Bob Marley's Grandma's Caribbean Shell Socks

I finished my Sockapalooza socks earlier this week, gave them a little Eucalan bath, and they're ready to go:

These socks were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do...

Bob Marley's Grandma's Caribbean Shell Socks
modification of Little Shell Socks, designed by Judy Sumner
Knit with 2 skeins (178 yards/150 meters/skein) of Koigu Painter's Pallette Premium Merino (100% Merino Wool), Shade P132 on Clover Bamboo DPNs in size US2 (2.75 mm), in a guage of 30 sts and 20 rows per 2 inches in Stst.

Finished Dimensions:
Women's Size 9, Approximately 8.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches in length after blocking.

The Pattern:
This is a very cute little pattern which I think would look nice in a solid color yarn or one that was subtly variegated, as well. Although you can't see it in the pictures, it is actually a lace pattern, with tiny little eyelets framing the shells. I think this aspect of the sock will be a little more obvious when the sock is worn by the recipient and is properly stretched out.

As usual, I monkeyed around with the pattern a bit. I knew my guage on US2's using KPPPM from working on my Crusoe socks, so I calculated my pal's sock circumference at that gauge, rather than playing around with needle sizes and swatching. Surprisingly, casting on 56 sts (which is what the pattern calls for) was spot on for a size 9, despite the fact that the pattern guage is 1 st per inch smaller (seems to me that the pattern would make rather large socks, so if you make these socks at gauge and you have an average size foot, you might want to consider knocking off a repeat). From cast on I worked 15 rounds in 1x1 rib and then 42 rounds in pattern - pretty much following the pattern but making the sock a little shorter, since my pal likes ankle socks.

The heel is where I made the big changes. I used the stranded heel from Crusoe and made my heel 32 rows deep. This meant that I had to pick up 16 sts at the gussets and reduce a little further as well. When turning the heel I used almost the same short row method as the pattern, except that rather than using a skp, I used a k2tog, which I think looks a hell of a lot better. I haven't decided if that is in absolute terms, or if it has something to do with my knitting. Regardless, I'll keep k2toggin'. I also shaped the gussets using first k2tog and then ssk on each side of the sock. I'm avoiding anything that passes a slipped stitch over on the principle that if it's looked ugly in other places on the sock it will look ugly here.

Finally, I worked to 7.5 inches from the heel (for me this was 68 rounds past the heel turn short-rowing) and then began the toe-shaping. There, I also stuck to k2tog, ssk, k2tog, ssk for the reasons noted above. Finally, I kitchenered the toes.

[For those of you who have issues with kitchenering, I pass on a little tip that my friend Mary (Oh She of the Beautiful Socks!) passed on to me: Use the instructions in the back of every issue of Interweave Knits. They're well-written and as easy to follow as kitchenering will ever be. After a single sock, I knew the basic method well enough that I could make any sock without referring to a pattern. I cannot kitchener without IK sitting in my lap. Give it a try, you'll like it.]

Impressions of KPPPM:
I feel a little silly even putting this section in, since I think almost everyone in blogland has tried and loves this yarn. What is there to say? It is the only yarn that I have ever used for socks, so at this point I'm ill-equipped to make a full comparison to another sock yarn. I have been swatching with Cherry Tree Hill's Supersock which is also a 100% merino yarn and I can say already that KPPPM has greater thickness and a nice bounce in comparison. However, it's a trade-off because CTH has very nice drape and sheen (I think it would be excellent in a shawl). It's amazing to me how two yarns with the same fiber content can be so different, but there it is. Anyhoo, I digress. KPPPM is great, and we all love it. The only thing I have left to say is that I wish more places would carry it in some solid colors, because despite the rather brazen color combos I've had going on over here in honor of sockapalooza (which seems to drive us all to wacky colors and patterns) I am a solid color girl and would love to make myself a very subdued pair of cabled stockings.

Possible substitute yarns:
Any sock yarn that knits to guage. The Cherry Tree Hill Supersock springs to mind as a good all-around substitute for KPPPM, since the gauge is similar and the fiber content is the same. Just note the differences that I mentioned above.

Tips for Making Little Shell Socks:
Do your math to make sure that the fit is going to work well for you, and then adjust accordingly. I think this goes for most socks.

For the "shells," the yarnovers that precede purl sts can be hard to identify and knit properly on the following row, because the purl sts that tack them down tend to roll back on the needle. This issue is especially pronounced on the yarnover at the beginning of the needle. To help myself out, I roll the yarnover forward on the needle with my left index finger and get into the stitch from there. This is probably something better illustrated than written about, but if you've ever dealt with a yarnover preceding a purl stitch, you should get the picture.

It's a Sock Mandate!

After running the poll for a little less than a week, things have finally started to slow down, so I'm recording today's numbers as the final tally. The results are:

Out of 197 voters:
13 hate the sock (7%)
66 like the sock okay, but aren't groovin' on the color (34%)
32 are tacky and know it (16%)
86 may be smoking Mary Jane but are yellow shell sock lovers (44%)

Since our President won by an even smaller margin...

Looks to me like a sock mandate!

I know you're humming "Hail to the Sock" in your head right now. For the record, Moxie actually voted against my sock, on my computer! He was fair about it, and asked to see the sock again to properly appraise its virtues (or lack thereof) prior to casting his ballot.

Because I like to be familiar with my constituency whether they vote for my sock or not, I asked Moxie a few hard-hitting questions in order to fully understand his position. Since I needed a baseline for evaluating his sock tastes, I asked him what he thought of my Crusoe sock, which I think has greater mass appeal. (Not a better sock mind you - the masses don't always know what they're talking about.)

Here's Crusoe for comparison. I rather like them together.

Moxie: "You mean to wear?"

Me: "Well, not for you - for me."

Silence.

Me: "Not with shorts or anything. (You wouldn't catch me outside of the gym in shorts anyway!) You, konw, with jeans. You'd just see them peeking out a little..."

Moxie: "Oh! You should have said that. For non-viewing socks they're great!" (Looks self-satisfied because he thinks he's said something nice about the sock.)

I am still laughing, and that was several days ago.

I have tested my sock pal however, and short of saying "I've finished one sock and it is yellow" and giving myself away, I have done everything in my power to make sure that she does not have any strong feelings against socks such as the ones she is receiving. She seems like a fun, colorful woman, if not a tacky one (which, honestly, folks, is what most of us really need in a knitted sock pal), and I think that she will appreciate these socks in the way that I and 60% of you (tacky and non-tacky alike) do. Plus, now she'll have socks that are famous. Who can beat that?

One and Three-Quarters Sock Wisdom

Now that I'm three-fourths of the way through my second sock, I'm ready to share the wisdom that I've gained during this process. I must warn you in advance, that since I am a big fat geek in all things in life, and knitting in particular, I did a little bit of homework prior to starting my sockapalooza sock.

[If you're curious, the books are: Folk Socks and Knitting On The Road by Nancy Bush and Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy and Ethnic Socks and Stockings by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. Armed with these four volumes of sockish knowledge, I doubt I'll ever need another book on knitted footwear again.]

Just to prove that I am three-quarters through my second sock, I offer you this evidence:

Please do not take this as a signal to stop voting - I will keep running the sock tally for several days.

Here's the "Three Quarters Wisdom":

1. Your clenched fist has the same circumference as the ball of your foot. [I learned this from either Nancy or Priscilla - Priscilla, I think.] The natural outcome of gaining this knowledge was the urge to test it. I used the punch test to evalute the fit on both Crusoe (for me) and the Little Shell Socks (for my sock pal). If the sock is snug, but you can get your fist into it without issues, it fits. If you're making a sock for a slightly bigger person, you simply put your fist in and open it a crack. Brilliant.

2. If you use a different guage than the one called for in the pattern, you can determine how many heel rows to do by folding over the heel flap to determine whether it is square or not, like this. (The one in the picture is square - you can tell because it folds to meet the edges of the other half of the flap exactly.) Remember that you will have to adjust the number of picked-up sts along the gusset and that you will need to reduce those sts back down to the original number as well.

3. The skp decrease on the heel in the Little Shell Socks looks like poo. I used k2tog instead. The lesson for people not knitting this sock? Just remember there are many decrease methods out there. You don't have to allow yourself to get stuck with an icky one.

4. Picking up sts a whole st in rather than half a st in on the gusset really does make a difference. Going in only half a st leaves an ugly hole.

5. Yellow is a color that many people have a strong reaction to!

For Those Wacky Animal Lovers:

Nounie believes he is a dog and therefore sleeps where Caia sleeps...

"All Great Poetry Risks Schmaltz"*

Likewise, much fun knitting risks ugly:

Cute? Or does it look like Bob Marley's gramma got hold of a sock?

I have a good friend who says this about great ties: If ugly is a line, a great tie should be just this side of the line. Great knitting, the colorful kind that employs fun techniques, often falls mighty close to the line. Sometimes too close for comfort! Which is why we often see very talented knitters making butt ugly sweaters. (I know, I probably shouldn't have said it, but you all know it's true!)

In this case, I know I'm close to the line, but I think the sock is cute. The issue is, this is the Little Shells Sock that is going to my sockapalooza pal, and I want to be sure that she gets something to love, rather than a sock she has to bury in the backyard. Although she claims to be adventerous and colorful, I don't want to leave the state of Tasteful too far behind on the road to Fun.

Help a girl out! It's an anonymous vote so you can be as brutal as you want. I'm looking for your honesty here!

Would you want to be the recipient of the Bob Marley Caribbean Shell Sock?
	No, I'm with Moxie - don't get creative in my environment!
	No, but I'm not particularly fond of yellow. I'd go for it if the colorway was different.
	Yes, but you shouldn't listen to me - I'm tacky.
	Yes, and I have impeccable taste. You can trust me.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

*This is quote from Richard Hugo's book on writing, called The Triggering Town. If, as I do, you've always planned to spend your later years following your true calling and writing the great American novel (and I'm sure that many of you blogistas out there intend to do just that) this is a great read. Also on my writers on writing list is John Gardener's On Becoming a Novelist, Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, and E.M. Forester's Aspects of the Novel. Never say I only gave you knitting tips!