Atypical Construction: fail, fail, fail
My 2025 sock knitting started off on the wrong foot (sorry). Four times! It started off on four wrong feet. A quadruped of wrongness.
I tried knitting Alegria by Rebekka Mauser (Rav link), which is a super cute pattern with mostly standard construction (heel flap and gusset). The atypical bit is the order in which you knit the sock. You start with a provisional cast on and knit a detached heel.
Then you work the sole of the foot, flat.
Next, you make a fairly standard short row toe, and then knit the top of the foot, attaching it to the sole as you go.
Finally, you join it all together and knit the leg.
My failings on this sock have nothing to do with the pattern or the construction (which has been enjoyed by many knitters), or the beautiful yarn from Woolens and Nosh. But the pattern did reveal to me a previously unknown knitting flaw. I "row out." Did you know about this affliction?? The tension on my purl rows is wildly, wildly looser than on my knit rows. So my flat knitting looks like this:
Friends, it's so bad!! Those purl rows are huge, and my gauge on this flat bit is 7.5 spi (a gauge, which I find to be, frankly, nauseatingly weak for socks). With the same yarn and needles, my gauge in the round is 9 spi. What is that???
So, an obvious issue created by my gigantic knitting flaw here, is that the sock was too big. And weak. It was total floppy weaksauce. It took me a while to work this all out.
Three attempts at knitting. Ugh. On my last attempt, I did make it all the way to the top of the foot, but the gauge difference between the sole (stockinette), and the top, (garter) is so dramatic that the sock curls like a jester hat. It is uncomfortable and weird.
When I try this fabulous pattern again, I will make two changes: first, I will use a smaller needle for my purl rows (more below), and second, I'll try stockinette for the top of the foot instead of garter.
I just love the idea of self-striping yarn hiding on the bottom of a sock. It is so painfully cute and I will accomplish it one day!!
With my 4th failed sock attempt of the brand new year, I started Achilles Heal (Knitty). It also has an unusual construction. The leg is typical, but then you knit just the top of the foot, flat. After a few inches, you cast on stitches to work in the round again and the last step is a heel flap and gusset, which is meant to be removable and reknitable as your heel wears out.
I didn't spend as much time with this pattern, as my failure was obvious pretty quick...the pattern on the leg is a chevron which is quite tight. As I was knitting, I realized the fabric around the heel would be significantly looser than the chevron parts of the sock. So, exhausted by sock failures, and needing a win, I gave up. I'm now knitting a beautiful, drama-free standard sock, which I'll show you soon.
I did have one win with Achilles, though. I worked the flat part of the sock with two different sized needles: size 1 when I was knitting and size 0 when I purled the wrong side rows. This fixed my wonky gauge and "rowing out." (Thank you to the knitters who helped me figure this out!! It's truly a game changer!)
Ok. So, thus ends my Atypical Construction journey for the winter, I suspect. I need the cozy comfort of The Known Sock for just a bit. I love The Known Sock, though, so expect happier knitting soon!
Good tries, all! I wrap the yarn an extra turn around my index finger when purling on the wrong side of a piece. This tightens the stitches just enough that my stitch gauge is exactly the same as knitting with my normal tensioning method. Maybe this would work for you?