FO Friday- P socks

I chose something simple for my P sock because I knew that scout camp would not leave me with much time for knitting. I did take the yarn and pattern with me, but was too busy to make a start. I had to steam through them when I got home, and have literally just sewn the ends in so I can share them for today's FO Friday.

Pattern- Phineas by Rosemary Waits

Yarn- Yarn 2 dye 4 superwash sock

Needles- 2.25mm dpns

Having made friends with the short row heel on my N and O socks I decided I would go with the pattern and try making these toe up. I have tried toe up before, but while I could see the advantages of avoiding running out of yarn I was not convinced. Toe up heel flaps are a PITA and short row heels ended up holey.

I have to admit, I might be a convert, but it all comes down to how these wear when I give them a test run over the weekend. I did struggle with where to start the heel, I knew my foot length, but not how long the make the foot before I started the heel. Fortunately having done a top down version first I could go and measure that one from the toe to the heel start and use that number (about 20cms for a UK size 5).

The pattern creates a nice sock that is not overly complicated, but I found it interesting enough to work, the purl stitches move around so you have to give it a little thought to make sure they go where they should.

The only real problem with this pattern is that no instructions are given for the toe and heel, just links to instructions from Knitty. This is fine if you know how to do them anyway, or are near a computer, but if not it makes what would otherwise be a great beginner pattern a bit of a challenge.

I used the surprisingly stretchy bind off rather than the sewn bind off and worked a round toe.

I bought the yarn at a local steam fair (so am not doing a proper review), it is a lovely mix of bonfire colours but definitely needed a simple pattern as it would have obscured lace and cables. It is a superwash but I have given up machine washing my socks, my new machine has magic powers to shrink and lightly felt socks even at low temperatures so they all get handwashed now.

The full sock photo does not show off the stitch pattern as it is too variegated, you can see it quite well in close up though.

The pattern might be better suited to a less variegated yarn, something solid or subtle shades. That said it is a good way to use up very variegated yarn while knitting something more interesting than a plain vanilla sock, and thus saving your sanity.

On a sock related, but non project specific note I was wondering what other knitters do about sock length.

At knit night yesterday I was working on these and someone commented they looked very long, which is a valid point. I make my socks the same length as my foot, not relying on any lengthwise stretch. I have found that making them shorter than my actual foot results in the heel slipping under the foot (which is annoying) or the extra tension on the toe caused by the stretch makes the toe stitches stretch and gape, and I guess would lead to holes (which is even more annoying). What do you do? Rely on stretch or match foot length?