The first sock pattern I want to share with you is Vanilla socks. Everyone needs a good Vanilla sock pattern to whip out when you need some palette cleansing knitting or you have self- striping/ highly varigated yarn that can't handle a stitch pattern. There are tons of Vanilla socks patterns out there, but this one is my favorite: Susan B. Anderson: How I make my socks
This is one of my first Vanilla socks.
The reason I love this pattern is that is it very straight forward and detailed a the same time. After my first and second sock diasters (and a three month break), this pattern saved me from being a knitter who hated socks and instead turned me into a sock knitting machine! I love that is has links to tutorials and talks about stitch counts and really gives you the bones of a sock. And Susan is so lovely -- I stalk her blog :-)
The one thing this pattern doesn't talk about is negative ease. Your sock length is not the same as the length of your foot. You should always use negative ease, or your sock will be long and floppy. The general rule of thumb is that your sock length should be 10% less than the total length of your foot, heel to toe. For me this means I knit my socks one inch shorter than the actual length of my foot. This rule also applies to the circumference -- take an inch off your measurements to keep the sock from falling down around your ankle. Make sense?
This is my most resent Vanilla sock. I used the Totally Vanilla
pattern from the book Socktopus by Alice Yu, but it is
really similar to Susan's pattern. The yarn is Abstract
Cat BBL in the Autumn Fun colorway.
So that sums up my first Favorite Pattern Friday! Hope you check it out and let me know what you think about it :-)
Have a great weekend and happy knitting!
Fabulous to have some free patterns to go check out. Vanilla Sock patterns are great especially when they walk you clearly through each step.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Vanilla socks are such a good foundation to build over socks on.
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