Garter-top, rib-bottom tube socks

[cimorene]

I just finished making these Simply Irresistible Socks, Worsted by Christie Archer. I saw the pattern go by in my Ravelry friends feed and was instantly intrigued, because I've never seen a sock like this before: they don't have any heel at all, they're a straight tube, but because the top of the foot is worked in garter stitch and the back in 1x1 rib, they contract and stretch to fit the foot anyway, at least, going by the photos.

Even though the weather is definitely warm now, I cast on a pair of these in heavy worsted wool, boot sock weight, because that was the yarn I had around when I was waiting for the yarn for my next project (a chunky cotton eyelet cardigan - Corran Cardigan by Rebecca Clow). I finished the second sock today and wore them around the house for a couple of hours and they do indeed seem to work as advertised, for me! I'm looking forward to making a longer pair and a pair in fingering weight sock yarn after I've done some more seasonally appropriate summer knitting.

Comments

[james]

Those socks look very interesting! I would like to know how comfortable the heel part is, as I tend to be very sensitive about the socks I wear and almost never manage to knit socks I want to actually wear. (Especially when worn in shoes or boots, so that the ribbing is being pressed against one's skin. Can you feel the texture?)

[cimorene]

Well, I don't suffer from the same problem - I rarely wear hand-knitted socks against the skin, though; I have some fine merino socks and some merino terry socks which are finer and warmer respectively than any of our hand-knitted ones, although in both cases, uglier and less durable. When it comes to thick wool boot socks, like most people in Finland, I wear them throughout the winter with other socks underneath. On the occasions when I have worn fingering-weight wool against the feet with shoes instead of for lounging around the house, I found the texture of stitches a bit distracting but not really uncomfortable.

The heel definitely is more snug than a regular hand-knitted sock, but it has a slight tendency to slide down towards the toe, at least on me - but this is probably partly due to the shape of the foot and ankle, I suppose.

How distinctly one feels the texture and also how uncomfortable that feeling is also probably varies a lot. A softer and less tightly-wound yarn in a luxurious blend like with yak, cashmere, and/or alpaca would make it much harder to feel the stitches, although the socks may pay for this by sliding down all the time (which is why I eventually gave up on making more socks out of Sandnes Garn's Spøt, which feels pretty heavenly on my feet - they just don't have enough elasticity compared to wool... merino is still very elastic, but the very fineness of the fiber means that it has to be tightly wound in order to have durability, which is important in socks, so while it is very soft, it's also springy and creates good stitch definition).

[james]

This is useful information, thank you!