"Magic" socks

I'm calling these "Mom's Magic Socks", because on these I first learned to do a Magic Cast-on for toe-up socks, and use the Magic Loop method. And the socks are for my mom. She picked the yarn. Can you tell that she likes black?



They do not have any blue, despite how they look, the stripes are all grey or black. I couldn't get them to lie flat, so the heels look very weird.

It's Regia Mini-Ringel, color 5215, fingering weight yarn, knit toe-up (natch) on 40" US#1 (2.5mm) Addi Turbos. The top one has a plain short-row heel, which required some stitching to close the gaps, and the bottom one has a short-row heel with the addition of 2 rows knit across all the short rows, picking up all the wraps, and then you short-row back up. I got that idea from this pattern from Elann, and it did help keep the gaps smaller. I'm still not completely happy with my short-row heels, but convinced that there's a good method out there for me. I think I'm going to try the Sherman heel next.

I also broke down and ordered Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch. It sounds like a great book for me, since I have been frustrated trying to find sock patterns for men's socks in fingering weight yarn, and especially information on sizing (what if I'm trying to surprise someone in the family with socks, and I know his shoe size, but I don't want to ask him to measure his feet?). Sock patterns for men's socks that I find on the web seem to tend toward heavy yarn (worsted weight socks, anyone? sounds too thick and warm for most days 'round here), and even if they don't they vary quite widely in the size of the finished socks, and yet they often offer no more size information than "men's medium", and ask me to "knit to within x inches of the desired length" before starting the heel or toe shaping, offering no clue as to how long a typical size 9-1/2 foot might be. I have not found a good reference for this sort of thing on the internet, either. This book claims to have it.

So far the couple of pairs of "real" socks (with heels) that I've knit have been entirely constructed with info and patterns that I've picked up free from the internet, and I'm pretty impressed with all of the great, free info that's out there. Hopefully the sizing and patterning info that's supposed to be in this book will round out the sock info that I need for a long, long time.