Baby Socks

I’m on a sock kick. I can’t seem to stop knitting socks.

So I decided to make some cute, little baby socks for my to-be grandchild. I bought a skein of Bernat baby stretch yarn in a brighter-than-pastel color blend, then went on an online search for a pattern. Unlike the booties I made for Christmas, I wanted these socks to actually be useful. They should be the right size, and should be made so they’d actually stay on little feet.

Most of the patterns I found didn’t go down to newborn size. I found one that did, and I liked the way it looked. The first thing I had to do was learn how to do a provisional cast on. I’d never heard of it before, so went a-searching, and found a video I thought showed it very well.

Now I was off & running, or so I thought.

I had to convert the directions, which called for using a circular needle, to knitting on 4 needles – a new experience for me. Ok, now on to knitting.

This pattern called for toe-up socks. So I made the foot, and got to the heel. I followed the directions, and didn’t like the look at all. Ripped it out, and decided to modify the directions again, using the same method to make and turn the heel that I’d used on my second socks.

Great. Now I’ve got the foot & the heel, and move onto the leg portion, which was a large portion of what drew me to this pattern in the first place. Again, I follow the directions, but don’t like the result. I found them much cuter in the picture than in real life. So I ripped it out again, making my third pattern modification to make a simple knit 1, pearl 1 ribbing.

Fortunately, as I made each change I wrote down what I did so that I could copy the directions for the second sock.

I’m REALLY happy with the results, and will definitely use this much-modified pattern again. I was also quite pleased with myself. I’d never made baby socks before — it’s only the 3rd pair of socks I’d ever made, and smaller is generally not easier than larger in making things. Then, I’d never modified a knitting pattern before, other than making a sleeve shorter, for example, to fit better.

Finally, I couldn’t help but appreciate the whole process. If I hadn’t gotten encouragement from a woman in my fiber arts guild, I wouldn’t have attempted the booties for Christmas. If I hadn’t made the unappealing knitted baby bootie at Christmas, I wouldn’t have been able to follow the directions well for my first socks. If I hadn’t then made the second socks, using a toe-up pattern, I wouldn’t have had either the knowledge or skills to modify the pattern of the baby socks. If I hadn’t had prior encouragement from another guild member, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to simply modify the pattern. (And if I hadn’t gotten high speed I never would have been able to watch the video.)

So it was all a beautiful learning progression, and one I’m grateful for.