custom knitting

I had 1 skein of sock yarn. I have 1 leg. I am a professional dancer (on the one leg). What I have been needing in my sock wardrobe is a single yoga/pilates sock (a sock w/no heel & no toe)…but I also needed it to be an over-the-knee sock to keep my knee warm during rehearsals.

What I like about this concept is that I can throw on a little footie sock over this to cover my heel and toes, and then I can wear this OverTheKneeSock out of the studip with boots and a mini-skirt or something, too. I think I might even have enough yarn left over to complete that footie as a matching set. If I do not have enough, I am sure I have a remnant from another sock project to make a nice contrasting heel and toe. It won't matter much, because it will be inside the boot!

Over The Knee Yoga/Pilates Sock (ravelry link)
started: 6/25/08
finished: 8/19/08
yarn: "Silky", from Knit It Up!, colorway "The Hills Are Alive" (from the SockYarnCinema yarn club--this yarn was dyed to represent "The Sound Of Music"

Here are my pattern notes (these are just my NOTES, kids. I am not writing a pattern, offering a pattern, selling a pattern, pretending to be a designer, writing a tutorial, etc). If you want to make your own pair of these, and what I type here helps you out---yay! But I am only typing this up here on my blog as a record for myself, because I would like to make a few more of these babies! My notes are not necessarily going to make sense to you, and I am sorry about that. I'm glad to respond to questions if you have them, but don't go harping on me about errata and my crappy note keeping. If you do, the next FinishedObject I knit will be a voodoo doll that looks just like you ;-)

(If you are new here, please know that I am kidding. And if you are not knew here, you know that I am only half-kidding about kidding. hahahaha)

I definitely have modifications that I will use on V.2, and those are listed in italics both within the body of my notes, and at the end of my notes.

foot:
* US 1-1/2...2.5mm dpns, set of 4 (used knitpicks nickel plated)
* CO 60 sts, distributed as: N1=30 (sole/back), N2+3=15 ea (top of foot/front)
* joined to work in the round
* K2 P2 rib for 5 rows
* K every round for 30 rows (3" from the CO edge)

To create heel opening:
* N1: P2,K2 across, ending with P2; N2+3: K all sts (repeat rib for a total of 5 rnds)
* BO 30 sts k-wise, K across N2+N3, turn.
* P 1 row, turn; K 1 row.
* CO 30 sts (using backward loop method), rejoin into the round, k across N2+3.
* rib across N1, K across N2+3 for 5 rnds, same as above.

lower calf:
* do a M1 at the back of the sock in the center to create an odd number of sts, so that the decorative sts will be centered....ie: K14, KFB, K15 (31 sts on N1 now), then complete the round (61 sts total).
* K 4 rnds even.
* K 80 rounds for the leg, but for fun, add in the "flutter-by" st running up the back seam (taken from this pattern); I did 10 plain rounds between each "flutter-by". 80 rnds = 4 butterflies = approx 7" from "heel"

calf-shaping detail

calf shaping:
* when dpns become difficult, switch to 2 circs (next time, must learn how to do magic loop!)
* when beginning the 5th butterfly, begin Calf increases as follows (continue flutter-by seam detail throughout):
* set up: k10 sts, pm, m1 back....k across to last 10 sts, m1 front, pm, k10 sts
* work an increase at the markers every 3rd row (ie r1, r4, r7, r10, etc) until completing an increase of 40 sts over 58 rows (total of 101 sts); this makes for an approx 4-1/2" long increase section, for a total length of 11-1/2" from "heel".
* knit 20 rows straight (still flutter-by-ing)
* next, begin Calf decreases as follows (continue flutter-by seam detail throughout):
* dec 1 st at each marker (using ssk's and k2togs), and then K 2 rnds plain...do this a total of 7 times until 14 sts have been decreased (87 sts total)

worn folded over as a knee-high

cuff:
* K 1 round plain, but K2tog at the center back to eliminate 1 st and get back to an even number (86 sts total)
* 80 rounds of K2 P2 rib
* BO using sewn cast-off (fantastic instructions found here...thanks Bon for the tip!)

worn scrunched up more like a traditional leg-warmer

Mods for V.2:
* I would make all of the ribbed areas around the toes and heel wider, perhaps 10 or 15 rows instead of 5. It's working fine with only 5 rows (the stockinette is not curling) but I'd prefer the fabric to grip the foot a bit more in those areas.
* I used a regular, plain old BO at the foot bed in order to create the "heel", and while it functions, it would have been better if it was stretchier. Next time I will use the sewn bind off there, too...but I hadn't learned how to do it yet! Luckily, it's easy peasy ;-)
* The calf shaping. Well, it does fit me perfectly. Perfectly. I did the necessary math. But I placed the increases up the leg in such a manner that they make an angle:


It's not bad, but it is a bit unflattering on me (read as: makes my leg look huge). Next time, I might try running the increases straight up the back seam instead, straight up as a line, in an attempt to make the leg look loooong....not wiiiide.

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On to the next project!