosh Dandelion by Deborah Cooke

In that pattern, the insertions were of a different lace pattern and they were knit in a contrasting color. There was a lot of stripe-y goodness in that design.

I’m knitting my Water shawl with Fleece Artist Anni (that’s a Ravelry link), a limited edtiion yarn that is also discontinued. It’s fingering weight and a blend of merino and mohair. It’s a bit more itchy for me than anticipated, so is a better choice for a shawl than a sweater. The colorway is called Frozen Ocean, which seems very apt.

Here’s how it looks so far:

Water designed by Sylvia McFadden knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Anni in Frozen Ocean

The color is really not true in this image. It looks very green here, but is actually turquoise. I made good progress but am now at the first insertion and need to pay attention to the lace stitch. This bit isn’t TV knitting. 🙂

Portia deisgned by Norah Gaughran for Berroco

Which meant (inevitably) that I was casting around for a TV knit, since we’re binging mystery series these evenings. I’d been thinking of making an asymmetical sweater for the girls, which reminded me of this pattern. Portia is another sweater I always intended to make. (Yes, that’s a Ravelry link.) It was designed by Norah Gaughran for Berroco and has such an interesting design.

I actually have the specified yarn, Berroco Peruvia, but don’t have quite enough of it. I could make the smallest size, but that seems overly ambitious. It’s unlikely that I’ll lose a bunch of weight, sitting on the couch knitting. (That’s a Ravelry link because yes, Peruvia is discontinued.)

So I ended up auditioning yarn candidates from my stash – which is awfully similar to auditioning opening scenes for a book, my daytime task this week. The first candidate was some Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, which is exactly the same weight as Peruvia. (That’s a Rowan link as my colorway is discontinued but not the yarn itself.) Mine is a rosy colour, though, and I’m not sure I’ll wear a sweater coat in that shade. It’s a lot of pink. Beautiful yarn, though. I need to figure out what to do with it now.

Next up, some Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran in a scarlet shade. (Another discontinued yarn; another Ravelry link.) Very pretty but I thought the yarn looked too thin when knit to gauge. I could use smaller needles, but then the dimensions of the garment would be changed. Given the design of this sweater, it’s tough to anticipate how to adjust the fit.

#18 Shawl Collared Coat from Noro Magazine #1, designed by Mari Tobita

Next candidate: Noro Nadeshiko. This is lovely squishy yarn, an angora, silk and mohair blend. It’s a little heavier than Peruvia but I really like the firmer fabric when knit to gauge. I had bought this to make another sweater coat, this one from the original Noro magazine, designed by Mari Tobita, at left. It’s called #18 Shawl Collared Coat. (Yes, more Ravelry links. The problem with a well-aged stash is that everything is discontinued.) This coat has really pretty shaping in the back.

The colourway I have is less stripey than the one in this picture. It’s mostly shades of grey with a little bit of brick-red and a bit of white. I’m concerned that it might look too stripe-y in Portia, but am giving it a try. Here’s what I have so far:

Portia by Norah Gaughran knit in Noro Nadeshiko by Deborah Cooke

This is the centre-back braid, knit down from the back yoke, so it’s going to taper from here to that lowest point. The red looks more emphatic in the photo than in real life.

After this triangular piece is knit, you then pick up the side panels along the edges and knit toward the front. If I continue with the Noro, I’ll have to make sure that the stripes are symmetrical. I’m just too matchy-matchy to be happy with the result otherwise. I’ll see how it looks when the triangle is done.

With any luck, I’ll soon have both a knitting project and a writing project launched!

Purple Knee Socks

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

I’ve been making a lot lately for my girls instead of for myself, so my count of finished projects for myself is pretty low this year. I lost a bit of my making mojo this year, thanks to a lot of projects that made me say “hmmm”. The girls have helped me to recover a bit of that, so over the next few posts, we’ll have a look at a few of those stalled projects. Coming back to them with a fresh eye has given me some ideas.

First up, the knee socks.

I’m not sure why knee socks intrigue me so much. They’re a lot (a LOT) of knitting and I seldom wear them once they’re done. All the same, I can’t resist them. It’s inexplicable.

For example, I made these in 2009 and have never worn them. Not even once. I take them out of the drawer and look at them sometimes, though. I do like that they exist.

Striped Noro Knee Socks knit by Deborah Cooke

The current choice of knee socks is Quail, designed by Martin Storey to be knit in Rowan Fine Art. Those are Ravelry links, as the yarn is (naturally) discontinued. I’ve been eyeballing these since I bought the book when it was first released in 2013.

The pattern is in this book for Rowan Fine Art: Fine Art Collection. It should be available for sale individually, but Rowan’s buy links from Ravelry are a trainwreck since they updated their website (and didn’t update the links.)

Here’s Rowan’s pic of the socks from the book. Of course, it’s a lovely photograph as is always the case with Rowan, but one that doesn’t let you see the detail in the socks very well.

Quail knee socks knit in Rowan Fine Art, in photograph from Rowan's Fine Art Collection

It turns out that they have bobbles, which I’m leaving out since I hate bobbles. I hate knitting them and I hate that they look like warts when they’re done. No bobbles for me.

This should mean that I need less yarn and I hope that’s true. The pattern calls for three skeins of Fine Art, which has 400m per skein. That’s a lot of yardage for socks, even for knee socks – usually you need 350 – 400m for socks and double that for knee socks, with lots leftover for knitting for the girls – even with a light fingering like this one. I have two skeins of Fine Art in a plummy colour, so right from my cast-on, I’m playing yarn chicken.

The colourway is called Rowan. (That’s a Ravelry stash link, because I think it’s fun to see pictures of a specific yarn in a whole bunch of knitters’ stashes.)

I’m knitting them in the round on 2.0mm needles. Here’s where I stalled:

Quail socks designed by Martin Storey and knit in Rowan Fine Art by Deborah Cooke

The top looks huge, which is always the way with knee socks. What made me go “hmmm” was the pooling. On the cuff, it made a nice little stripe, but once the stitches were added for the cables, it made a big moving pool. I’ve started the decreases and you can see that the width of the pool is decreasing. It’ll spiral down to a narrow stripe again by the ankle. I’d rather have stripes or cables, but not both at the same time.

I made another pair of socks in this yarn, in another colourway, and they did a similar striping, just in short plain socks. Here they are:

socks knit in Rowan Fine Art by Deborah Cooke

I’m not wildly in love with this pooling, but I can live with it since the socks are just in plain rib.

Here’s the shawl I made in this same yarn, which also pooled:

Starling Wrap designed by Marie Wallin knit in Rowan Fine Art by Deborah Cooke

The thing is that I like the pattern of the pooling in the shawl, even with the lace stitch. I think it’s because it falls into a regular stripe that doesn’t vary over the length of the shawl. It’s the changing width of the stripes that I find distracting in the socks.

So, these socks are going to Frog Pond, and the yarn is returning to the stash. I’ll use it on a shawl, I guess, or another project that has the same number of stitches per row.

Maybe one pair of knee socks to admire is enough. 🙂

Fleece Artist Socks

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been really busy writing-and-publishing-wise, which means my knitting and sewing projects have been getting less action. When I need to think, I need a simple project (or two.) So I finished a pair of new socks for myself which is always a good thing.

Socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Kiki, Twilight colourway

I managed to crop the toe of one of them in this picture, but the colour is pretty true. They’re knit of Fleece Artist Kiki in Twilight, a superwash and nylon blend that is put up in a big skein of 140g. (That’s a Ravelry link for the yarn.) This yarn is thick, so these socks are thick, and I used almost the whole skein.

This is just my usual sock pattern, the one I don’t have to think about too much, but this time, I added two six-stitch mirroring cables to the front.

After the 2/2 ribbing, I changed to 6/2 ribbing for the rest of the sock, turning cables on two adjacent knit bands. When I got to the heel, I positioned them at the center front. They go all the way down to the toe and make me happy.

It was the Halo that got me thinking about Fleece Artist yarn and missing (as usual) their Trail Socks yarn base. I no longer have a LYS with Fleece Artist yarn, which is sad, but Ravelry shows that Trail Socks isn’t discontinued. Good news. I haven’t seen it in so long that I assumed otherwise. (Let the hunt begin.) I found Kiki at Little Knits, because it’s discontinued. The colour saturation is great and the yarn is very squishy. I was surprised by the thickness, though. These are heavy socks.

Here’s my Ravelry project page.

I’ve also rescued my Spector from Sleeve Island and hope to have that to show you soon. I still don’t love it, but I’ll be glad to have it done.

New Blue Socks

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

Most of my socks are wearing out, so I’ve been knitting new ones for myself for the fall. Here’s my latest pair.

socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Kroy Socks Blue Raspberry

I really like this colourway. I used a little bit more than two balls, and needed to join from a third ball for the toes. I ran out with each ball after about 3/4″ of the turquoise band that begins the toe. You can see that I added more turquoise when knitting the right one, which means less purple on the toe. I’ll survive that. 🙂 Fortunately, I’d found that third ball in the mill ends at Spinrite, so it only cost $1. I have a lot of it left for my sock afghan or maybe another knitted dress for Barbie.

And yes, I already have another pair of socks on my needles….

More Kroy Socks

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

I’m due for some new socks so took on that project for my summer knitting. After all the sock yarns I’ve tried, I keep coming back to Patons Kroy Socks. The colours aren’t as unique as hand-painted yarns, but the socks always wear well. (My other fave yarn was Fleece Artist Trail Socks, which was both pretty and durable, but they don’t use that yarn base anymore.)

Kroy Socks (that link goes to the Yarnspirations site) is a thicker version of this yarn, with four plies instead of three, so it has less yardage. There’s 166 yards per ball. Usually, I buy three then have close to half a ball left over. This time, I decided to use just two balls.

The first pair is a blue colourway called Magic Stripes. (It’s the last colourway on the Yarnspirations site.)

socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Kroy Socks

I used my usual sock pattern, casting on 72 stitches, working in 2/2 rib for about 12 rows, then switching to 6/2 ribbing to the heel. I usually knit a total of 72 rows before starting the heel (because it’s easy to remember) but this time I worked only 56 in the hope of making each sock out of one ball. As you can see, I ran out and had to make the toes black.

For the next pair, I followed the same strategy, accepting the fate of black toes. This colourway is called Mexicala Stripes (it’s the second colour in the third row of swatches on the Yarnspirations site). I’m always up for some bright socks and these are definitely bright. The colourway has a really long repeat: there were only two repeats in the skein. You can see that the yellow from the top of the cuff starts again at the end of the heel flap.

Sock knit in Patons Kroy Socks Mexicali Stripes colourway by Deborah Cooke

This time, I worked 55 rows to the heel flap, then only 18 RS rows on the heel flap. (There were 19 on the blue pair above.) I was surprised by how much difference this made – I not only finished the first sock from one ball but had 3g of wool left over. The second sock is still on the needles, but it will match exactly.

How do you make socks match exactly and effortlessly? This strategy only works when you shop in-person and can look at the skeins. Choose two that start at the same point in the repeat of the colourway. My second ball of Mexicala Stripes starts with the same yellow band, so the socks will match without any trouble at all. When you order online, of course, the person filling the order will usually just grab the next two balls, so this plan won’t work.

My next lot of Kroy Socks is three balls in the colour Blue Raspberry. I’ll make taller socks and have some left over for my sock afghan. I’ve been adding to the one made of mitred squares. Hmm. I talked about those in this post, although they don’t have a post of their own. I’ll write a post about that for Friday.

Have you knit any socks lately?

Alive & Knitting

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Category Archives: Socks