Unterwegs

Here are the advantages of using this pattern:

1. Cushiony heel, reinforced both underneath the heel and over it (well, many socks give the reinforced part, just over it)

2. I find I improved on Judy’s magic cast on for 2 at a time toe up by using just the circulars I knit the entire project with, which I find more invisible than the Turkish cast on (this creates a visibly loose first row no matter how hard I try to knit it tightly) or the type of cast on I learnt to make the 2 at a time toe up during a workshop using double pointed needles and lots of fiddling around, a sort of more complicated Judy’s magic cast on as I recall it.

3. You can control the length of both socks, you have zero risk of one being larger than the other, as you are knitting them constantly one after the other.

4. You can use up all the yarn in your skein by making them as high as you want, in this case increasing the number of stitches at the calf is necessary.

5. There’s a special kind of satisfaction when you cut the yarn right in the middle as you finish and just need to pull the yarn through the last stitch of each sock.

The socks are a rather loose fit, I adjusted the gauge on a second pair for a longer foot but have them narrower and use the same number of stitches, by doing a simple cable on the 2X2 ribbing every 4th row (it’s up to you to choose if you want a left twist or a right twist by inverting the 2 knit stitches in the ribbing consistently in the same direction), the socks are therefore fitting more snug.

If the socks are ankle high I would suggest doing the YO in the stretchy bind off every other stitch instead of every stitch. I find the ankle high socks a bit too loose at the cuffs. If you plan on doing a high cuff that you want to fold however, a YO for every stitch is the way to go, it only flares when they’re not on your feet, but once they are, they should look exactly like my cabled version.

Minimal waste of yarn, even socks, perfect durability, no second sock syndrome.