FO: My Sock Week 2023 Socks

I've been very into watching knitting podcasts on YouTube the past few months, and one of them I sometimes enjoy is Knitty Natty. I had seen her videos a few times, but earlier this summer she started announcing the Sock Week 2023 challenge that would start in July. This was the 5th or so year of this challenge and the idea is that you try to make as many socks as possible in 1 week. It has to be adult sized socks in fingering weight yarn, but it can be any type of sock (knee high to shortie length) and each sock you finish enters you to win prizes. So I had this challenge in the back of my mind for about a month before it started, knowing I wanted to try my hand at knitting some socks. As the date came closer, it turned out that was the weekend my boyfriend would be able to come and visit me for the first time in almost a year! So I knew I wouldn't have as much time as I originally hoped, but for a better reason.

Since I knew I wouldn't have hours and hours to just knit socks, I decided to try my hand at shortie socks. Will these be practical for me? Who knows. But this idea lead to some great stash-busting opportunities. I searched my stash on Ravelry for fingering weight yarn that I only had less than 200 yards of to be the body of the sock and then searched to see if I had something to coordinate for the cuff, heel, and toe. I came up with this combination that incorporates some of the oldest yarn in my stash.

I picked up this single skein of Patons Kroy Sock in the Fern Rose Jacquard colorway on clearance back in 2012 (I had learned to knit earlier than year). I had not knit anything this thin back then, had no idea how to knit socks, and had no idea what I would need to actually knit them, so I purchased this single skein of self-printing yarn because it was a good deal and that was all I knew. I have always lamented not having a second skein because I love jacquard printed yarn socks, but this has caused this skein to sit unloved in the bottom of my fingering weight stash bin for OVER A DECADE. That is insane. So I am seriously so thrilled to finally have this made into something. I paired it with another very unloved skein. The red is vintage Wendy Family Choice 4 Ply (which is odd to have here in the states as this is a cheap UK yarn). This yarn is 50% acrylic, 40% nylon, and 10% wool, so not really my first choice for socks, but as accents I think it's just fine. This skein came from a thrift store back in 2014, so another very old one that finally has good use. Love it!

I used the Jojo's Shortie Socks pattern, which is a free download on Ravelry. The pattern was simple - to the point but clear. I started knitting just where the skein started in the pattern, and I got the whole cuff and leg done only to realize that I hated how it looked. I talked about my dilemma here, but because of the colors of the stripes I had compared to the cuff color, it just clashed horribly, and since that 1 inch or so of leg was all you would see if I wore these socks with shoes, it seemed pointless to continue as it was regardless of being on a time crunch. I ripped back to the cuff and started again in a more pleasing striped section and I'm very happy with the results now.

This pattern uses a slip stitch heel, and I decided to try that out as it has been a few years since I knit one like that. It went well and I think it is actually my preferred heel method. Some of my afterthought heel socks like to slide off my heel when I wear them, but the flap and gusset seem to help keep them more in place when worn - or so it seems thus far. Since I live in Florida and this challenge was in July, I was absolutely not going to wear wool socks to test this theory. We will find out as it gets cooler in a few months.

I knit the first sock and weighed my yarn and I knew I would not have enough to finish and match the pattern. That's the one draw back to a self patterning yarn - if you want them to match, you have to sacrifice some of the yarn to get to the same starting point. I started at the same point in the pattern on the second sock and I knitted until I ran out of that continuous ball around the middle of my foot. Then I had to start grabbing the little balls I had wound off earlier to incorporate them. I still tried to match those very well until I REALLY ran out around the ball of my foot and then I just used up every little scrap of that printed yarn before switching to the red and just making the "toe" longer on my second sock. Had this been a solid colored yarn, I think I would have made it, but it just wasn't quite enough on my size 9 feet to get a full pair out of 1 skein, which is good to know for future socks. I'm happy I was able to at least match the entire area of the sock that would be seen if I ever wear these in shoes.

I didn't quite make the deadline of 1 week for my full pair, but I did manage to finish 1 sock :) Had I not restarted the first sock, I think I would have made the whole pair by the deadline, which is pretty cool given that I was not focusing on knitting as a priority that week. I had a lot of fun with this knit along challenge, but the socks ... are kind of ugly, lol. But maybe they are cool ugly? I dunno. I'm curious to see if these are something I will wear when it's colder out. I will definitely participate in this challenge again next summer and I'm glad I finally got this yarn out of my stash :)

Summary:

Yarn: 1 skein Patons Kroy Sock in Fern Rose Jacquard - $2.15, 0.28 skeins Wendy Family Choice 4 Ply - $0.50

Pattern: Jojo's Shortie Socks - Free

Time: 1.5 weeks

Total Cost: $2.65