At last, an FO

Finally finished the BIL socks!


Look at that horrible toe on the right one!


The heel, now, that's not too bad:


This pair is my first cuff-down pair, which for some reason I feared. I feared the flap-and-gusset heel because the written instructions didn't make any sense to me as I read them. I feared, dreaded even, grafting the toe, because, well, it involved grafting. You know what? The heel was easy, easier even than the short-row heels I had been struggling with. The grafting? By the time that I re-did that horrible toe (Yes, I did. Thanks for your advice on that, Liz. I would post a pic, but why? It looks just like the other one.), I was very comfortable with the grafting. I get it now. Grafting is fun! (well, that might be going a little too far.)

I grafted the second one (the non-horrible one) using the "Sock Toe Chimney" technique of Lucy Neatby, including the advice to start in the middle and graft outward. That worked OK, although the working yarn pierced the "chimney" yarn and got snagged, which made it hard to snug up. When I re-did the horrible one, I put in a life-line (these teensy stitches can be hard to pick up, ya know), ripped back, and to graft I just started at one end and went to the other, then pulled the working yarn down to the inside, eliminating the "ear" on that end, and went back and secured the "ear" on the other end to the inside. I may actually like the cuff-down way better, now. Still, I like the toe-up sock for not giving me any gauge anxiety -- I just increase until the gauge that I measure across the toe gives me the circumference I want, and go from there.

To recap, this is Lang Jawoll fingering weight yarn. This pattern is the "Gentleman's Fancy Sock" from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, knit on an Addi Turbo 40" #1 circ, Magic-Loop style.

ETA: mods -- I had to do one additional pattern repeat to get the length specified in the foot. I truncated the toe, the pattern called for decreasing down to a total of 12 stitches around. The normal-looking toe has 24 stitches around. The length still looks to me to be about right for my BIL.

And I've already cast on for my brother's socks, I've chosen "Father and Son Socks" from the Fall 2006 IK. It looks to have just enough variety in the pattern to make knitting it interesting, but not too hard or time-consuming. And the adult pattern is in his size. Hopefully I'll get gauge -- I plunged right on in, figuring a sock is small enough to be a gauge swatch.