I watched Summer Lee’s module on socks in Knit Stars Season 7 on a whim. I already knew how to knit socks and had knit plenty of them in my time – cuff down, toe up, two-at-a-time, Safiyyah’s two-in-one tube method (which involves knitting both socks on the same tube and inserting forethought heels and toes). You name it, I’d probably tried it. The two-in-one approach let me crank out a few pairs for the family last fall, but I’d otherwise been in a bit of a sock drought.
But whatever the reason, I tuned into Summer’s videos and absolutely fell in love with her love for the humble sock. In her lifestyle intro video, Summer explained how she would knit a pair of socks every month. As part of that, she’d go to the yarn store and hunt for that perfect skein to be turned into something special. She’d wait to cast on until the new month, yarn and pattern carefully selected.
I loved the idea of taking that extra moment to give your future self a gift. And socks were such an easy way to do it – low commitment, an easy canvas for experimentation and building new skills. It also was a bonus of being something I can wear during a good chunk of the year here in Minnesota (current glorious weather notwithstanding!). Being able to wear more than one handknit item, even if I never leave the house that day, fills me with such a sense of joy.
I decided I would participate in a similar monthly sock challenge and gave myself a few extra criteria:
- Month to month, I would try to select different techniques and styles;
- Whenever possible, I would try to shop my stash first, then consider purchasing from a LYS; and
- Aim to use patterns I’d already purchased for some of the months.
To date, I’ve done 10 complete pairs of socks for myself since January, including successfully completing at least one pair of socks every month. Doing this much sock knitting has reminded me what a blast knitting socks are, especially for myself. Socks are one of the few items where I can actually knit a smaller size – so if it’s not overly complicated, I can have a new pair of socks done within 3 to 7 days! It’s a great sense of completion and accomplishment, especially while I work away at larger projects like shawls and sweaters.
This also tied in nicely with my knitting journal practice; I make a project page for everything I’ve cast on since September 2022. I’ve taken some of the principles of bullet journaling and made it work for my purposes – a yearly spread to keep track of what I made throughout the year, monthly pages to brainstorm and reflect on the month after it’s been completed, and a dedicated project page for everything I cast on.
As I started on January 22nd, I decided to keep my January selection simple. I fished out a Mudpunch self-striping colorway that I’d had for years and a contrasting plum for the cuffs, heels and toes and set to work! If you’re a fan of self-striping yarns and haven’t seen Chantal’s work yet – you’re missing out! She gives you that perfect stripe look with none of the effort! I love the yarn blend she uses; it holds up beautifully through normal use.
For my February pair, I waded into a territory that I hadn’t done historically: colorwork socks. As a magic looper, it took a bit of attention to trap the floats in the right places, but Summer had some great tricks in her module that I won’t spoil here! While my tension was a little looser than I might’ve liked, due in part to slippery yarns, I think these came out great! This pattern was one of the alternatives that came from Summer’s Midwinter Set (alternative #3). In hindsight, the yellow and the pink are a bit close to each other from a values perspective, so the colorwork doesn’t pop as well as the blue flower section does. But they’re a cute, spring-y pair. I purchased the yarn at Knitting from the Heart during a kid-free Saturday morning that my mother-in-law gifted me at the time.
February saw my first bonus pair – I was having such a ball that I dug out another deep stash item and knit a pair of vanilla socks. In the name of experimentation, I swapped out the heel flap and only did a short row heel (following the general recipe in Modern Daily Knitting’s Wanderlust Field Guide). The yarn was purchased at my very first Yarnover from Leading Men Fiber Arts! It’s their Soliloquy base in the delightfully named “Fright Night” colorway. As those are larger skeins – 150 grams instead of 100 – I have loads of yarn leftover as my vanilla socks took only 48 grams total. I’ll probably make matching socks for Dan and Ruby at some point. The base is 100% BFL, so it’s not as smooth as a sock base with merino and nylon, but it still feels great to wear.
In March, I finally cast on the Sprocket Socks from Pip and Pin, a pattern that always catches my eye whenever I see it. If you’ve got a mini skein set that you’ve been hanging onto (perhaps from our mini skein event last summer?) and don’t know what to do with, you should absolutely give this a shot. It’s not a complicated pattern, as it uses slip stitch / mosaic colorwork rather than traditional stranded colorwork. As a result, the stitch counts are higher than you might be used to. I usually cast on 56 stitches, but the pattern called for 60, and they’re still pretty snug. When I make this pattern again (because I absolutely will!), I’ll either cast on a few more stitches or go up a needle size.
I let the kids help me dig through the mini skeins to develop a palette of stash yarns that I absolutely love. Two of my colors are a bit too close to each other (could’ve placed them in a different order for better success) but otherwise I’m delighted with these socks. My daughter adored the colors and pattern as well – immediately asking for her own pair as I was working through mine. As she’s still growing, it’s tough to have the perfect sock ‘recipe’ for her lately, but it’s definitely on my list!
March saw two bonus pairs – one that got finished and one that did not.
The first is in this gorgeous Hue Loco Barnyard Chicken Collection Sock Set (colorway: Whiting True Blue with Ochre mini). My husband took a weekend trip to visit some friends in Colorado and they kindly did a bit of yarn shopping for me! This is one of the goodies he brought back 🙂 As I knew I wanted that colorway to do all the talking, I did a vanilla sock again. The vanilla sock is also perfect disc golf watching knitting, as I don’t need to look down as I’m working on it!
The second was a pretty impulse decision to cast on another pair of the speckled space socks. My first pair was made when I was still a pretty novice sock knitter back in 2019 in the gorgeous Ghibli-themed colorway from Casual Fashion Queen (Arrietty – for those who are fans too!). If you’re a Studio Ghibli fan, she’s still doing colorways inspired by the movies! That Mei and Satsuki colorway is calling my name… But anyway! They came out way too big and loose for my feet, so I gifted them to my MIL.
I forgot how fiddly the chart was for this pattern – though it is gorgeous – and didn’t make a lot of progress on these so far. The colorway was a fun pickup from Knitting from the Heart too. A South African-based indie yarn dyer called Cowgirl Blues in the delightful Bette Midler colorway! I’ll get around to photographing these when they’re finished – or frogged and reimagined into something else!
April was my most productive month to date! Want to hear more about it? Join me next month for my Second Quarter in review! Hope you’re inspired by my Year in Socks – tag us at #MKGShowandTell to share with me! ~Jess, Newsletter Editor
Roxanne Richardson is a knitting communicator who lives in Minneapolis. Her YouTube channel explores a variety of knitting-related topics, including knitting history and techniques, and she writes technical knitting articles for Interweave publications. She’s a certified master hand knitter and certified knitting teacher, and she can’t wait to answer your burning knitting questions.
Project HandWork is an exhibit of photos by photographer Christopher Dykes. Using flash, a backdrop, and the infinite human variety, Christopher is collecting a series of images of hands at work in the fiber community. Manicures, hangnails, tattoos, wristwatches, cheap yarn, expensive silk, easy socks and exquisite lace all show the human diversity and the compulsion to create.
Our spinning demonstrations are sponsored by Get Bentz Farm. 
